A Marketer’s Guide To Influencer Discount Codes

Influencer discount codes have become an important part of the brand marketing and sales landscape. As more and more businesses work with influencers, attaching discount codes to such collaboration has grown just as popular. And it’s no wonder why… All customers love a good deal and that is why this strategy works.

Buyers value affordability so lower price incentives like promo codes and coupons can do wonders for your customer experience curation.

Below, we’ll chat about what influencer codes are and their benefits. We’ll also share how you can build a foolproof and effective influencer discount code strategy, including how to create, promote, and track your codes.

What Is An Influencer Discount Code?

An influencer discount code is usually numerical, alphabetical, or a combination of both including signs and symbols. Shoppers use influencer codes at the checkout point to get a discount on their cart. These are like any other coupon codes or discounts so where does the influencer part come in?

Well, when a brand collaborates with an influencer, the aim may be to increase checkout numbers, amongst other things like boosting brand awareness.

To see when it garners new sales from an influencer collaboration, the brand can assign its own unique code to the influencer partner. Influencers share this code on their social media platforms and encourage the audience to use it at checkout for an exclusive discount.

They’re a great way to monitor whether your influencer campaign leads to sales traffic and gauge collaboration success.

Influencer Discount Code Vs Affiliate Link

Promo codes and affiliate links are pretty similar. They do the same work of drawing customers to your platform to purchase your products or services. The primary difference is just that they come in different forms. One is a code, another a link.

Like discount codes, an affiliate link is dedicated to an influencer or referral marketing program. Influencers can share these dedicated URLs to their stories, posts, etc.

When users click on the referral link to access your target landing page, you can track where the traffic comes from.

This, like an influencer code, helps you with sales attribution and measuring campaign success and progress.

You can create affiliate links with analytics tools attached to the URL so you can monitor the revenue generated from each link and activity on landing pages.

The Benefits Of Using Influencer Discount Codes

There are many benefits that your brand can reap from just influencer marketing. Introducing a discount code brings an entirely new layer of benefits to influencer collaboration.

Some of the reasons why you should consider using discounts and promo codes for your influencer campaigns include:

Leverages Influencers’ Reach

One of the main motivations for influencer partnerships is increased reach, awareness, and a larger audience.

Influencers have a relationship with their followers based on trust and loyalty. Their audience follows them because they believe in or enjoy their content, so the influencer becomes an expert in their niche.

Discount codes help you leverage this relationship and invite their people to become yours. The promo code is like a personalized invite. It says, “I want you here and I am putting in the effort to make you a part of my circle.” A fantastic incentive.

Gives The ‘On The Fence’ Audience A Push

People who learn about your business through your influencer partners are just one piece of the puzzle. Discount codes also help you convince customers who may already know about your eCommerce brand but haven’t made the jump to buy anything. A discount can give them the push they need to make their first purchase.

It’s not just about the lower price, of course. It also boils down to your influencer partners.

When their followers see you working with their favorite influencers, it gives you a leg up. If the social media personality they like thinks your brand is good enough to work with, that may prompt them to stop window shopping and spend some money.

Prompts Existing Customers To Try New Offerings

Another target audience that you can rope in with this code-based influencer marketing strategy is your existing customers.

Promo codes can help existing customers learn about new things you have to offer. Buyers love a sale and may use the chance to get a discount to explore your product range once again.

Offers Impressive Sales Conversions

Overall, promotional codes have the potential to really boost your sales conversions and drive traffic to your business. Putting together an influencer marketing strategy like this also doesn’t need loads of money. This opens up higher advertising ROIs and can increase your profit margin.

Referral marketing campaigns like influencer codes and referral links have the potential to give you more sales traffic in a way that traditional marketing approaches may not.

The actual conversion rate depends on the campaign and influencer, but “90% of people say they believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing.” And, over 80% of users said they made a purchase from a post shared by an influencer.

Monitors Sales Sources

Another one-up that this marketing approach has over its traditional counterparts is that it supports easy sales attribution.

With codes for your discounts, you can seamlessly track commissions that have come out of the campaign. You can monitor influencer results which can direct you on which influencer partnerships are most rewarding for your brand.

Gives Insight Into Customer Shopping Journey

The code does more than tell you about the source of sales. It also gives you insight into other forms of data that can guide you on how to create the best shopping journey and experience.

Tracking data helps you identify the products that consumers lean toward with their discounts. This can inform you about what customers prefer, the kinds of products that are best suited to promotions, and how to incorporate discounts effectively.

You can also use this data to improve your marketing strategies, design personalized shopper experiences, and create products that buyers want.

How To Create And Promote An Influencer Discount Code

Creating an effective influencer code strategy needs planning. You must set up a system that helps you track relevant data, including code usage. You don’t want users to take advantage of the discount and use it repeatedly.

So, when you create influencer codes, keep these tips in mind:

• Keep it short, simple, and easy to remember.
• Clearly link the unique code to the influencer partner. You could consider including their name and the discount they will receive. For example, ADELE50%, or, for dollar off discounts, ADELE$15.
• Use an eCommerce platform that allows you to create discount codes. Shopify enables vendors to make up to 20 million discount codes.
• Find a platform with automation. It’s possible to manage codes with a CMS or spreadsheets manually, but it will take up a lot of time. Tailored automation systems will make it easier to track all data from your campaign.
• Define added parameters and conditions and communicate them with users. For example, carts may have to have a minimum spend for the promo codes to work. You need to set this restriction as you create the influencer codes so the discount doesn’t go through without the minimum amount. However, you also need to make it clear to consumers that this is the case to avoid frustration, confusion, and poor customer experience.
• Market the promo codes, too! Yes, it’s an influencer campaign and they have the responsibility to promote discount codes. But, you should share it on your own website and social media as well. The more visibility, the better!

Remember To Track Your Discount Codes

We’ve said it once, twice… probably more times, but you HAVE TO track the discount codes for your influencer marketing campaign.

If you don’t, you lose out on many of the benefits we mentioned before and struggle to control the campaign.

Here are some things you should track:

• Which influencer resulted in the most sales or revenue?
• Which of your products were purchased the most?
• Were there specific types of influencers that your products sold well with?
• Which social media platform did the most sales come from? For example, did you get more sales from your Instagram influencers or from Youtubers with discount codes?

Tracking these types of things is essential for effective management. You can see which codes work best and for which type of influencer. Analyzing this data can help you refine your strategies and create better campaigns in the future.

Final Thoughts

People love to have and use the same items as their trusted influencers. So, by partnering with influencers and providing a discount code, you can leverage this relationship. Using influencer discount codes helps to increase your brand’s reach and encourages more people to buy your products.

But, what matters when it comes to using discount codes is what you’re trying to achieve through your influencer marketing campaign. Are you looking to get more traffic, trying to learn how to improve your customer experience, or what products buyers prefer? Or, perhaps you just want to increase sales.

Knowing what you want to gain from influencer campaigns helps you focus your vision and guides your data tracking and analysis. It is the foundation for any great social media marketing effort because it helps you remain consistent.

We can help you find the perfect influencers to collaborate with. Try out our free trial here.