Coupon Fine Print

[TexasRookie]

For those of you who use coupons, what do you put in the fine print & why? The other big question is do you put an expiration date & why?

We are about to print box toppers with 6 coupons & I am trying to decided if I am going to put an expiration date & what to put in the fine print. Currently we do not have an expiration date on our door hanger coupons but we do have some fine print.

Right now we just put “coupons subject to change without notice.†& “not valid with other offers.â€

 

[royster13]

What ever you do, just make sure you do not “piss” off customers…Some folks put such onerous terms on their offers it confuses potential customers and they go elsewhere…

 

[pizzapirate]

Expiration Dates:

1. Impresses urgency to use the coupon.
2. Becomes a permanent discount otherwise.
3. Menu products and prices change, costs change, strategies change
4. Easier operations with less offers out there

Even if you are an operation that always uses the same offer, in every medium, all the time, its still nice to have the “option” to change things up at some time.

 

[Registered_Guest]

Ask yourself how you will handle each “restriction” when the customer ignores it or doesn’t realize it.

For example, if someone calls with a coupon that expired yesterday, are you going to deny it? If it expired 2 weeks ago? If it expired 2 months ago?

What if you put “limited time only” instead of a specific date? With a specific date the person might not call you are all, thinking all their coupons are expired. With limited time only, they will at least call and give you the opportunity to either accept it or offer them something else.

 

[bodegahwy]

Pizza pirate has it exactly right. Urgency, flexibility are key.

EVERY offer we publish has an expiration date. Even the ones in places that stay on shelf for a year expire when that year is over.

We honor every day regular offers pretty much regardless of expiration. Really deep discount offers that we do by mail expire in about 30 days and we honor them for an extra week or so and then offer another option when that time is past.

 

[wa_dave]

Our coupons have set dates, eg Month of September 2010 so it is clear that it is valid for that month only. We have a postcard with a 25% discount that we use to attract new customers (sometimes current ones get it) and that has a blank expiry date box at the front bottom of the card that we fill in depending where they are being handed out.
All our coupons, cards etc have a very limited conditions - not to be used in conjunction with any deals, specials or other offers. Some may have as shop pick up only. Keep it simple and clearly defined. We use the same wording on every coupon so we have continuity for us and the customer.
We do not accept coupons outside of expiry date. We have had examples of people bringing in coupons ( never had a date on them) from the previous owner up to 4 years after we took over the shop. If it seems they haven’t been in since we had the shop we tell them that were from the previous owner (how long ago) and that it was called Currambine Pizza and Pasta then and we have been Pizza Pizzazz for 4 1/2 years. Most of these peple bring in coupons from an old, old menu he did with stupid unprofitable deals. Most cases they are clearing out the bottom drawer and come across the old menus and see the deal (which gives bigger pizzas cheaper than the chains current price) and think they can get a bigger, better pizza and cost than they get at the chains and try it on, never to see you again.
We also do not accept coupons from other pizza shops as these would only be from the chains with $6 crap pizzas that are a lot smaller than ours where ours a larger and superior quality for $16. The coupon swappers are only after a deal and wouldn’t pay full price whatever our quality is so we say “no”.

Dave