Coupons? Isn’t this for older women with too much free time and more cats than they know what to do with? According to a recent study, consumers save $3.4 billion a year by using coupons and promo codes. Still think this is something your grandmother’s generation used?
Today’s coupons are packed with cutting-edge technology and are used on the latest devices, offering an innovative experience that makes it quick, easy, and convenient to find, use, and save money.
Now that you’re convinced, the only question is which coupon sites and apps will actually help you save. Discover how to separate the good from the bad so you can find the best deals and big savings you’re looking for.
Savings Style
The app’s functionality and the types of coupons available are the first steps in evaluating a site. Does it offer printable, scannable, or linked coupons? Does it also offer discounts or just coupon codes? Groupon offers downloadable coupons that are great for instant purchases, and the immediate delivery makes this site a winner. Meanwhile, RetailMeNot, an industry giant, offers over 500,000 deals at any given time, in addition to gift cards and discounts at physical and online stores, so you can find the right kind of savings. Plus, Coupon.com’s easy-to-print format is a feature that not all sites have taken into account.
Range of Stores
We all have our favorite stores, and a platform that offers discounts at those locations would be a great advantage. Some coupon apps focus primarily on supermarket discounts, while others include everything from home appliances to furniture and clothing. If you don’t plan on shopping at specialty stores, the best sites are those that offer a wide variety of stores. Of course, the big names in the industry, like RetailMeNot, have a huge selection and partner with over 130,000 retailers to offer a comprehensive coupon experience. If you want to try smaller (but no less useful) sites, check out coupon aggregators like Money Saving Mom or SlickDeals. These apps collect (and evaluate) coupons from other coupon sites and also offer exclusive deals with stores like Target, Macy’s, Amazon, and T-Mobile, so customers get the most bang for their buck on every purchase.
How Good are the Deals?
This largely depends on the industry and the shopper. Some sites offer great deals, but if they don’t meet your needs, they won’t be very appealing. In general, look for an app with an active and engaged community (more on that below) and significant savings. LivingSocial, which allows you to save up to 90%, is a good example of this combination.
Tools & Additional Features
If you’re not ready to put in the time, the various tools and features a coupon app offers can make the difference between downloading it and rejecting it. Good apps are comprehensive and packed with helpful resources and tools that make them easier to use. From list builders to grocery card syncing, here are some cool features to consider.
RetailMeNot
lets shoppers personalize and save lists of their favorite products so they always know when they’re on sale. Plus, its algorithm is geo-targeted, so you get the most relevant local deals. Speaking of lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady also does a great job. In addition to letting you create your own shopping lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady syncs them across devices so you can share them with your partner or manage them across multiple devices. Krazy Coupon Lady is also a great source of money-saving information. They offer tutorials, money-saving tips, and videos like the hilarious “10-Day Guide to Becoming a Coupon Expert.” Their YouTube channel, which includes all of these videos, is truly remarkable. Hip2Save is another app that offers excellent educational resources on savings, with entire sections dedicated to recipes, couponing techniques, and other money-saving tips.
Other sites, like SlickDeals, offer perks like a dedicated Black Friday app (also available for mobile so you can access your savings wherever you are) that focuses exclusively on deals for that big shopping day of the year.
We found Coupon.com’s integration with grocery cards to be particularly impressive. This feature allows you to link your favorite coupons to your grocery cards so they’re automatically deducted from your total when you shop at that store. Coupon.com also has a handy smart savings calculator so you can see how much you’re saving with your coupons and exclusive credit card offers.
Social Aspect
Of course, couponing has become much more than just clipping squares out of the newspaper. Today, the industry revolves around and is heavily influenced by social media. The more accessible and engaged the community, the better your experience will be. Some apps, like SlickDeals and Woot, have large and active communities. The great thing is that the coupons are reviewed by members, so you know you’re getting valid deals. If an offer isn’t good, has expired, or is invalid for some reason, you’ll find out through a helpful community of advisors. SlickDeals even has its own coupon rating system, and only the best ones are featured on the homepage. Woot’s community members are extremely active and provide a lot of detail about the products they buy and whether the deals are worth it.
Alerts & Notifications
This is one of the modern conveniences that really sets the traditional couponing experience apart from the modern version. You no longer have to scroll through pages and pages of ads to find good deals. Today, you can set up alerts and receive notifications when products you’re interested in go on sale. Technology is truly amazing. An app with good alerts and notification options scores big points. Apps like SlickDeals allow users to customize their notification categories so they get notified when products they’re interested in go on sale. LivingSocial sends its members a general email with the best daily deals, while DealNews lets you set up notifications for specific products.
User Friendliness
Ultimately, the experience should be seamless and simple. After all, one of the main reasons to use a coupon app is to save time and avoid the hassle compared to traditional methods. We found SlickDeals to be particularly easy to navigate, with a smart search box and sections like popular posts and trending deals clearly visible in its clean design. Coupon.com also offers a zip code search to quickly find local deals. DealNews was also very user-friendly, thanks to its simple listings and good categorization. Hip2Save always highlights deals on its homepage, and you can quickly search by store, product type, favorites, and organized lists. Plus, Money Saving Mom lets you sort coupons by store, product, or expiration date.
Shopping just keeps getting better in the 21st century. Aug
