Daily Deals: A Must or Bust?

I’m guilty of using services like Groupon and Living Social Deals. Having been only out of college for a few years, sometimes you just have to shop for deals. These Daily Deals can serve as a good way to gain general brand exposure for your company as well as bring in a lot of new customers. Having moved to Fort Collins a few years ago, it has also encouraged me to try out some new places I wouldn’t have otherwise considered (hello, Chocolate Cafe!).  It’s definitely turned me on to some companies as well as totally turned me off of others.

If you are opting for a Daily Deal, the biggest issue is over-promising. Example: I called in for a Living Social Deal massage three days ago and still haven’t received a call back. Maybe the massage will be out of this world if I am able to get a hold of someone, or maybe it’s going to reflect the callback time. Either way, if I ever want to try to schedule a massage with someone in the future in a pinch, I probably won’t be calling them.

Another big issue is not charging enough to at least break-even. If you are losing money on every transaction, that’s just bad business and it isn’t sustainable. Give them an excellent product or experience, at least break even, and give them an incentive to come back! One of my favorite strategies I’ve seen locally is after a massage (hey, I like massages) was being given a punch card that offers you a discount on your next 5 massages. If you are shopping on Daily Deals, won’t that little discount perhaps spur you to action next time around? I’m also personally a big fan of referral programs because a word of mouth recommendation is the best and most influential kind of recommendation, right? Read more about Daily Deals and business here.

Have you used Daily Deals or similar with your company? What was the result?