Its 2012, the world was just recovering from a 2008 economic crisis. Inflation was high, the cost of living was increasing and consumers were tightening their budgets. They were constantly looking for ways to save money, online.
There were many coupon platforms back then. But on most platforms, you had to go to the coupon site, search for the brand, and look for the coupons. People were getting it, but it wasn’t the most efficient way to do it.
That is when the Honey browser extension came in. It changed how people find coupons while shopping online and compare product prices. Here are some numbers to show where it stands today.
> 17 Million monthly active users
> 30,000+ brand collaborations
> $100 Million+ in revenue
> 17.9% average discount
> $126 average saving per user
Amazing, isn’t it? For just a browser extension, it’s a big number, right?
So, how do they do it?
In this article, we will discuss what made Honey( Now Paypal Honey) unique and what marketing strategies Honey uses to acquire customers.
So, let’s start with the beginning.
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The Beginning #
Honey was founded by Ryan Hudson and George Ruan in 2012. They developed an extension to automatically find the best coupons without having to go back and forth on the coupon platform. It offered customers the convenience to shop online and get discounts.
They had a bumpy yet amazing start. The company was still building the Honey extension and it was leaked on Reddit by one of its testers.
It gave the company a boost, and by the end of 2014, over 1 million users were already using it. Since then, PayPal Honey started to raise $40.8 Million from VCs till 2018 before getting acquired by PayPal.
They started leveraging digital marketing for growth. Paypal Honey’s marketing team invested heavily in podcasts and YouTube. Honey founders and marketing team have appeared in more than 100+ podcasts and 400+ YouTube channels. They strategically targeted niches like gaming, lifestyle, and entertainment, which perfectly aligned with their target audience.
This growth caught the eyes of PayPal. PayPal acquired Honey in 2020 for a whopping $4 Billion dollars. And it has been a great move for PayPal. They started promoting Honey to their users and according to CEO Dan Schulman, PayPal users have saved over $100 million dollars using Honey.
You must be thinking is that it, that’s the story of PayPal Honey’s growth? Well, NO!
There is so much more to it. That was just the tip of the iceberg. It launched some of the unique features and implemented marketing strategies to acquire customers. Let’s take a look at what made PayPal Honey unique and what are the marketing strategy it implemented.
👉 What makes PayPal’s Honey unique from other coupon platforms? #
Browser extension is one thing that makes them unique. But it’s not that that other coupon platforms didn’t have that. PayPal Honey used this extension to offer customers more than just a coupon, they offered some amazing features to help customers save more money while shopping online. Here is a list of them.
➣Automatic coupon application
You will find yourself looking for coupons to save some bucks. But it’s a complicated process, you have to find coupons and test them; some of them work and some of them don’t. So what Honey did is, they used technology to find coupons online and automatically apply the ones that offer the best discount rates. Honey automatically finds the best coupons specific to the product to save you money.
➣ Price History Tool
Looking at the price history is very important. Sometimes during the festive season, the prices go up and you end up spending more than you should. Honey added this feature to help you understand what is the best time to buy a product. So you can plan your budget accordingly.
➣Droplist Feature
It is one of the most amazing features when you are buying something you want and not something you need. You can just add items to the droplist and add a budget. Honey will automatically track the prices of these droplist items and alert you when the price drops to your desired price level. You get an email for a price drop and you can simply make a purchase from the link.
➣ Honey Gold rewards
Honey Gold rewards are like a cherry on the cake. You can earn gold reward coins on eligible purchases. This is over and above the discount that you get. You can use these gold reward coins to buy gift cards.
➣ Amazon’s best price
Amazon has many sellers selling the same product. So, it is hard to compare each and every seller. The honey extension will show you if a product is available at a lower price from other sellers. It will consider the factors like shipping cost and prime eligibility to give you the best price.
➣ Not limited to shopping
Honey browser extension is not limited to shopping online. You can order a pizza or book a flight and honey extension will automatically find coupons to help you save money.
➣ Honey smart shopping assistant
Honey moves beyond just the extension. You can use its smart shopping assistant on mobile app to earn rewards and save money online.
👉 Marketing strategies of PayPal Honey #
Honey instantly became popular when a tester leaked it on Reddit. But that wasn’t it. Honey had built features that no other extension was offering in one place. So, it was time to go to the market and let people know about it. Here’s how they did it.
➣ Referral program
Remember, Honey already had over 1 Million users in just two years of launch. They leveraged it. They inspired users to share Honey extension with their friends, family, and colleagues. They offered some rewards back then. But now after PayPal acquired Honey, they are offering 500 PayPal coins, which converts to $5. You can check the PayPal Honey Referral program here.
➣ Partnerships with retailers
Today, Honey has over 30,000 partners in a variety of niches in food, shopping, and travel. It attracted a lot of users since they could find coupons for everything they needed. This, combined with other features of Honey helped them reach out to a wide range of audiences.
➣ Email Marketing
Honey acquired users because of its unique value proposition. But they wanted to activate them and use Honey. So, Honey’s marketing team regularly drops in new deals and updates to attract users to its platform and use it regularly.
➣ Social media marketing
Honey founders decided to go big on social media. After their tool was leaked on Reddit, it went viral, and they got over 1M users. They understood that they could find their audience on these platforms. They used their unique value proposition and promoted it to acquire new users. They aligned their influencer marketing strategies and paid ads together to get the best out of these social media platforms.
➣ Content marketing
A lot of people were starting to listen to podcasts and regularly using YouTube. Honey leveraged it, they have appeared on 100+ podcasts and 400+ YouTube channels. It helped them get that extra visibility to its targeted audience.
➣ Promotion and sweepstakes
Honey collaborates with brands to offer exclusive deals and sweepstakes. It encouraged existing users to use it more and motivated new users to join the platform as they could only find those deals on Honey.
So, these were the different marketing strategies that Honey implemented to acquire new users and retain existing ones.
👉Pros and Cons of PayPal’s Honey #
Pros:
- Saves Money: The primary advantage of PayPal Honey is that it helps you save money by finding and applying coupon codes that you might not have known about otherwise.
- Convenience: It’s convenient because it automatically applies the best coupon code available, saving you time and hassle.
- Wide Range of Retailers: PayPal Honey works with a large number of online retailers, so you can potentially save money on purchases from many different stores.
- User-Friendly Interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to use, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
Cons:
- Potential Security Risks: Using PayPal Honey exposes users to potential security vulnerabilities as it requires access to browsing data and personal information. While the service claims to prioritize user privacy, any breach or loophole could compromise sensitive data.
- Potential for Impulse Purchases: The convenience of instant savings through PayPal Honey might encourage impulsive buying behavior, leading users to make purchases they hadn’t planned for or don’t genuinely need.
- Incompatibility and Technical Issues: Like many browser extensions, PayPal Honey may encounter compatibility issues with certain websites or browsers, disrupting the shopping experience and potentially causing frustration for users.
If you want to start using honey, use this link to see how you can use it on different browsers and mobile platforms: How to install honey to get discounts?
And if you are a merchant looking to register on the PayPal’s Honey platform, fill out this form: Join Honey as Merchant.
Is PayPal’s Honey a legit or scam coupon platform? #
Honey’s revenue figures, user reviews, and PayPal’s $4 billion acquisition prove its legitimacy as a coupon platform.
Conclusion #
It is clear from PayPal’s Honey that you shouldn’t underestimate the power of browser extensions in your business. If done right, you can grow your business exponentially by providing a unique value proposition to your users.
At EnactSoft, we are experts in developing browser extensions for coupon and cashback sites. With over a decade of experience in the affiliate marketing industry, our experts can help build extensions that can generate revenue for your business and provide immense value to your customers.
Connect with the team today and he will help you develop a coupon extension for your business.
