The last year has seen an explosion in the distribution of promotional coupons and vouchers via the internet, what with the arrival in the UK of Groupon, the launch of sites and apps like Vouchercloud and beforeIshop, the popularity of deal sharing sites like moneysavingexpert. com and the spread of platforms which let consumers print coupons at home.

But there are significant differences between putting a money-off coupon in a magazine or newspaper and putting one online: and marketers need to know what they’re doing, otherwise they could find themselves giving away more than they had planned.

Jo Challis, product and marketing director of CouponStar, says: “The biggest challenge to any online activity is ensuring that enough of your target audience engages with your brand online, and in the most effective way so as to influence in-store behaviour.”

CouponStar operates an online platform which brands and agencies can use to distribute print-at-home coupons and also runs the consumer facing beforeIshop portal, where consumers can search for discount coupons and vouchers and also voucher codes.

Some brands using beforeIshop and similar sites demand that consumers ‘earn’ their coupons – for example, by watching an ad or filling in a survey. But Challis warns that sometimes “the brand asks too much for too little reward – asking someone to watch a two minute video for a 30p-off coupon, for example.”

If brands are going to ask consumers to do something before they get a coupon, then “the value exchange needs to be balanced, so that the consumer feels appropriately rewarded for their time and attention”: if not, then “brands will be disappointed with the volume of coupons they are able to distribute.”

Simon White, a director at Campaign Marketing, stresses that there may be extra security issues involved with putting coupons online. White argues that online offers marketers “exponentially-increased media options for distributing [coupons] in a targeted and creative way.”

He warns, however, that “there are inevitably certain security issues that need to be taken into account. The bottom line ultimately is that if someone has ‘criminal intent’ then there’s very little you can do to stop them abusing a coupon initially, although you can apply sanctions retrospectively though efficient tracking of coupons distributed through any media.”

Campaign Marketing has a joint venture with promotional risk management company Opia called Coupon2Shop, which is an online platform for secure print-at-home coupons.

Matt Butcher, director at promotional risk management company PIMS-SCA, argues that online coupons can offer “a lower cost and more efficient way of both delivering and tracking coupon use” than traditional print ones. PIMS-SCA also believes online couponing allows brands to react much faster to “unforeseen competitor product launches or new promotions – online coupons should be one of the first tools they turn to in order to respond at speed.”

But there is a danger, Butcher stresses, that issuing coupons online to a mass audience could train consumers to become brand promiscuous. “With sites like Groupon and beforeIshop, consumers can just come and go, selecting whichever they feel are the best offers, and the brand has no idea who they are. This isn’t necessarily generating loyalty and long-term custom for the promoter”.

Simon Kent, joint managing director of promotional agency Applied Intelligent Marketing puts it even more bluntly: “The ‘monster’ that is coming over the hill is quite simply too many discounts available to potential buyers [with the result] that the original market retail price becomes completely eroded and buyers are only prepared to purchase if they can get a deal. Effectively the ‘sale’ is on 24/7/365.”

Sam Cece, chairman and chief executive officer of email and social media solutions provider StrongMail, also worries that consumers are being encouraged to shop around for deals, particularly by group deals sites.

But he then outlines what for many UK brands could be an even worse scenario: “What are the barriers to entry for group buying sites like Groupon? E-mail. What’s to prevent a Tesco or a WalMart from doing it for themselves? We’re currently talking to 12 large retailers that are looking at doing just that.”