Sales coupons for your dealerships website have been around for some time. There are several providers that offer them as an add-on feature (edealertools, Zablo, etc.) for your existing dealership website and there are a few that incorporate coupons as a major function of their dealership website.

*Please keep in mind that I am referring to a money savings sales coupon and not a service department coupon.

So what is the purpose of a money savings sales coupon? Are they really beneficial to have? Do shoppers find them as a valuable feature of your dealerships website?

If your website has the right formula for conversion and you have the right follow-up process ..is a coupon really necessary or are you just giving up front end gross?

I have shared my different views below;

1. Conversion - different people answer to different call the actions. Where one shopper might be triggered to "Get a quote" another shopper might be more interested to "Schedule a test drive". The right call to actions, the better your website conversion. "Click here for a "Savings Coupon" is another call to action that could cause interest and convert that shopper into a lead.

2. Tracking - Since many dealers have separate Internet sales departments or an individual internet salesperson, we know too well that argument between the sales floor and the Internet sales department to claim the customer. If the customer has that coupon...well, 1 point for the Internet sales department and Internet Marketing.

How much persuasion can a sales coupon really have? If a shopper is on your website and does not find what they want, is it possible they could be persuaded by a coupon to give up their name, number and email? Would you give your personal information for a coupon for something you're not interested in?

If a customer sees what they want and you have already converted the customer into a lead, then they stumble across the coupon, have you just handed over some gross that maybe you otherwise would not have had to do?

Please share your comments and opinions at www.dealerrefresh.com