Tips On How to Use Groupon to Grow Your Clientele
Posted on July 16, 2011 | Tags: Groupon, local business online marketing, online marketing
The online coupon model, aka Groupon, Living Social and competitors, has created an enormous opportunity for local business.
While my experience is that this model can be a tremendous boon to business, this is true only if the response is well managed. I read recently of a restaurant that sold a tremendous number of Groupons, but their poor service caused a problem for Groupon and the restaurant generated some negative word of mouth.
Example: a service business offers a coupon with 80% off. This requires hiring extra staff. Of course, you’re delivering the service at a loss; but you’re also not laying out thousands of dollars and hoping for a profitable response.
How to make the best of the response? Here’s some tips:
- Service the coupon purchasers at a rate you can control, if possible. If your business allows you to schedule the Groupon customer’s service, such as a spa or dental practice, limit the number per week. Work how the maximum number you can service with excellence while still servicing your regular clientele.
- Spiff up your image and customer experience. Ensure your service staff and processes are at their best so that your coupon customers are impressed enough to return. These coupons can create a huge surge of exposure and this can be negative exposure if your business is not prepared to service the surge.
- Set up a system to track the ROI. How much does it cost to deliver to that coupon purchaser? What percentage of users return? Are you providing an incentive to return? Are they referring?
- View the exposure as free PR. The exposure of your business to the Groupon or Living Social’s email list is tremendous. There’s really no other comparison for a local business owner. Use that to showcase your business; have a website with lots of information. You don’t have to have everything perfect – just make sure you don’t look rinky dink.
- Create a bond with that coupon purchaser. Get the name and address of everyone who redeems their coupon. Put them on your mailing list.
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