Digital Coupons Outperform Print Coupons But Cost More [REPORT]

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Analyzing data from a panel of 23 million loyalty card shoppers from 2008 to 2010, Knowledge Networks found printable digital coupons generally performed better than standard coupons. The company reports that such coupons were more likely to attract new consumers -- 46% of digital coupon redeemers hadn’t bought the product before, compared with 34% of standard coupon redeemers. Overall, digital coupons drew more new buyers than print coupons did by a margin of 35%.

Digital coupons also drove incremental redemptions (purchases that wouldn’t have occurred without the coupon) at a greater rate -- 77% versus 68%.

But such coupons yield 18% less return on investment than standard coupons, the study found. Knowledge Networks attributed the lower ROI for digital coupons to the “historically low distribution costs” for standard print coupons. According to the report, Baby Boomers and large families were the biggest users of both types of coupons.

The report, which will be released Tuesday, is available here. The research did not look at mobile coupons.