‘Your open rate is 100%’: Startups are turning to paper coupons to spur growth

Viv For Your V is one of a number of retail startups turning to paper coupons to raise awareness and boost revenue at a time when digital marketing costs are skyrocketing. Advertising on properties like Facebook and Instagram is getting increasingly expensive, while search and retail media are becoming more competitive. For companies with already-tight budgets, a tried-and-true, traditional media tactic like paper coupons can be an attractive bet.

Today, brands are issuing physical coupons as they expand into new markets and stores and compete with household names for attention, revenue and shelf space. Culture Pop, for instance, recently gave out coupons and free samples at a flea market in New York City near a supermarket where it’s competing with Olipop and Poppi. But brands are also giving paper coupons a refresh. Companies are using the medium in new ways, including A/B testing deals, installing unique codes on the back to track redemption and targeting certain households in much the same way that digital emails can.

“The marketing space and the brand space changes so quickly that we have to constantly try different things to see how we can reach people,” Karen Danudjaja, co-founder and CEO of superfood latte brand Blume, told Modern Retail. With paper coupons, she said, “We’re excited to bring back this old technique, but also to do something new and be in real life with customers, versus the digital world.”

‘You need people to try your product’

Blume, which is based in Canada, went into Whole Foods in the U.S. in 2024. But, Danudjaja explained, “The real problem in CPG is you need people to try your product. You need to activate people in store, and there are very few ways to do it. Getting on shelf is only half the battle. You have to stay there and make sure people can find you.”

Blume is betting on coupons to help with this. The brand introduced its SuperBelly hydration powder into Whole Foods in 2025, and to get people to try the product, it sent coupons to 2,500 households in California, timed to the July 4 weekend. But Blume also tried something new for the brand: bundling together with other CPG companies.

Blume worked with Daily Crunch, Freestyle Snacks and Nuts for Cheese on a group of coupons that mirrored the experience of a picnic, Danudjaja said. Each brand had its own coupon, either for a free product (in the case of Blume) or for at least 50% off a purchase. All coupons had to be redeemed at a Whole Foods.

Blume, which spearheaded the campaign and billed the other brands for their share, sent mailers to consumers who had a history of using coupons and lived near one of four California Whole Foods locations. Blume and its partners bet that by bundling coupons together in an envelope, people would be more likely to redeem the deals.

“I think if you send one random coupon that’s, like, $2 off, very few people are actually going to take that and get in their car,” Danudjaja said. The experiment was also financially sound for everyone, she said. “The cost, split up between the different brands, was the equivalent of two demos where we might only sample 50 people.”

While Blume is still tracking redemption for its picnic coupons, early numbers are promising, Danudjaja said. Now, it’s eager to scale the scheme in “multiple regions and multiple retailers,” she said.

“We already have a strong social program, and we’re already doing digital ads,” Danudjaja explained. “But I think it’s really important that people hold something [like a coupon]. Even if they throw it in the bin, your open rate is 100%.”

Building reach

Viv For Your V — also new to Whole Foods — only recently started offering paper coupons, the brand told Modern Retail. Viv For Your V didn’t expect the medium to take off as much as it did, Diasti said. Now, she said, “Coupons are allowing us to think about where we show up and how we show up.”

“We’ve done different distribution strategies with coupons, … and it’s been exciting to see,” Kelly Donohue, marketing and design director at Viv For Your V, told Modern Retail. “Any time there’s an event that we’re part of, or a goodie bag that we can be included in, we’ve passed out physical coupons,” she explained. “I recently spoke at Northeastern [University, in Boston] to a club. At the end, we gave out ‘buy one, get one free’ menstrual cup coupons, and the students were literally cheering.”

Viv For Your V is a small team, with only a handful of employees, so it tries to figure out “how to have the biggest reach,” Donohue said. Coupons are helping the brand with this goal. In April, for instance, Viv For Your V sent 500 coupons to Whole Foods managers at 45 stores across the country, in tandem with a larger Whole Foods promotion for the body-care category.

Since first sending the coupons in the spring, Viv For Your V saw a 20% month-over-month lift in sales at a Whole Foods in Portland, Maine. Meanwhile, coupons lifted the brand’s sales in a Washington state Whole Foods by 36%. The coupons do not have an expiration date, and people are still redeeming them, Donohue and Diasti noted.

The importance of value

As retailers grapple with tariffs and implement price hikes, some consumers are being more cautious with their money. Capital One Shopping recently found that 39% of Americans would buy a new brand because of a coupon. Meanwhile, Gartner found that 33% of consumers reported using coupons last year, in response to an increased cost of living.

Brad Jashinsky, retail director analyst at Gartner, told Modern Retail that he’s “definitely” seeing a rise in coupons and direct mail from brands. “Coupons are back in vogue because consumers are shopping around, and they’re looking for value,” he said. But he stressed that coupons have to be alluring enough for customers to want to use them and remember to bring them to the store.

“Is your deal enough to get somebody’s attention? And does it scream value?” Jashinsky asked. This pertains to both money and convenience, he said. For instance, giving out a coupon at a retailer, like a Whole Foods or a Costco, makes it easier for people to redeem a deal then and there. “The customer journey for that coupon has a lot less hurdle,” Jashinsky said.

Overall, Jashinsky said, “There’s been a lot more scrutinization of the deals, and we’re seeing brands continue to test coupons out to see, ‘Hey, does this offer actually resonate?'”