Coupons? Isn't that for old ladies who have 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 promotional codes. Do you still think this is a trick for your grandmother's generation?
Today's coupons are powered by cutting-edge technologies and facilitated through the latest devices, for a cutting-edge experience that offers a fast, easy and convenient method to find, use and save money with coupons.
Now that you're sold on the idea, the only question is which coupon sites and apps will actually save you money? Check out some ways you can separate the fries from the real McCoy so he can find all the real deals and super savings he's looking for.
Savings Style
How the app works and what types of coupons are available is the first place to start when ranking a site. Does the service offer printable coupons, scannable coupons or linked coupons? Are there also discounts or just coupon codes? Groupon offers downloadable vouchers that are very convenient for instant purchases and direct shipping makes this site a real winner. Meanwhile, RetailMeNot, an industry giant, offers more than 500,000 deals at any given time, along with gift cards, in-store and online discounts, so you can find exactly the kind of savings you prefer. Plus, Coupon.com's simple print format is a nice touch that not all other sites have thought of.
Range of Stores
Everyone has their favorite stores where they love to shop, and a platform that offers you discounts at these locations will be the big winner for you. Some coupon apps focus primarily on grocery savings, while others cover the spectrum from appliances to furniture to clothing. Unless you're planning specialty shopping, the best sites are those that offer a wide range of stores to choose from. Of course, the big names in the industry, like RetailMeNot, have a huge selection and work with over 130,000 retailers to offer a complete couponing experience. If you want to try some of the smaller (but no less useful) sites, check out coupon aggregators like Money Saving Mom or SlickDeals. These are apps that collect coupons (and rate them) from other coupon sites and also have private deals with retailers like Target, Macy's, Amazon and T-Mobile, so customers get the most for their money every time they shop.
How Good are the Deals?
This aspect is definitely a bit biased depending on the industry and buyer. Some sites offer great deals, but if they're not the right type of deal for you, they won't be very attractive to you. In general, look for an app with a strong, vocal community (more on this below) and significant savings. LivingSocial, which allows you to save up to 90% off, is a good example of this type of combination.
Tools & Additional Features
Unless you want to do a lot of work on your own, the various tools and features that a coupon app gives you will really make the difference between something you should download and something you should simply skip. Good apps are feature-rich and packed with useful resources and tools to make the app easier to use. From list builders to grocery card syncing, here are some cool tools to keep an eye on.
RetailMeNot
allows shoppers to customize and save lists of favorite items so they can always see when they are on sale. Plus, their algorithm is geocentric, so you get the local offers that are most relevant to you. Speaking of lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady does it well too. In addition to allowing you to set up your own custom shopping lists, The Krazy Coupon Lady will sync those lists across devices so you can share them with your spouse or control your lists from multiple devices. Krazy Coupon Lady is also a great source for frugal living. They provide tutorials, money-saving tips, and videos like the entertaining 10-Day Guide to Becoming a Coupon Master. The real deal breaker here is the YouTube channel that features all of these videos. Hip2Save is another app that offers great savings educational resources, with entire sections dedicated to recipes, couponing skills, and other savings tips.
Other sites like SlickDeals have perks like a dedicated Black Friday app (also a mobile app so that you can take your savings on the go) that focus exclusively on deals for that tremendous shopping day of the year.
We found Coupon.com’s grocery store card hookup particularly impressive. This feature allows you to link coupons you want to your grocery cards so that they are automatically subtracted from your total when you shop at that store. Coupon.com also has a useful Smart Savings calculator so you can actually see how much you are saving with your couponing and exclusive credit card deals.
Social Aspect
Of course, couponing has become much more than clipping squares from a newspaper. Today, the industry revolves around social media and is also heavily influenced by these circles. The easier and more involved the community, the better an experience you are likely to have. Some apps like SlickDeals and Woot have large, active communities. What's nice about that is the fact that the members are the ones reviewing the coupons, so you know you are getting current deals. If an offer is subpar, expired, or invalid for some reason, you'll hear about it through the helpful advisor community. SlickDeals even has a rating system for their coupons, and only the best make it to the homepage. Woot community members are extremely active, offering a lot of detail about products they bought and whether deals are worthwhile or not.
Alerts & Notifications
This is one of the modern conveniences that really separates traditional couponing from the contemporary version. No more pouring over pages of advertisements to find good deals. Today, you can simply set an alert and receive notifications when items you like go on sale. Technology really is a wonderful thing. An app with good alerts settings and notifications scores a lot of points. Something like SlickDeals will let users customize their alert categories, so the type of products you're in the market for ping when on sale. LivingSocial will give members a general email with the hottest daily deals to look out for, and DealNews lets you set alerts for specified items.
User Friendliness
Finally, you want your experience to be smooth and easy. After all, one of the primary reasons you're using a couponing app is to save time and headaches from going the more traditional route. We found SlickDeal’s site particularly easy to navigate, with a smart search bar and sections like popular posts and trending deals front and center in their clean setup. Coupon.com also offers zip code search for fast local deals. DealNews was also really easy to navigate, utilizing simple drop-down menus and good categorization. Hip2Save has deals always as the main focus on the homepage, and you can quickly browse deals by store, product type, favorites, and organized lists. Last but not least, the Money Saving Mom lets you sort coupons by retailer, item, or expiration.
Shopping in the 21st century just keeps getting better and better. So, take advantage of smart couponing apps, and save more now.