Coupons? Isn’t that what older women with too much free time and more cats than they can handle need? According to a recent study, consumers save $3.4 billion a year by using coupons and promo codes. Still think that’s a thing of the past?
Today’s coupons are powered by cutting-edge technology and are available 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 distinguish between misleading offers and real deals to 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 the service offer printable coupons, scannable coupons, or coupons with links? Are there any discounts or just coupon codes? Groupon offers downloadable coupons that are great for instant purchases, and the immediate delivery makes this site a great option. Meanwhile, RetailMeNot, an industry giant, offers over 500,000 deals at any given time, in addition to gift cards and discounts for both physical and online stores, so you can find exactly what you’re looking for. Plus, Coupon.com’s easy-to-print format is a handy feature that not all sites offer.
Range of Stores
We all have our favorite stores, and a platform that offers discounts there is ideal. Some coupon apps focus primarily on savings at supermarkets, while others include everything from appliances and furniture to clothing. Unless you’re planning on doing some specialty shopping, the best sites are those that offer a wide variety of stores. Of course, big brands 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 equally 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 from stores like Target, Macy’s, Amazon, and T-Mobile so customers can get the most out of their money every time they shop.
How Good are the Deals?
This is quite subjective and depends on the industry and the shopper. Some sites offer incredible deals, but if they’re not right for you, they won’t be appealing. In general, look for an app that has an active and engaged community (more on that below) and one that offers significant discounts. LivingSocial, which lets you save up to 90%, is a good example of this combination.
Tools & Additional Features
If you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching on your own, the various tools and features a coupon app offers can make the difference between downloading it and rejecting it. Good apps are comprehensive and have helpful resources and tools that make them easy to use. From creating lists to syncing with your shopping cart, here are some cool features to consider.
RetailMeNot
lets shoppers personalize and save lists of their favorite products so they always see when they’re on sale. Plus, its algorithm is geo-centric, so you get the most relevant local deals. Speaking of lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady also excels at that. In addition to allowing you to create your own personalized shopping lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady syncs them across devices so you can share them with your partner or manage them from multiple devices. Krazy Coupon Lady is also a great source of money-saving tips. They offer tutorials, money-saving tips, and videos, like the hilarious “10-Day Guide to Becoming a Coupon Expert.” Best of all, their YouTube channel features all of these videos. Hip2Save is another app that offers excellent educational resources on saving, with entire sections dedicated to recipes, couponing techniques, and other money-saving tips.
Other sites, like SlickDeals, have advantages like a dedicated Black Friday app (also available for mobile, so you can take advantage of your savings wherever you go) that focuses exclusively on the deals on that big shopping day of the year.
We found Coupon.com’s integration with grocery store discount cards particularly impressive. This feature lets you link coupons to your grocery store cards so they’re automatically deducted from your total purchase 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 cutting out newspaper ads. Today, the industry revolves around and is heavily influenced by social media. The more accessible and engaged the community, the better the experience. Some apps, like SlickDeals and Woot, boast large and active communities. The great thing is that members rate the coupons themselves, so you know you’re taking advantage of current offers. If an offer is not good, has expired, or is invalid for some reason, you’ll know thanks to a helpful community of advisors. SlickDeals even has a rating system for its coupons, and only the best ones appear on the homepage. Woot’s community members are very active and share a lot of details about the products they buy and whether the offers are worth it.
Alerts & Notifications
This is one of the modern conveniences that really sets the traditional couponing 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 get notified when products you like are on sale. Technology is truly amazing. An app with good alerts and notifications is invaluable. Apps like SlickDeals allow you to customize alert categories so that you are notified when the products you are looking for are on sale. LivingSocial sends its members a general email with the best daily deals, while DealNews lets you set up alerts for specific products.
User Friendliness
Ultimately, you want your experience to be smooth and simple. After all, one of the main reasons to use a coupon app is to save time and avoid hassle. We found SlickDeals to be particularly easy to navigate, with a smart search box and sections like popular posts and featured deals, all in a clean design. Coupon.com also offers a zip code search to quickly find local deals. DealNews was also very easy to navigate, with clear listings and good categorization. Hip2Save always displays deals on the front page of its homepage, and you can quickly browse them by store, product type, favorites, and organized lists. Plus, Money Saving Mom lets you filter coupons by store, product, or expiration date.
Shopping in the 21st century just keeps getting better. So, take advantage of smart coupon apps and save more now.
