Nudge blog recently crafted a case study on Taco Bell that demonstrates the importance of Facebook exclusivity. Here’s the story:
Taco Bell gave away free taco coupons (to redeem in-store), but even with a FREE offer, there was a very low redemption rate (they didn’t download the coupon).
The low conversion rate may have been due in-part to the constraint that the coupon had to be redeemed in-store. But Social Commerce Today points out that since they were already offering the regular 99c tacos available everywhere for everyone, there was no exclusivity/social currency/’scarcity value’ to motivate conversion.
Online coupon codes are a great incentive to bring fans to a Facebook page. But, they’re much more interested in sticking around when we (brands) can provide the “first look,” “Facebook-only,” etc. exclusives.
Credit: Thanks to Social Commerce Today for highlighting the article and to Nudge blog for the first release of the story.
Be Well. Do Good. 
Hard to justify redemption on a $0.99 product unless you were planning on going there to eat anyway… why make a special effort for something that is relatively worthless?
Good point. I wonder if this case needs a more significant discount to have better credibility drawing this conclusion.
Here’s a way of looking at it: if you saw a promotion for a company giving away one dollar to anyone who walked in their door that day, would you go? Probably not. It’s not even a (crappy) taco, but cash. The conversion rate would still be low. I assume you would get better “redemption” but would still have a low conversion rate.
I think Taco Bell would have been better to do this promotion by just saying anyone who comes into their store that day gets a free taco. The word “FREE” is magical in our society. Take out the middle man (the coupon) and you would get a much higher conversion.