9 of the Best Mobile Coupon Apps for Marketing Your Business
Approximately 30% of American mobile phone users have a smart phone and adoption rates are increasing. According to comScore, a digital market intelligence company, it’s estimated that by the end of 2011, that number will have increased to 50%. This represents a huge opportunity to small business owners who have retail locations or who sell direct to the consumer.
Mobile phone users are enjoying the convenience and speed of being able to find whatever they want, whenever they want it, right in the palm of their hands.
With that in mind, mobile phone technology is poised to become the next big thing in retail marketing. Mobile marketing experts say that redemption rates of mobile coupons are 10 times higher than redemption rates of printed coupons. However, these statistics will vary based on type of business, and the reach of that particular coupon application in your business area.
There are several ways that you can take advantage of mobile phone marketing and coupons are a good way to start. Here are nine of the top mobile coupon applications that are available on most smart phones.
1. GeoQpons: One of my favorite apps to save money at both local and national businesses. I check it every time I go out. One time I saved 20% on my bill at TGI Fridays. Offers will be displayed to all subscribers within a 10 mile radius. Costs $29 per store location per month. Free for consumers.
2. Foursquare: This popular mobile check in app also allows businesses to post deals. One of the most popular smart phone applications, it appears that this app is also one of the most popular mobile coupon apps. I found many deals in my area. Free to use for both consumer and business.
3. Mobiqpons: This application says that it’s hyper local and displays your ad to any subscriber within a 40 mile radius. Costs .07 per click after the first 100 (free trial). Free for consumers. I plugged this app on my Droid and found several coupons from national companies like Staples and Home Depot, but not any from locally owned businesses.
4. The Coupons App: My least favorite app as a consumer. Coupons are not organized by category and not easy to find. You have to scroll through pages and pages of coupons to find something interesting. There are some local businesses on here. Amazon says this is the best selling shopping app on the Android app store. Your ad shows to subscribers within a 20 mile radius. Costs $149.95 every 90 days. Free version for consumers has limited functionality. $19.95 for consumers to unlock the app for full functionality.
5. Yowza/Where: Yowza is the coupon application for IPhone and Where is the Android version. I like this one because it also shows local gas prices, news, and weather. It’s well organized and easy to navigate. I did not find many coupons in my area.
6. Google Mobile Coupons: Google launched mobile coupons in 2009, but from the looks of it, this application has yet to pick up steam. When I view Google Places on my smart phone, it’s easy to find businesses in my area, but if they are using the coupons function it is hard to tell. Unlike Foursquare, there is no yellow sign that says “Deal here” on the business listing. Also, there is no button or link on Google Places that would indicate there are any deals our coupons. If you can find it and figure out how to use it, it’s free.
7. Facebook Deals: Facebook deals launched several months ago, but whether it’s been a hit is too soon to tell. There are far fewer businesses and deals on Facebook than on Foursquare in my local area. And from what I see, it has been difficult for some users to figure out how to use Facebook deals. If you are a business owner it’s free to use. See my previous post on Facebook deals. As a side note, Facebook is going to be launching its own Groupon type deals feature. http://www.facebook.com/deals/business/
8. Yelp Special Offers: Yelp is one of the most widely used reviews websites in the nation, and with the additions of the special offers tab the website just got better. The application is free for smart phone users to download and there is an easy to find “Special Offers” tab. Contact Yelp, to confirm the cost of running an offer in your area.
9. Valpak Mobile Coupons: Valpak a leader in the direct mail marketing industry has launched a mobile coupon application. Coupons are hyper local and used mostly by independent local businesses more than chains. Good application if you’re a local pizza place who is already using the direct mail option. Price varies.
Wendy Kenney is the best selling author of How to Build Buzz for Your Biz, Tap into the Power of Social Media, Publicity and Relationship Marketing to Grow Your Business, available on Amazon.com. She has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Newsday. For more information go to http://23Kazoos.com.
April 25th, 2011 at 1:27 am
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April 27th, 2011 at 10:29 am
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April 27th, 2011 at 10:22 pm
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April 28th, 2011 at 8:24 am
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April 29th, 2011 at 9:37 am
Hi Wendy -
Thanks so much for including Valpak in your roundup. We’re honored to be included on a list of notable mobile coupon providers. I thought I would share with you and your readers that our coupons are also optimized for all mobile web browsers, in addition to being available on the app for select smartphones. And, we just launched our mobile coupons onto the Junaio augmented reality app, so our mobile enabled coupons can be found and used in a variety of ways.
Thanks again for including us!
Gila Fox
Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc.
Largo, FL
May 2nd, 2011 at 10:06 am
[...] smartphone adoption increasing toward half of U.S. mobile phone users, StartupNation offers 9 of the best mobile coupon apps for marketing your business. Making the list are usual suspects like Foursquare, Facebook, and Google, but also lesser-known [...]
July 1st, 2011 at 9:20 am
Check out http://www.gpsdailydeals.com and the android version at
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mobilegates.gpsdailydeal&feature=search_result or the iphone version at the AppStore
September 26th, 2011 at 1:51 am
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December 14th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Besides the well known ones (facebook deals, foursquare, google) I’ve tried the GeoQpons and found lots of coupons in the area I was visiting!
January 29th, 2012 at 5:36 am
order an buy cheap gucci to take huge discount
January 29th, 2012 at 7:16 am
Fantastic work, please keep writing it was a great article to work through. I’m going to tweet this now.
January 29th, 2012 at 7:26 am
The mobile communications industry is so massive, loved reading your article - look forward to your future posts.
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July 4th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Hi Wendy,
Great list. We supply end-to-end app components for coupon providers as we’ve found that a lot of the browsing and display of coupons in apps can be improved.
Cheers,
Jeff