How to Use Amazon Coupons to Promote Your Products

August 22, 2019
By The Badger

Today we take a journey outside our usual home in the “Campaign Manager” tab in Seller Central and look at a new way to boost your conversions — Amazon coupons.

Amazon coupons are small single-use discounts you can apply to your sponsored products. Having a coupon gives your product a little green badge that indicates savings to a potential customer. These badges signal a good deal to buyers increasing your click-through-rate (CTR) and conversion rates.

Using coupons as a part of your PPC campaign is still a fresh new strategy, so we’re going to break down exactly what you need to know to start rolling in that discount dough. Here’s what we’ll be covering:

Jump to our Podcast Episode

Listen to Michael, Stephen, and guest Scott Needham discuss Amazon coupons and every way you can imagine to use them.

Check out the podcast

The Benefits of Amazon Coupons

Now you might be a little skeptical about coupons and asking, “Can I really just add on some coupons and have my sales jump?” Well kind of, yeah!

We recently had Scott Needham, CTO of Buyer Box and Valence Services, on our podcast who answered this exact question.

So for all of our stale inventory, I threw the minimum value coupon on every single one of them, all of the SKUs, and guess what happened? The sales doubled.

Scott Needham

CTO of Buyer Box and Valence Services

So why did these coupons cause Scott’s sales to jump so much? Well as it turns out, buyers just can’t resist coupons.

When buyers see you and your competitor’s products listed right there on the same page with the same price, offering that extra 5-25% off can give you the edge to win their click.

People love the feeling that comes with getting a deal, so by offering a coupon on every single one of his products, Scott was able to capitalize on that behavior.

Does the Actual Coupon Price Make a Difference?

You’d think that offering a 25% discount might result in a bigger benefit than a 5% coupon, but that might not exactly be the case. Coupons all seem to nudge up conversions by about 5 – 10% no matter how big or small the discount is.

This means that the actual deal you’re offering might not be as important as simply offering the deal itself. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean to only use the bare minimum coupon every single time.

We recommend trying out different coupon discounts for different products and track which amounts have the most success. This way you can hone in on the exact discount price that maximizes your conversion gain from coupons.

How to Start Using Amazon Coupons in Seller Central

Luckily, creating coupons is a breeze inside Seller Central, so give it a shot when you’re done reading this guide.

Step 1: In Seller Central, navigate to the “Advertising” tab and select “Coupons” from the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Click “Create your First Coupon” and select between your different ASINs.

Step 3: Select either a percent or dollar discount. Percent discounts must be between 5-80% off.

Step 4: Set your coupon’s maximum budget. Each time you sell an item, this maximum budget will be deducted by the amount of the coupon and a $0.60 coupon referral fee. Once your maximum budget reaches 0, your coupon will automatically be deactivated.

Step 5: Lastly, schedule how long your coupon will last. This can range from 1 day to 3 months.

And just like that, you’ve set up your first Amazon coupon!

Now that you can make coupons, the next step is figuring out which products to apply them to.

What Types of Products Need Coupons?

When it comes down to it, your inventory consists of top sellers and under-performers. So do you slap a coupon on your top sellers to increase their conversion rates from 15% to 20% or do you use them to boost under-performing products?

Well lucky for us, you can use Amazon coupons on your top sellers, your under-performers, and everything in-between.

See the thing is, aside from the margin hit you take from offering coupons, you really don’t lose anything from keeping coupons on all of your products.

You can’t underestimate the value add coupons give from how they make customers feel. Unlike traditional shopping, buyers aren’t checking in every month to see if there’s a coupon or not.

When they do come to your product, having that little green coupon badge and offering that extra bit of savings will always sway people, no matter whether the product is a top seller or a couch potato.

I’m sure at this point you’re convinced that coupons are an effortless way to bump up conversions on all your products, but there is one common pitfall to watch out for.

Common Pitfalls

One of the most common pitfalls comes from the choice of selecting a percent or dollar coupon. There’s nothing wrong with percent coupons, but the data suggests that dollar coupons improve conversions more.

When you think about it, this actually makes sense. For example, giving a 15% discount on a $48 product might seem fine in theory, but how much is the actual discount? People don’t like to do this kind of math when they’re simultaneously trying to decide if they even like the product or not.

In contrast, simply stating a dollar amount of $7 in savings would be a lot simpler and save everyone the trouble of trying to compute percentage savings on the fly.

Key Takeaways for Amazon Coupons

As you continue to build up your PPC campaigns with Sponsored Product Ads, Sponsored Brand Ads, Retargeting and more, it’s good to find a simple and direct value add in coupons.

If you’re ready to start increasing your conversion rates, then head on over to Seller Central and start churning out those coupons. Badger out.

Discover Us on our PPC Den Podcast

If you prefer learning via audio, we cover this same info in the podcast episode below. You can also find us on your favorite streaming platforms like Apple, Google, Spotify, and more!