We analyzed 1.5b retailer datapoints, and are revealing 5 shocking coupon code statistics

When was the last time you paid full retail for an item? 

With the sea of discounts offered online, we analyzed a LOT of data, about 1.5 billion points across roughly 10 million coupon codes offered to online shoppers in the U.S. last year. At a high level, we found lots evidence supporting that discounts and promo codes positively impacts a brand’s reach and engagement with consumers, and we want to share that data with you. Simplified.

At SimplyCodes, we want to connect shoppers with the things they love, so we dug deep into our data to help identify coupon stats and trends that can help brands and shoppers navigate online shopping.

We elaborate on our analysis below to help brands and merchants understand the impact of implementing proper discount strategy, but wanted to make it clear at the top with our five key findings:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

1. Stores offering codes have higher search interest

2. Customer-specific discounts correlate with higher search interest

3. Certain coupon phrases are more prevalent than others

4. Holidays and events are a major driver of promo codes

5. New technology categories saw the highest rates of growth YoY                                                                                                                                                                                          

Macroeconomically, 2022 was a year of contrast for consumers. A persistently tight job market saw growth of 4.8 million jobs and wage increases averaging 5.1%, positive momentum that drove an overall increase in consumer spending year-over-year (YoY). At the same time, though, rampant inflation is raising costs in nearly every sector of the economy. 

In response, online shoppers continue to spend but are more actively seeking out coupons and discount codes to offset the heightened inflationary stress on household budgets. With heightened emphasis on coupons and promo codes, the timing is right for brands and merchants to commit to creating or refining their online discounting strategy. The insights that follow help demystify some of the why and how of effective discounting, and offer visibility into high level coupon trends we're seeing.

Let’s dive in.

Brands leveraging money-saving discounts are way more popular

Your brand should be leveraging couponing if you care about growth. Period.

Key Finding: Stores offering codes have higher search interest. This is a big one for retailers. Merchants that offer 50+ promo codes per year are 696% more popular in Google search than stores that offer 10 promo codes or fewer. Let that sink in.

Our analysis looked at search volumes for branded keywords paired with common discount phrases, for example, “BRANDNAME + coupon code.” We found that brands offering 50+ codes had an average monthly search volume of 8,172. Brands offering 10 or fewer codes averaged a search volume of 1,174. Generally speaking, this is meaningful because shoppers who search for brand-specific coupons and discounts tend to be in a transactional mindset and the right discount can motivate a purchase. 

Discount codes are great tools to bring in new customers, retain existing customers and thwart competitors. For the cost of a bit of margin you grow your sales volume and your customer base. There are upwards of 100 million monthly searches for promo codes and Google prioritizes the content that its users value. By optimizing the volume of discount codes offered, brands can also improve their search presence.

Customer-specific discounts = greater brand visibility 

Everyone is someone. We all fit into some type of demographic, and it's important to understand advantages that might be had.

Key Finding: Customer-segmented discounts correlate to higher brand search volumeBrands that offer discounts to targeted customer groups see anywhere from 60% to 700%+ greater search volume than brands that do not.

It is common for merchants and brands to offer special discounts to major customer segments. For brands weighing the value of offering such discounts, one criterion they can include in their calculations is search visibility. 

In the same way that offering discounts, in general, improves a brand’s search presence, offering targeted discounts correlates to a bump in monthly search volume and visibility for the brand and its promotions. The accompanying table provides data for some of the most common segment-focused discounts. At the low end, discounts targeting government workers still equate to a 60% bump in monthly search volume for the brands that target the customer group. At the high end, the time-limited but universal “birthday” discount sees search volume increase more than sevenfold (734%) for brands that offer it. 

The significance of promo code names

Hello! Welcome! Thank you! When you hear these, they should fill you with some sort of excitement or acknowledgement. Same with coupon names and how shoppers are engaged with.

Key Finding: Certain coupon phrases are more prevalent than others, as some cater towards new audiences while some are helping engaging customers.The most common coupon code in 2022 was “Welcome10”, making it crystal clear that brands commonly leverage coupon for increasing their audience.

Discount codes incentivize all types of behavior from trial, to repeat purchase, to social sharing and beyond. We are no stranger in identifying how people shop with coupons - we have a constantly updated list of the common coupon phrases, so check out that. 

While it’s difficult to assign meaning to the desired behavior of all promo codes based on name alone – as you’ll see below, some are ambiguously titled things like “SUPER” and “BEST” – we can surmise with some confidence that last year’s top code of “Welcome10” is a code targeted at new customer acquisition and most likely attached to a 10% or $10 off discount. 

“Welcome10” not only takes the top spot, it was issued nearly twice as often as the second most common code, “WELCOME,” with totals of 59,824 and 28,935, respectively. The third most popular code, “SAVE10,” may very well target new customer acquisition as well, at least in some cases. If we take a stricter view and constrain our analysis only to codes that include the word “welcome,” the word occurs four times in the top 10 codes and makes up 54.6% of the code volume among the top 10 codes.

Words like “welcome” suggest a conscious targeting of customers at a specific stage in the buyer’s journey, while other common coupon phrases in the list suggest a more universal target. For example, “save” is the second most commonly recurring coupon theme with “SAVE10” and “SAVENOW” slotting in at positions #3 and #9 of the most common phrases and “SAVE15” and “SAVE20” not far behind at positions #12 and #13.

Holidays shopping heavily relies on couponing

When are YOU making your big purchases each year? Savvy shoppers revolve their big purchases around holidays.

Key discovery: Holidays and events are a major driver of promo codes, and a fantastic time to find savings.Black Friday/Cyber Monday sees the highest volume of discount codes, but other holidays are close behind.

When consumers are in a giving mood, so are brands and retailers. We found holidays to be one of the biggest drivers of discounts. The Black Friday/Cyber Monday season sees the highest volume of codes, but there are potentially some surprises as we look at volume further down the list.

For some retail sectors, the end-of-the-year shopping season is critical. Many annual revenue targets live and die by post-Thanksgiving results. Efforts to finish the calendar year strong are reflected in the volume of codes created around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the year-end holidays, in general. 

Altogether, the December holidays along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday account for 35.7% of holiday-related couponing volume

Specifically, codes geared around the December holidays (tracked from December 4 – 24) top the list of all holidays followed closely by codes that combine both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Perhaps surprisingly, Halloween takes up the number three spot on the list, with Black Friday-only and Cyber Monday-only codes sliding into spots four and five. 

Holiday-connected couponing is not restricted to the end-of-year shopping season. Holidays across the entire calendar year are represented, and at 53,108 codes created, the lowest volume holiday in our list, Martin Luther King Day, has nearly as much volume as the aforementioned most common coupon code by name, “welcome10.”

Web3 leads growth in discounts last year

It feels like AI, crypto, and the word "decentralized" are sneaking their way everyday into our lives, doesn't it?

Key Finding: New technology categories saw the highest rates of growth YoY

Staple categories, including clothing and groceries, prevalent among the leading discount categories by volume.

Double-digit growth in discount code volume is the main headline for 2022. Across more than 80 shopping categories, overall promo code volume was up 11.48%. Reflective of the macroeconomic environment – growth in spending paired with growing demand for discounts – we saw significant growth in related categories. Kitchen and dining (42% growth, 12K volume) and home décor (25% growth, 27k volume) showed a high velocity of growth, while two of the top five highest volume shopping categories included two key staple categories:

          #1 Clothes: 14.38% growth to 175,075 total discount codes

          #4 Grocery and Food: 12.46% growth to 63,225 total discount codes

When we turn the lens toward categories with significant changes in velocity, relatively new technologies emerge as the biggest movers. The top three categories in terms of growth rate were: 

          #1 Cryptocurrencies (1,500% increase) 

          #2 Decentralized Applications (900% increase)

          #3 NFTs (400% increase)

Not far behind the top three are more new technology categories:

          #8 Writing Assistants (150% increase)

          #10 Cryptocurrency Software (80% increase)

Of the 82 categories we tracked in our analysis, 19 saw a decline in coupon volume with 11 of the categories experiencing a 7% or less decline. Of note, was a nearly 39% decline in promo codes from charitable and fundraising organizations.

What we learned looking at these coupon statistics:

Many brands and merchants, by necessity, operate in a bit of a vacuum data-wise when making decisions about their discounting strategies. They have access to their own data, but often don’t have a wider reference for comparison. Our goal with sharing these coupon statistics and this data is to provide a fuller perspective. Individual brands will take away different things from parts of the analysis, but some findings are universal:

• Discount codes have a positive correlation to higher search volumes. More people search for coupons and the brands offering them than they do for brands that do not offer coupons.

• Discount codes are often used to target shoppers in distinct stages of the buyer’s journey as we saw with codes like “welcome” targeting user acquisition or “save15” for people needing a nudge to complete a purchase.

• Customers who are either motivated by finding coupon codes to make a purchase or seek out discount codes before completing a purchase benefit from greater volumes of codes around holidays. Conversely, brands and merchants face greater competition from rivals who offer more discounts around holidays.

We will continue to add insights about the couponing universe, so watch this space for updates on coupon statistics and trends.

The SimplyCodes Story

Collaborative. Community-driven. Consistent. Comprehensive. Consumers can’t seem to say enough good things about us, though we’re still not sure why the words usually begin with the letter “C”.

Since day one, SimplyCodes has taken on the daring mission to deliver the internet’s most dependable source for coupon codes. Shoppers used to search endlessly for the best available deals, often to frustrating dead-ends due to invalid promo codes or simply false information.

To solve for this, we’ve mobilized the collective global community of online shoppers to provide the most current coupon code compendium, backed by a world class team of product managers, engineers, and content operators to ensure the user’s experience comes first.

Every person that shops with SimplyCodes contributes to this fabric of perfect information. Even when a brand does not physically have any codes, the shopper is rewarded with real cash incentives when completing their purchase within the platform.

And that’s the dream we’re bringing to life. SimplyCodes is becoming the favorite — and most rewarding — way to enhance your shopping experience online.