• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 22, 2011

Behavior of desktop and mobile-loving, cost-cutting consumers, along with timing, should become the benchmark for which online marketers run campaigns. It turns out the likelihood of consumers viewing, printing and redeeming a digital coupon at a brick-and-mortar store rises 19.6% if the coupons become available at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, according to a recent study.

A RevTrax study released this week finds that consumers print the most digital coupons on Wednesday and Thursday, which suggests consumers access online promotions and discounts mid-to-late week to shop or redeem them in stores later in the week or during the weekend.

Despite the day of the week that consumers view and print online coupons, conversion rates consistently exceed 60% between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., prime work hours. Peaks come between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., and noon and 5 p.m.

RevTrax ran statistical analysis between December 2008 and August 2011 to determine the best time to present coupon offers. The data represents millions of views and prints broken down and analyzed by volume per day and hour, conversion rate, percentage of coupons viewed and printed, per day and hour. It also tallied the odds or likelihood that a consumer will print a coupon based on any given day and hour.

Nearly one in 10 U.S. mobile phone users -- or 19.8 million adults over the age of 18 -- expect to redeem a coupon this year, according to a report by eMarketer. Redemption includes coupons or codes received via SMS, applications and mobile Web browsers; quick-response codes for redemption online or offline; and group-buying coupons purchased via mobile. That number jumps to 28.7 million, or 13.5% of adult mobile phone users, in 2012, eMarketer estimates.

While most coupons are sent to consumers via SMS or email, many are found through search queries for non-branded and branded terms and keywords across search engines.

Plan to see consumers redeem those coupons on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, according to a preliminary Black Friday shopping survey conducted for the National Retail Federation by BIGresearch. In fact, up to 152 million people plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), higher than the 138 million people who planned to do so last year.

Coupon marketing can bring in new business and secure fans, especially for small local businesses. One London baker, Rachel Brown, shares advice that all companies should heed after having to bake 102,000 cupcakes to satisfy a Groupon discount offering 75% off a dozen cupcakes.

With 12 cakes normally costing $40, the demand for Brown's Need a Cake bakery exploded. More than 8,500 people signed up for the deal costing $10. Brown hired workers and lost nearly $3 on each batch.