5 Tips on How to Run a Successful Groupon Deal
Many retailers are feeling the burn after running what they thought was a successful Groupon promotion. They’ve learned the hard way that after absorbing as much 75% of the deals’ cost, they’ve gotten very few return customers. Follow these 5 tips and you’ll be on your way to running a successful Daily-deal promotion.
1) You don’t have to go with Groupon! As a small business you’re probably already getting bombarded with dozens of emails from these daily-deal sites. The daily-deal market is getting more and more saturated everyday! The good news is competition drives better prices for everyone. Going with a smaller daily-deal site provides a good testing bed to see how your business handles the increase in traffic before diving in with a much bigger site such as Groupon or Livingsocial. Shop around and see which Daily-deal site gives you the best… deal =)
2) Negotiate on your terms! After all, they are taking money out of your pocket! These deal sites are hungry for clients and it’s businesses like yours that are driving subscribers to their site. So if you think you have an amazing deal, negotiate for a much better percentage! Don’t be afraid to tell them you’ve have another daily-deal site offering you a better percentage. 😉
3) Diversify your Daily-Deals. Don’t just stick with one, try a few of them out and keep track of which sites give you the most returning customers. Many retailers have reported greater success with smaller deal sites. The market is saturated, and niche sites are sprouting up that might offer the type of customers that you are looking for – not just the coupon clippers. For example Rue La La and Plum District are targeted towards women and Totsy offers great deals for kids items. Check out our list of Top sites like Groupon.
4) Prepare to Up-sell! Many retailers that I’ve consulted with in the past have simply ran a promotion with a daily-deal site such as Groupon, and just sat back and prepared for the storm of customers to pour in. The mistake here is that very few of these small businesses have an up-sell strategy for the customers that walks through their door. Giving away 75% of your revenue in exchange for a significant increase in foot traffic is okay when you can get the customers to spend a bit more than their coupon. Best example that I’ve seen: You can go sky diving for 50% off, but your keepsake video isn’t free 😉
5) Get them Coming Back! What good is it if thousands of new customers walk through your door and you can’t retain them? You need to give them an incentive in coming back. Offer them exclusive discounts for their next return. Better yet, incentivize them to Like your business’ Facebook Page and/or follow you on Twitter (if you don’t have either, GET BOTH!). Tell them that you post discounts like these all the time on your Facebook & Twitter! If you want, get their emails and phone numbers too- whatever you can, so long as you have a strategy in reaching them directly in the future. In the long run it’ll grow your own business’s subscriber list and you’ll be less dependent on these deal sites in the future.
I’m sure there more ideas out there on how to run a successful daily-deal, but with these 5 simple tips, I’m positive you’ll have a much better chance of maximizing your return on investment. If you have any other tips you wanna share, feel free to post them below in the comments!