No matter how much money you make, it’s always great when you feel like you’re getting a good deal! Money saving vouchers and the like have been around for years, but keeping track of them and (more importantly) finding your way round to actually using them can take most if not all of the enjoyment out of saving money.
What if there was a single place for vouchers, somewhere that you could store them and that made it simple to use them on the go? Maybe it could even suggest new vouchers based on your usage – actually that would probably make a great iPhone app!?
Introducing Vouchercloud, an app that does just that.
Note: this one is for the UK, for now. Hopefully we’ll see a U.S. version one day!
Design & Interface
The overall design of Vouchercloud is great! It always frustrates me when it takes an age to get to grips with an app but fortunately Vouchercloud’s clear and simple interface makes it very intuitive to use.
Vouchercloud
The bright and colourful category icons at the top act as filters so you can find the right kind of vouchers for the occasion. In order for a voucher app to redefine the way we save money and persuade us to ditch paper it must include vouchers for every possible occasion and Vouchercloud gets close…
- Restaurants
- Casual Dining
- Food to Go
- Pubs and Bars
- Cinema
- Retail
- Days Out
- Leisure and Entertainment
- Health and Beauty
- Home, Garden and DIY
- Travel and Hotels
- Services
- Online Voucher Codes
Colourful Catetgories
Within each filtered category the voucher results can be ordered alphabetically, by their distance from your current location, or by how popular they are with other Vouchercloud users. Each result includes a logo and short description of the deal – allowing you to quickly assess your options!
However if you know what voucher you’re looking for, or want to check whether a well frequented spot has any deals going, you can just skip the categories and search using the search tab at the bottom.
Searching
Vouchercloud is a very well designed app and while there’s little scope in an app of this type to push the boundaries of beautiful design the interface is enjoyable to use and perfectly suited for its purposes.
Redeeming Your Vouchers
In order to save money you’ve got to get your vouchers out – and with Vouchercloud redeeming your chosen voucher just couldn’t be simpler! Just select the offer you’d like to use and Vouchercloud brings up a window that details the specifics of the offer – such as the exact address of the establishment, phone number, and terms and conditions.
Vouchercloud even suggests other offers that are available at the same establishment!
Offer Details
Once you are ready to use the voucher at the point of payment you simply select the button that says ‘Free’ and your voucher appears!
Be sure to only press redeem when requested to do so at the point of payment!
I have used Vouchercloud with great success several times in the last few months and find it extremely easy to use. Most of the places where I used the vouchers had staff that knew of the affiliate scheme and made the process a breeze! The sheer scope and range of the offers available is impressive and the difference a simple deal can make to your restaurant bill or cinema trip makes Vouchercloud a must for any discerning money-saver!
Redeeming Your Voucher
Your Voucher Code
My Cloud
The final feature we’ll look at is the My Cloud tab. This is the way in which Vouchercloud allows you to personalise the experience by saving codes (My Wallet), keeping track of your favourite places (Loyalty), and tracking your voucher history (History).
My Cloud
My Wallet is ideal for storing vouchers that you want to use offline so they’re available wherever you are, while the Loyalty tab shows all the loyalty schemes you’ve joined after using vouchers (effectively acting as a list of your favourite deals). My Cloud as a feature adds a significant amount of extra usability to Vouchercloud and makes it super easy to see when your favourite shop or restaurant adds a new deal!
Final Thoughts
One immediate criticism of the app would be that it’s not universal and currently only works for people in the UK. It’s an unfortunate but entirely understandable limitation; managing a global network of affiliate schemes would be a daunting task!
Putting that aside and keeping in mind that the app is completely free – I have only good things to say about Vouchercloud! It’s interface is functional and looks great, but far more importantly it saves you money with the bare minimum of effort. The vast number of deals on offer across an expansive array of categories make this app a must-have for all UK based iPhone owners!
Simply put – live more… spend less.