Leverage Daily-Deal Sites for Business Success

“Daily deal” organizations like Groupon and LivingSocial have increased in popularity over the past few years. These organizations work with local businesses to offer products and services at significant discounts. The catch? The deal must be purchased on the day it is presented or it is lost forever. “What daily deal sites like CrowdSavings offer merchants is performance-based marketing,” says Lisa Bellotti, marketing manager for Tampa, Florida–based LivingSocial. “Merchants will spend money on advertising and promotions out of their own pocket without any guarantees that they will receive even one client; with utilizing a daily-deal site, merchants are putting all the upfront marketing costs on the daily-deal site, and only splitting revenue once they have the customers (purchasers of the deal).”

According to Bellotti, fitness professionals and facility managers utilize daily-deal sites in hopes of boosting sales. But putting together a smart deal is paramount to a campaign’s success. Here are Bellotti’s tips for a successful campaign:

• Let’s Make a Deal. The deal has to be recognizable as a great deal. Know what your competitors are charging for the same services.
• Keep ’Em Coming. Customer service is important when you’re interacting with new daily-deal members. When customers redeem their vouchers, treat them just as though they had paid full price. Reminding customers that they received the service or product at a discount will not earn repeat business.
• Know Your Limits. It’s easy to become overwhelmed by business from daily-deal sites. Know what you can realistically handle, and work only with sites that understand that need. For instance, CrowdSavings can cap the deals at merchant-specified amounts, so redeeming the deal does not get out of hand for you or the customer.

Have you used daily-deal sites like Groupon or CrowdSavings to boost business? We want to hear about it. Send your story to content@ideafit.com.