Are Daily Deal Sites Really Tools of the Devil?

Despite all of the vitriol that’s been said about daily deal websites, and how they are all universally “out” as a means of promoting your local business, we’d beg to differ. There are a variety of factors that go into making these daily deal sites work for your small business, and a few well-publicized failures, shouldn’t be grounds for dropping the daily deal model. In fact, when researched closely, many of these failures had several things in common: failure to grasp how to run a daily deal promotion, poor negotiation of their deals, and not tracking customer redemption and/or spending. Lacking these vital pieces, it’s little wonder they failed.

So why all of the hate?

The well-publicized financial and structural changes Groupon and LivingSocial are going through are often cited causes of dislike. The press is only too quick to point out the negative issues with some daily deal sites. They typical point to things like spam complaints, a crowded marketplace of daily deals to choose from, “deal hoppers”, customers who hop from deal to deal and rarely become a regular customer.

3 Simple principles for making Daily Deals work for your business

  • Understand the financials! – Make sure you clearly understand the numbers as far as your deal is concerned. Know your average sales volume and don’t exceed it with a daily deal. Negotiate credit card processing fees: most major daily deal sites will pay these!
  • Follow up with your brand-new customers! – As many as 60-75 percent of these daily deal customers are trying you out for the first time, so it’s imperative that you have a plan to coax them back for a return engagement! Offer another coupon, or other incentives to be sure you see them again!
  • Don’t go too big, too fast – Start conservatively, so that you can learn the basics and not be overloaded by the deals, and leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

The demise of Daily deal sites is grossly overstated, and you can still make use of these to grow your small business, by taking the time to do it right!