Mobile Couponing
Consumer Packaged Goods
The Challenge
An American consumer packaged goods company who had been a long-term client of MSA’s Direct Marketing Platform (DMP) solution asked MSA to add mobile couponing capabilities to their program so as to enhance coupon redemptions among consumers. Up until then, their program focused mainly on sending paper coupons via traditional mailers.
What Did MSA Do
MSA expanded and added several key elements to its DMP to allow for mobile couponing:
- Expanded its DMP IT infrastructure to include web hosting services to allow for mobile coupon websites, as well as various service and support APIs via Amazon Web Services®.
- Developed from scratch a geo-based mobile coupon app compatible with both iPhone® and Android® smartphones. Geocoding allows for the identification and exact location of nearby coupon-accepting retail stores.
- With both a mobile coupon website and a geo-based mobile coupon app, consumers had two ways to initiate coupon access and usage:
- Consumers were sent emails with a link to access the Client’s custom mobile coupon website. They then accessed the website anytime via their smartphone’s web browser, and logged-in with their email-ID and password.
- For the mobile coupon app, consumers downloaded the Client’s custom mobile coupon app to their smartphone. They then accessed the app anytime, and logged-in with their PIN number.
- With either mobile couponing usage option, consumers were able to redeem offers by displaying digital coupons containing barcodes from their smartphones at checkout.
- The final key element was an upgrade to MSA’s proprietary NaviGATE™ technology to handle all of the interactions between various APIs and DMP servers that enabled mobile couponing functions, such as displaying nearby stores, viewing and selecting digital coupon offers, displaying coupon barcodes and submission of redemptions.
The Results
- Within the first 5 months of the nationwide launch, more than 13,000 consumers redeemed a total of 113,000 digital coupons, exceeding expectations.
- On average, each participating consumer redeemed about 9 digital coupons during the period.
- This equates to nearly 2 digital coupon redemptions per consumer per month.
- 46% of digital coupon redeemers were new to the brand’s couponing efforts, having never used the Client’s traditional paper coupons.
- The program skewed younger, with 65% of redeemers under age 50 and 25% under age 35.


