Questions to Ask Before Using a Daily Deal Site to Promote Your Business

While many businesses laud the effects of marketing with daily deal sites, others complain about customers who don’t return after using their coupon and the effects the deal has on existing customers’ satisfaction. So should you run a daily deal? 

Before making your decision on any daily deal marketing strategy, ask yourself and the site you might be working with these key questions:

Is my target audience accessing this deal site specifically? The largest of the daily deal sites attract a wide variety of users, but smaller, niche sites can be much more targeted. Choose to work with a site that can prove its demographics in your key audience target areas.

• What is the percentage split from the deal’s sales? Businesses often take home 20 to 50 percent of the revenue from a deal’s sales, which comes on top of a business’ already steep discount given to the customer. Before penning a deal, ask about the site’s past success for deals like yours and for concrete examples of how other businesses profited financially from their deals.

• Is the price of this deal correct to attract potential repeat customers?
 Customers love discounts, but to keep coming back, they must be able to afford your services or products at full price in the future. Though deal sites may push the steepest discount to get you a larger volume of purchases on your deal day, you may have better luck going with a slightly higher price to attract those who are more likely to be repeat customers.

• Do I have the infrastructure in place to handle a large influx of customers coming from this deal? Nothing kills a daily deal more for a customer than having difficulty actually using the deal. Ensure you have the time and resources to effectively train employees and update your website if necessary with the key steps to redeeming a deal site coupon.

• Will this deal affect my current customers negatively? 
Prepare for a large influx of customers from your deal. Ensure you’ve communicated with your current customers and put systems in place for those customers to continue receiving services seamlessly during this very busy time in your business.

Ultimately, using a daily deal site to market your products or services can be a positive one if you research and weigh your options appropriately.

Marcy Twete is the founder/CEO of Career Girl Network and the author of the book "You Know Everybody! A Career Girl’s Guide to Building a Network That Works," to be released in summer 2013.

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