Couponing Basics

How to Get FREE Coupons From Your Favorite Brands!

One of my favorite ways to get coupons is to email the manufacturers of my favorite products.

I routinely look through my house for products that I love and use regularly. Then I go to the product websites and look for the “contact us” link. Some websites have an email form and some just have an email address.

Then I write a short note about how much I love their product, how often I use it, and why I love it/how it helps me and my family. Sometimes I ask about coupons and sometimes I just leave my compliment.

If I mention coupons, I might say something along the lines of “Do you have a newsletter or coupon mailing list that I can be added to?” Most of the time they will send coupons and offers via email, but it doesn’t hurt to include your physical mailing address in the note. That way you don’t miss out if they are still sending paper coupons via snail mail!

Doing this lets the manufacturer know that people like their products so they hopefully won’t discontinue the ones you love, and it also helps you! The companies (I’d say 8 times out of 10) will usually mail you coupons if you reach out in this manner. Sometimes they even send coupons for FREE products! It’s a win-win!

Some companies that have sent me FREE product coupons for emailing them a compliment:

  • Starkist Tuna
  • Playtex Tampons
  • Flinstones Vitamins
  • Dannon Yogurt
  • Con Agra
  • SC Johnson (they are AWESOME!)
  • and many more!

It only takes a minute to do! I have a Google toolbar with AutoFill (fills in forms with my information automatically so that I don’t have to type it a million times) so that makes it much easier and faster.

It’s also so much more fun checking the mail when it’s filled with coupons and free products!

Do you have any tricks for getting free products and coupons from your favorite brands? Share in the comments below!

    67 Comments

  1. Lauren Greutman via Facebook

    Love this! When I first had to eat gluten-free I had no idea what I would like to eat. I emailed around and got free coupons so I could try them out for the first time. It saved us so much money!

    Reply

  2. I have recently tried couponing and in my area I find it hard to find good deals or freebie deals. I also can’t find a website with matchups for stores in my area with the same prices as my stores for example i found a walmart matchup list and almost every price on the list was different in my walmart. I am located in Long island NY..

    Reply

  3. I am very new to couponing and trying to start to save money for my family. I have three children and four step-children. Three of which are in college. Money must be used wisely so I want to maximize my use of coupons. How do I obtain the email addresses to email companies?

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  4. Used this once to let a company know about a batch of defective kitty litter I had bought. Love their brand and won’t stop buying it, but wanted to let them know. They thanked me and sent me some coupons for free litter as well as money off.

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  5. I tried this with a few companies. Most didnt reply but one said I would be receiving coupons by mail. That was a year ago and I havent received them yet. I must be doing something wrong or Im not emailing the right place. I love your site though!

    Reply

  6. I contacted the manufacturers of Schick Titanium and got a couple coupons for free razor refills (worth over $10 each). This definitely works! However, I contacted the makers of Secret Natural Mineral deodorant and only got an email reply saying “thanks for the comment.”
    I have saved so much money from couponing, which I started doing when I lost my job last spring. It definitely helped me as a single mom stretch those dollars!

    Reply

  7. I just started couponing and got 2 travel toothpastes 2 travel clean & clear papermate pens and 16 ct advil for a total of 1.46 that was awesome really need help thought. I have 2 kids and my husband works full time and bc of his schedule i cant work i have a part time job to work the only 2 days that he has off but they rarely ever schedule me so the past few months i have been having to do deposite advances through my bank every two weeks so anything i can get for free or change would help also there is a coupon that i am trying to find that was in RP $1/3 roseart product

    Reply

    • Congrats on your savings!! Yes – the RoseArt coupon was in this past Sunday’s Red Plum insert. There were 2 Red Plums, so be sure to check both. 🙂

      Reply

  8. i just started couponing today, based on this entry! however, i know that my email is hopelessly spammed. therefore i made a new email exclusive for emailing companies that i buy stuff from. i thought that might be a good tip to post on here…

    Reply

  9. Pull Ups will send coupons if you let them know you like/use their products. I got 3 $1/1 from them in the mail today.

    Just throwing it out there for anyone who has kids that seem to be anti-potty like mine. LOL

    Reply

  10. Just got $8 worth of coupons in the mail today from Bimbo Bakeries (Entenmenn’s). Still waiting to hear back from DiGiorno. But I think I will be sending many more emails. Thanks for the tip!!!

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  11. I sent Kozy Shack Pudding an email letting them know my dissatisfaction with my last two purchases. It was runny and watery and not edible. I was surprised that they didn’t respond, in fact I sent them a total of 3 emails. To this day they have not responded once to any of my emails. So I think I am punishing them by not buying their product – wouldn’t want it if the recipe changed anyway, but they don’t seem to be worried about losing a customer, much less care enough to send a coupon to make up for it. Just venting….thanks…I feel better now.

    Reply

  12. I have only been doing this a month but i saved alot of money just yesterday alone on diapers. I paid only $2.00 for a pack of huggies diapers because of this site informing me of Toys-r-Us deal where diapers were just $5.00 a pack. I went to Walmart and price matched the diapers and also had coupons for $3.00 off a pack and 2 $1.50 off a pack. So i bought 7 packs of diapers for just $19.10 thats tax included!!! I am so proud of myself!!! It would have been close to $80.00 retail so i saved almost $60.00. Thanks so much couponing101 couldnt have done it without u!!!!

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  13. Can you tell me which companies are sending coupons after giving them compliments. I tried several companies, but their answer was no.

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  14. hi all
    so nice 2 have this site. my hobby and i lost our jobs, then we had twins making our family 7 members (kids just 6 and younger). wow! i happened to be wachting tv and decided to checkout this so called couponing. well i yahoo search n’ got this site about 2 months ago…..elated, excited, giddy, addicted n’ downright proud of it!!! i’ve saved so much money. thanks a million. hobby is sold too but has no patience for it.lol
    But please help me with time saving tricks and the enormity of it!
    Ps. a lady i met who also has twins told me she wrote to several baby companies n’ they sent her freebies and coupons. so i wrote a generic letter, made copies, included my babies’ hospital bc (you knw the one w/ the foot print) and yes i received quit a few freebies n’ coupons. why the bc? to authenticate that i really did have twins n to qualify for what they called the mother of multiple program. Yaaaaaaa. pampers, hugies, first year, enfamil, many more…some wrote saying sorry no coupons. so, do write or email the worst case is they will say no!
    thanks again, i appreciate you!

    Reply

  15. Consumer Report has a list of manufacturers. It may not list all, but its definitely worth taking a look at. When in doubt, always do a search! 😀 All I did was open a new tab and type into my search bar “list of manufacturers” and this is what came up.

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  16. I was wondering if at all possible if any one on this site or a blogger could give my names of products that sent them great coupon deals. for sending them your opinions on there products and about how much you love them. So far I have gone to “Ziploc”, “Playtex Sports”, and “Suave”

    Reply

  17. It only takes a minute to do! I have a google toolbar with AutoFill (fills in forms with my information automatically so that I don’t have to type it a million times) so that makes it much easier and faster.

    I have a question about the automatically fill form on google is that a add on you get on google or where can i find this…I’m not the best on computers…I really would thank you for your help….ty ty Katherine4242

    Reply

  18. I am new tothis and still learning a thing or two. We don’t have double coupon stores herein Utah which I sure wishhed we did we could use badly, but I’m teaching my 2yr ld son about couponing and its been un the most I have save is $30.00 and to me thats wonderful, if anyone has any ideas on how to find meat coupons I could appreciate that and fruit! Thanks all;)

    Reply

  19. Last night I emailed numerous manufactures about some of my favorite products. I took your advice and did not mention my hope to receive coupons in return. So far today I’ve received three emails all of which simply thank me for my comments and do not mention anything about sending me coupons! While I am thankful that they actually did email me back my hopes were to receive coupons. Will they mail me coupons even if they do not specifically say it in the email?
    Thank You!

    Reply

  20. Why did I never think of this before?! I emailed Barber Foods once to complain, which was horrible because I really like their foods. They sent me three coupons. Why, why, WHY haven’t I ever thought to email compliments? Great idea!

    Reply

  21. I’ve done this a lot of times and usually the companies appreciate the feedback and send some pretty good coupons for free products or $1/1.

    I just started couponing again. I’m an oldie that used to coupon back in the 70s-80s. At that time, both hubby and I were laid off so the money was very tight and we had 3 growing boys to feed. Back then, there were a lot of coupon magazines plus networking trading coupons through the mail. I would get 2″ thick packets every week x 15 an send out the same. Made a lot of friends. I used to have a shoebox with dividers and my mom and I would spend a few hours a week clipping from newspapers and filling out our store orders. My biggest thrill was buying $100 worth of groceries for $5.87. A lot of coupons were good for almost 6 months and some were even no expiration.

    Fast forward to now. Same scenario but this time it’s only the two of us. So now I’m back to couponing but not as much as before since the money is even tighter than before and I only go to the store once a month now.

    Also, back then every store in my area gave double coupons. They have stopped that practice and it’s sad. You can’t find coupons in the store like you could back then and you rarely find any with no expiration or expiring a couple months from the date I found them. The value has also gone down. It was very common to find $.50/1 or $1/1. Sad.

    Just had to add my $.02. Glad to have found this site and will be returning. It’s nice to go to one site and find almost anything you need instead of going to every conceivable place just to save a buck or two. Thank you for your hard work.

    Reply

  22. I emailed most of the manufacturers posted, and got very nice replies and coupons. ConAgra, however, sent me a very rude comment about looking for coupons in the paper. I’m sure they get lots of people looking for coupons, but they did not need to be nasty about it.

    Reply

    • @amber, Amber, I had the same thing happen, only I never even asked for coupons. It’s like they didn’t read my e-mail and just sent me back a rude automated response.

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  23. Hey thanks for the tib bit about google having an autofill button I had no idea!! this will save me SOOOOO much time!! I also enjoy reading all the info you have provided in your blogs I have gained a great deal of knowledge from reading through it all!

    Reply

  24. I am fairly new to couponing, however my mother has brought me up to be very frugal. When I was younger and still in school, I would use the 1-800 numbers on the labels of products and call to see if I could “get some information, samples, and coupons” of the products for a school project. Many of the companies sent large pkgs filled with coupons and samples. Gerber even sent a package with information on how the company started, a photo of “the gerber baby”, information on life insurance and such, and tons of coupons.!! I learned early on that contacting the companies can make all the difference!! I now recieve free samples and coupons regularly and many come straight from the product website. Especially things like laundry detergent and shampoo. Most sites post free samples regularly so you can try the new products!!!

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  25. I am just starting couponing, and it does seem very overwhelming. I want to do it though, to help out my family. I am going to bust my butt trying to save some money haha. I will start emailing companies right away 😀

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  26. To be honest, I’m sorta feeling lost in the coupon world. I started to try to coupon a few months ago and stopped because I didn’t save that much. I’m still trying to find good enough coupons to help my family save money when we buy groceries. If there is anyone out there that can help me understand how couponing works or can break it down where/how I can save money – that would be awesome!! We are a family of 5 (my husband and myself, and our 3 girls – ages 5, 3, and 1.

    You can either email me at [email protected] (can be reached here and I check it everyday) or on here.

    Reply

  27. Looking forward to learning more about couponing. Just started up again & will do my best to stick to it. This helps out so much, and makes it easier to make ends meet w/our decision for me to be a stay at home mom.

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  28. I just love this site….!!!!!! I have just begun couponing to try to save as much as i can….asked my husband if he was embarrassed about me carrrying my binder in the store….he told me it just looked like a bunch of Money to him!:) we went to 4 different store ,with my list, i saved 55 % at one and around 50% at one! this is only the begining! Happy Couponing! Linda

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  29. I emailed several companies today….SCJohnson contacted me and said they are sending me a coupon book with $19 worth of coupons!!! YAY! Thanks for all the advice!

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    • @Brandi, Hi great for you can you tell me how to do that I want to start couponing and it will be great to know how you did it the right way so any advice I will really appreciate I’m 21 and my husband is the only one working and we have a 3 year old girl and I think that with this I can help him.. 😉

      Reply

      • Brianda, I have been emailing companies of products I use. I let them know how much my family loves their product and how we use them or why we use them (i.e. Ziploc… we use baggies for not only food but organizing or packing for camping trips, etc.) and they normally reply and also offer to send me coupons. Just go around your house and make a list of the products your family uses and email the companies. I hope that helps…let me know and good luck!

        Reply

  30. This is great advice! 🙂 I just looked around for all the different brands of stuff i use around the house and made a list of 24 companies/brands. I just finished sending each of them an Email! I hope i get some freebiez by the next few weeks! =)

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  31. stephanie,
    couponing101 has helped save so much money in our household. i am so happy to have found this site a couple of weeks ago, especially because i’m still new to couponing. i feel so much more knowledgeable since then. and thank you so much for sharing your great tips about writing to the manufacturers. today i wrote to a few of my favorite brands that i love. i’m loving this 🙂

    Reply

  32. i have just started couponing over the last month or so. Couponing 101 has helped me a gteat deal. I’t the sest sight so far. I’m still trying to understand the lingo. It’s a whole new world but i’m loving it.

    Reply

  33. Pingback: Coupon Sources | Couponing 101

  34. I did this a couple of days ago, thanks to your blog, and I received and email today from Dannon stating they are sending me some coupons!! YEAH!! I am going to have to send out more comments… 🙂

    Reply

      • I send emails out to random companies of the products we use most. Recently I received 6 coupons for Heinz ketchup for $.50 each. When doubled this made all my ketchup for the summer free.

        Reply

  35. I just recently discovered you’re blog and I love it! I’ve been trying to find coupon bloggers in the Dallas area to see what deals I could get.

    Reply

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