October 3, 2007
CouponCowgirl
New coupon aggregator site CouponCowgirl.com launched last week and is generating praise for its design, personality and user-friendliness. The site targets popular apparel, consumer electronic and flower and gift brands, serving consumers by compiling online discounts for hundreds of retailers in one location.
The site launch was more successful than anticipated. ”The response we’ve received so far from consumers and advertisers has been encouraging,” said Couponcowgirl.com co-founder Heather Foley. Co-founder Kathryn Frankel adds, “I’m especially excited about our blog, CCG ShopTalk, because it gives us an opportunity to interact with our visitors. We didn’t want to be just another coupon site - we want to build a relationship with fellow savvy online shoppers.”
As more and more consumers turn to online shopping, coupon sites are growing in popularity. “In the past, the problem with coupons was that often you had to do extra work to get the discount. In the real world, finding the best deal can be exhausting, but online, with Couponcowgirl.com gathering all the best deals and putting them in one place, consumers really benefit,” said Foley.
Couponcowgirl.com founders are Chicago-based women who understand the value of a good deal. “Everyone loves to save money, whether on a splurge or something they would buy anyway, but tracking down a discount can be time consuming. That’s what makes our site so successful—we do the work for you,” said Frankel.
For those who are unfamiliar with using online discount offers, Couponcowgirl.com offers a detailed “How To” as well as a savings calculator. And while the site’s name suggests a largely female audience, shoppers will find discounts on goods and services for both men and women in the Cowboy Steals section.
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We spoke to Kathryn about CouponCowgirl.com, what makes it unique, and what makes them create CouponCowgirl.com:
What makes it unique?
CouponCowgirl.com is unique for several reasons -
1) We provide users with tools like the savings calculator, which we have yet to see on any other coupon site. Although most people know what $5 off means, not everyone knows how to convert a percentage into an actual dollar amount savings and the calculator make that easy. Plus, we want users to be able to compare offers across different merchants so they can really be savvy about the offer they choose and their purchase decision. We also like to think of our blog as a tool in which we will be sharing useful information to users about how to really get a bargain online (ie stacking codes, shopping at discounted sites like Overstock.com and applying a discount code on talready reduced prices, etc.)
2) The site is SO easy to use. Many coupon sites rely heavily on data feeds to create content for their sites and have little to no organization around their offers. They're goal is to push the offers that they think will make them the most money whether the offers are relevant or not. We know when consumers come to our site, they're looking for something specific, so we designed the site to be very intuitive so users could find what they want and get on with it.
3) The Luxury Brands and Cowboy Steals are two fun features that again I have yet to see on any other coupon sites. We created Cowboy Steals because we didn't want men to feel alienated from shopping on our site. We know that using the word "cowgirl" in our name might turn some boys off, so we made this section so they would know that we've got deals for them too and that they have a "home" on CouponCowgirl. Luxury Brands was created because some brand-protective merchants have an aversion to working with deal sites. Having the Luxury Brands section helps convey our commitment to brand integrity and protection. Plus, Luxury Brand merchants and consumers want to feel special and the LB section helps create a sense of exclusivity.
Why did you and Heather decide to create it?
Heather and I have a combined 8 years experience in the affiliate world and have been working with coupon sites and merchants for years. Over the years we really came to understand the give and take necessary between an affiliate site and a merchant to achieve success. Frankly, we were just plain frustrated with how many sites were doing it "wrong". We'd always talk about how we would do things better if we had an affiliate site, and that's how it started. Within two weeks of our first conversation we hired a designer and a programmer and we were on our way. Funny story about the name... Heather and I debated for weeks about what we would call our site. We knew we wanted it to be "coupon something". One day Heather walked in with a cute pair of urban cowboy boots on and I was teasing her, calling her cowgirl, etc. Then we jokingly said "Coupon Cowgirl" and we looked at each other and we knew that was it - the Cowgirl was born.
By Marcel Sim @ 7:41 AM | E-commerce | Comments (1) | Article Link
Posted by: Dave at October 4, 2007 2:12 PM
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