coupon question

[za4life]

just curious what is working best for you guys. are you just straight couponing( $2 off a large pie) or are you bundeling(lg pie, order of breadsticks and 2 liter for X dollars) we had almost always bundeled but curious if this economy would perfer to see $2 off coupons

 

[HannahBananasOnline]

Hi,
We do a lot of buy get one half off, people seem to like 50% discounts. You can advertise it several ways, we pursue a lot of return business with box toppers that way. I’m actually building a breakfast crowd using but one get one 1/2 off. Go to our website and join our VIP email group if you wanna see how we promote our ideas.

 

[Wizzle_Wassell]

I’ve done a combination of both (discount a little early week) but so far have avoided issuing coupons like ‘get 2.00 off’.

One thing I have started to do (menu goes live in a few weeks) is highlight how much people could save i.e. buy one get one half price {save up to 8.00} or what ever. That way people get to see what they are saving as well as getting a good deal at the same time.

 

[pizzapirate]

Unless you are a real stickler for collecting coupons, $2 off coupons tend to just discount your menu permanently. Everyone just calls in their orders with the $2 coupon whether they have it or not. It also gets people in the habit of not paying full price.

The second thing I don’t like about such offers is there is no practical way of tracking them. If the coupon is always the same how do you know which medium was effective?

I like package deals because you are not discounting your pizzas but you are still giving the customers a great value.

 

[Piper]

pizzapirate:

The second thing I don’t like about such offers is there is no practical way of tracking them. If the coupon is always the same how do you know which medium was effective?

Every campaign I do has a coupon number on it. It makes it easier for my order takes (they just have to press the discount button with the coupon number) and allows a lot of tracking. When I send saturation mail, each carrier route gets it’s own coupon number so I know which areas of the city are “hot”.

I totally agree with pizzapirate - don’t use “dollar off” coupons. You might as well just reduce your menu price. A well designed offer should allow you to increase your tickets.

 

[movvid]

Yup, I agree with everyone else. $2.00 Off or any dollar amount type discount seems to give us a low return compare to our package deals. I guess the customers know that the price will be from the regular price and they really won’t be saving as much compare to the package deal. And we also like to point how much they’re saving w/ the couponw.

 

[bodegahwy]

We have a $2 deal on our box topper. It is, by far, our most used coupon. As coupon value, it is our least expensive as well. We run 14-16% coupons most of the year with an average ticket of about $26 (In the winter, the average is more like $34). Two dollars off is less than 8% of the year round number.

When we run it for about 6 weeks twice per year (direct mail coupon book) Any pizza for $12 (up to 3 toppings) is the top offer. We also do very well with a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s with a 16" pie.

 

[Bulletpizza]

The only coupons we have out right now are on our website.
http://www.tommyspizzainc.com/promotions.shtml

We have yet to do an X$ off amount and I don’t think we’re going to. At the start of each month we’ll come up with something new for the website. I think the return rate on the web coupons has been pretty good and we really haven’t put a serious effort into marketing the website, but that will change once we roll out our online ordering.