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You know how important coupons can be to your marketing strategy — but have you ever been burned by a poorly planned one?
Every yard of fabric, every notions kit, and every class enrollment is an opportunity for growth. While common sense might tell you that coupons drive sales, as a quilt shop owner — someone who meticulously tracks bolts of fabric, manages class schedules, and curates kits — you need to know how to use them effectively.
Coupons are powerful tools for managing inventory, boosting class sign-ups, and strengthening customer loyalty.
In this blog, we’ll explore four specific strategies for using coupons to grow your business, followed by common mistakes to avoid.
Let’s dive in.
1. Attract and Engage New Quilters
New customers are the lifeline of your business. While 93% of shoppers use coupons or discount codes annually, the key is attracting the right customers — those who may become long-term, high-value shoppers.
Draw in the Locals
Instead of a generic “20% off,” offer a coupon that gets a new quilter in the door. Examples include “50% off your first half-yard of premium cotton” or “Free introductory rotary cutter with any purchase of notions over $25.” Targeted offers like these attract customers who are actively looking to start a new project.
Collect Data With Purpose
Use coupons during the customer acquisition stage to gather valuable information. Offer a “First-Cut Coupon” redeemable in-store or online in exchange for an email address and birthday. This way, you’re not only making a sale, but also building a list of customers who respond to coupons — perfect for future targeted marketing campaigns.
Related Read: 7 Quilt Store Marketing Strategies To Implement Today
2. Move Inventory and Fill Classes
Coupons are a great tool for balancing your stockroom and filling empty seats in your sewing classroom. When used strategically, they can turn slow-moving inventory into cash and free up space for new products.
Clear Out Slow-Moving Fabric
Use limited-time coupons to move seasonal or slow-selling bolts of fabric. Instead of deep markdowns that hurt margins, offer a “Buy Three Yards, Get the Fourth Free” coupon on specific fabric collections. It increases the average transaction value (ATV) while clearing inventory.
Boost Class Enrollment
If you have a beginner piecing class starting next week with only two sign-ups, offer a “Bring a Quilting Friend” bundled coupon. Research shows you can sell up to 73% more product by offering bonus packs. In this case, you sell two class seats at a slight discount, filling your roster and introducing a new potential customer to your shop.
Promote Larger Purchases
Offer a coupon for a discount on a specific category, such as “15% off all batting and backing.” This encourages customers to buy a quilt-top kit to complete their project with everything from your store, increasing the overall value of the sale.
3. Grow Loyalty and Brand Trust
Loyalty is earned through quality materials and a trustworthy community. Coupons act as a tangible ‘thank you’ that invites customers to come back.
Encourage Repeat Visits
Use bounce-back coupons — a small coupon printed on your receipt or emailed shortly after a purchase — like “$5 off your next purchase of $30 or more.” Since the customer has already shopped with you, this incentive encourages them to come back sooner for their next supply run.
Reward Special Occasions
Customers feel valued when you acknowledge milestones like birthdays. An automated “Happy Birthday — Here’s 20% Off” coupon delivered via email strengthens relationships and drives additional purchases.
4. Reach More Quilters With Digital and Print Coupons
Connecting coupons to customers is easier than ever thanks to the growth in digital savings. While newspaper inserts were once the main method, online and mobile coupons have skyrocketed. Today, you have more ways than ever to get coupons into the hands of local quilters — and you can combine digital and print methods for maximum impact.
Target Digital Campaigns
Use automated emails and SMS messaging to deliver relevant coupons. For example, send a bounce-back coupon shortly after a kit purchase, such as “15% off notions on your next visit.” This makes the most of digital growth while reaching customers based on their specific quilting needs.
Leverage Print Coupons
Don’t rule out physical coupons. Studies show that print offers can be just as effective as digital ones. A beautifully designed “fat-quarter coupon” for 20% off, handed out in-store or at a local guild meeting, serves as a tangible reminder to come back to your store.
Share on Social and in the Community
Promote coupons for new classes or seasonal fabric lines on social media. A well-timed offer can draw quilters away from competitors and into your shop, whether online or in person. Coupons give hesitant new customers an easy opportunity to connect with your quilt store and its community.
Related Read: How To Start a Quilting Club in Your Fabric Store
Common Coupon Mistakes To Avoid
Coupons can be a powerful driver of new business, but if you use them incorrectly, they can hurt your margins and brand.
Here are some of the common mistakes quilt shop owners make:
- Over-discounting high-margin items: Training customers to expect sales on your most profitable products (e.g., patterns, specialized notions) can lower overall profit.
- Forgetting expiration dates: Outdated coupons circulating forever result in unexpected and unmanageable discounts, especially if a product’s cost has changed.
- Failing to segment customers: Sending a “new customer” coupon to a long-time, loyal shopper can feel insulting and lead to higher churn among your best customers.
- Ignoring the financial impact: Issuing discounts without tracking the true cost of the coupon — the redemption rate multiplied by the discount value — erodes net profits.
- Creating vague terms or fine print: Unclear coupon rules (e.g., “15% off notions”) can lead to disputes at the register, customer confusion, and slower checkout.
- Neglecting promotion: Creating a great offer but failing to promote it through multiple channels (email, social, in-store signage, and local guilds) results in low redemption rates and wasted effort.
Create Successful Coupons With Like Sew
Like Sew is an all-in-one point of sale (POS) system that solves your coupon struggles. With features like inventory management, customer purchase history tracking, and personalized marketing tools, our cloud-based software helps you run your store.
Here’s how Like Sew makes creating coupons easy:
- Product and category controls: The POS system lets you exclude high-margin items, specific brands, or even entire categories (like new fabric lines) from a coupon offer to protect your profits.
- Built-in expiration and tracking: Every coupon created in Like Sew is linked to a clear expiration date, and the system automatically invalidates codes past that date, ensuring only timely discounts are honored.
- Automated segmentation reports: Like Sew’s reporting and email automation tools — for Bring ’Em Back, Birthday, and Bounce-Back coupons — segment customers based on purchase history, making it easy to target loyal customers with exclusive, value-added rewards rather than generic discounts.
- Financial impact tracking: Use the integrated reporting feature to automatically calculate the impact of every coupon. The system tracks the exact discount given to quickly identify profitable promotions and cut those that erode margins.
- Clear terms and conditions: Like Sew’s coupon creation interface requires clearly defined, mandatory parameters for every discount, including minimum purchase amounts, eligible products and categories, and clear expiration dates. The fine print is managed by the system, reducing register disputes and speeding up checkout.
- Multichannel marketing: Leverage Like Sew’s seamless integration with email and SMS marketing tools. The software lets you create coupon codes and distribute them across email campaigns, social media posts, and physical prints. This way, you can reach your target audience on every relevant channel.
A smart system such as Like Sew supports a strategic approach that keeps your coupon strategy firmly focused on growth.
Schedule a demo today to see how you can add coupons to your marketing plan.
by Spencer Wright
