A Hosted Coupons Referral Service from Curebit
Curebit’s service enables online retailers to reward buyers with a post-purchase coupon at checkout. It also enables the immediate sharing of the coupon via social networks.
By Alpa Agarwal on Sun, 09/25/11 - 3:13pm.Curebit is a simple idea: a service that enables an online retailer to serve a coupon after the buyer has checked out, which can then immediately be shared through their social networks. Co-founder Allan Grant likes to think of Curebit as a referral service; coupons and rebates are just the starting point of things that can be referred.
Say I go to DiamondCandles.com, a current Curebit customer. I am served a coupon on the Thank You page post-purchase. I can immediately share this coupon with friends. To redeem the coupon, each friend accesses a Curebit URL and after registration, receives an email with the coupon code. The coupon is a single-use coupon, thereby reinforcing its value and each coupon has an expiration date. Curebit’s research shows the magic number of days post-purchase is three. There is even a countdown timer to enhance the perception of urgency. And both the buyer and their friends can redeem the coupon.
Authenticity is a key value that defines the Curebit service. The buyer is rewarded for the referral, but post-purchase. “The message Grant wants buyers to convey to friends is that, “I purchased from this store at regular price because I like the store and its product. I think you'd like it too, and now we both get to save money!” Grant believes that in addition to increased revenue, Curebit will also enhance an online retailer’s net promoter score.
Rebates work similarly. The difference is that after redemption, the dollar value of the rebate is credited back to the buyer and their friend’s PayPal accounts.
Curebit is available through a variety of services such as eBay's Magento, Shopify, OpenCart, ZenCart, UberCart and others.
Curebit offers monthly subscription plans starting at $50 per month for up to 500 transactions to custom solutions that are commission-based.
Curebit's idea is simple: a hosted referral service for coupons and rebates, with sharing via email and social networks.
Curebit's Hosted Referral Service for Coupons and Rebates
- About The Social Enterprise
Alpa Agarwal is Director, Product Marketing at eBay Inc. In her role she works with the engineering team to release new features to enhance the shopping user experience on eBay.com. Prior to eBay, Alpa worked with the engineering team at Microsoft's MSN.com to release new social & community features, working with partners such as Facebook.
Alpa has also held marketing communications roles in Microsoft's developer division working with startups.
Prior to that, Alpa led a global team at Microsoft to identify market trends. She regularly advised Microsoft’s senior leadership team, including Bill Gates, resulting in new acquisitions, technology investments and strategic corporate shifts.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Alpa founded MarketingCafe.com, an online community for marketers. She also worked at Sprint where she built a successful new product pipeline.
Alpa has taught in various Executive MBA programs, authored numerous articles and been quoted in international business journals. She has an MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Alpa is based in Silicon Valley and can be reached at Alpa@AlpaAgarwal.com.
Most Discussed Posts
-
Network World, Inc
The Connected Enterprise