[Christian McQueen]

I'm in the process of putting my Vegas Hangover Experience trip package on GroupOn and Living Social.

Has anyone here used these sites to promote their business and if so, any tips?

Thanks.

[ash093]

I haven't but I do know of some shops here in Chicago that do very well with Groupon. On the other side, Groupon can hurt you if you're not careful with the pricing and quantity available.

[Christian McQueen]

(06-26-2014 06:19 PM)ash093 Wrote:  

I haven't but I do know of some shops here in Chicago that do very well with Groupon. On the other side, Groupon can hurt you if you're not careful with the pricing and quantity available.

Yea, apparently they take 50%, which would make me simply raise prices, then offer a GroupOn discount. At the current trip price if they took 50%, plus a GroupOn discount, the trip wouldn't be possible.

[ash093]

(06-26-2014 06:21 PM)Christian McQueen Wrote:  

(06-26-2014 06:19 PM)ash093 Wrote:  

I haven't but I do know of some shops here in Chicago that do very well with Groupon. On the other side, Groupon can hurt you if you're not careful with the pricing and quantity available.

Yea, apparently they take 50%, which would make me simply raise prices, then offer a GroupOn discount. At the current trip price if they took 50%, plus a GroupOn discount, the trip wouldn't be possible.

Have you looked into their competitors? Perhaps they offer a better rate?

[tarquin]

I worked at a restaurant that used a similar promotional tool with ads on the radio. It was a decent deal for the place because he got a lot of money up front and was able to pay off some high interest debt with the money while spreading out the coupons over the year. I don't know how well it applies to your situation, but here are some keys:

1. There will be a certain percentage that flake. Don't count on it, but after a year it is money in your pocket.

2. If you have a base already, existing customers are the most likely buyers. This decreases your bottom line.

3. Be careful spending your "windfall." If you have thin margins, you will be paying for it all year and probably isn't worth it. A reasonably high number will redeem in the first three months.

4. It is best suited for exposure of a business where there are other competing businesses. You want to steal their customers, so even if number 2 is true, as long as you can keep repeat business the long term will be worth it. This is why service industries tend to sign these deals. If a woman is already getting her nails done down the street, you might take a trip to the mall for 50% off. If you steal her as a customer and she comes in every month, it is worth it.

5. It can be good for launching new products to an already established base. Same reasoning as number 4. If you get them to purchase value added products regularly, it is worth it.

[lurker]

Not personally, but I've heard a lot of horror stories about it costing the businesses money in the long run and being a major headache. That said, your business is probably perfectly suited for Groupons: you're not advertising anything that's intended as a loss leader designed to drive future business, which is where most of the agony seems to be coming from.

[Jdimeo]

Tarquin makes some great points all worth considering.

A friend of mine used groupon and similar services when he started his business in the food industry (obviously very different industry) that had a ton of similar competitors in the area. He had 100% confidence that if he got people to try his food they would be regulars, and he was right. It kickstarted him and got him a loyal clientele. (Although He did complain of their high commission and other headaches)
About a year later he used groupon type services again and lost money due to his regular customers buying up all discounts.

From reading your posts on the forum/your blog I have no doubt that your service is top notch, but I'm guessing that your typical customer is for a one time "lesson" where your clients will spend a weekend learning the lifestyle and then try to implement it themselves in the future. (Just an assumption) In that case your not looking for repeat customers but more exposure, and I think your plan of boosting prices, then offering a groupon "discount" could work out well for you.

[jamaicabound]

One of the most common complaints about Groupon is you get a surge in business thats essentially a loss leader and then those customers never visit you again so it was all for nothing. I do think there's some truth to the fact that people looking for groupons are looking for deals, there's not a great chance of people being a return customer.

That said I have discovered some businesses, restaurants, etc due to Groupon that I till frequent. I think it really depends on your business though. FOr you, it may not be a bad fit. I'm not sure exactly what your experience is but unlike a physical or tangible product where there's a cost to it and your cutting into your margins, I imagine your experience is something that there's very little upfront cost to you so you may come out ahead. That said I dont think you'll get return customers however you may get a lot of positive reviews and some buzz online which could help stir busienss.

[tarquin]

Have you considered amazon local deals instead? I don't know what their costs are, but you would be exposing yourself to a local clientele base and may be able to offer services more uniquely suited to their needs with a price that may have them purchase additional services/products in the future.

[samsamsam]

CMQ, not sure if you do this but do you do a referral business at all? Where people get a small kickback or something if they lead to a known sale?

Look you have a pretty solid reputation and are putting yourself out there to gain recognition. Sometimes, a guy may need a little more encouragement, where someone who has done it or has influence can help encourage a guy to get over the resistance and buy?

My issue Groupon (just my opinion) it can be brand damaging. I think you are working on building a solid brand and you want it be something people want. So I would find another way first.

I buy Groupons, either to try something I have heard about, know is a good deal like an item, or some place I already like to eat at like Canter's. I'd go to Canter's anyway, they are just giving money away.

But I think for your brand, I would suggest a different route first.

Edit: Here is a logic point. I think your experience costs a couple grand right? Guys who don't care about money, would pay without the groupon if they wanted to do it. Guys for who 2k is a lot, they are gonna at least research a bit. Maybe they realize you raised the price and then dropped it, they think oh I am not getting a deal. Also, human psychology - I am not sure how many people would say, oh look here is this experience let's do this. I think (please correct me if I am wrong) is that the guys you take to Vegas are serious about improving their game and sought out your expertise. I just don't know how many you convert off of groupon who are not guys who were serious about improving themselves. And since they are serious, they would find you because of the knowledge you drop.

I'd protect your brand, but maybe I am seeing all this wrong.

[jamaicabound]

One other issue you may run into. Groupon, livingsocial, etc are somewhat picky about deals they allow. Dont get me wrong Im not by any means knocking you Id probably use your service looks cool, but if the word pussy paradise is on your homepage I doubt they are gonna allow your deal. I was gonna say they seem to try to be somewhat family friendly however at the same time i could almost swear i saw one of them selling the rabbit vibrator a few weeks ago. None the less we all know how society and corp america view male issues and anything a guy might enjoy they try to suck the fun out of so not sure they would accept a deal.

[zwyjibo]

Chiming in that I've not heard anyone having good experiences with Groupon, whether as a customer or business.

Business - This story sticks out in my mind: http://www.businessinsider.com/london-ba...al-2011-11

Customer - The last person I know who bought a Groupon offer a few weeks ago ultimately refunded it. The coupon was for a service that wouldn't return calls after the Groupon was purchased, and then couldn't schedule a time to perform the service because their equipment broke. Or so they said. I'm being vague to protect the innocent. But, it was a field where delivering good service matters and is critical to the brand. While poor service isn't Groupon's problem, the surge in interest may have contributed to their standards slipping.

For mature brands that measure things over the very long term, like Walmart or Hostess, I don't think Groupon will hurt. But what you're doing seems very dependent on your personal brand, and is still relatively small. If something goes wrong with the Groupon, it could blow a hole in the VHW's reputation as well as your finances.

I'd think a bit more about it first. What about sending someone on a VHE for free, or at cost, and then authorizing him to give out discounts to a few readers who demonstrate worthiness of attending (i.e., not the hopeless people who will refuse to have a good time)?

[jamaicabound]

(06-27-2014 03:08 PM)jdevoy Wrote:  

Chiming in that I've not heard anyone having good experiences with Groupon, whether as a customer or business.

Business - This story sticks out in my mind: http://www.businessinsider.com/london-ba...al-2011-11

Customer - The last person I know who bought a Groupon offer a few weeks ago ultimately refunded it. The coupon was for a service that wouldn't return calls after the Groupon was purchased, and then couldn't schedule a time to perform the service because their equipment broke. Or so they said. I'm being vague to protect the innocent. But, it was a field where delivering good service matters and is critical to the brand. While poor service isn't Groupon's problem, the surge in interest may have contributed to their standards slipping.

For mature brands that measure things over the very long term, like Walmart or Hostess, I don't think Groupon will hurt. But what you're doing seems very dependent on your personal brand, and is still relatively small. If something goes wrong with the Groupon, it could blow a hole in the VHW's reputation as well as your finances.

I'd think a bit more about it first. What about sending someone on a VHE for free, or at cost, and then authorizing him to give out discounts to a few readers who demonstrate worthiness of attending (i.e., not the hopeless people who will refuse to have a good time)?

That's the other problem with Groupon, you get flooded with business you can't handle. I remember a famous news story about a cupcake maker who had to make like 10,000 cupcakes in a day or two when on average she was doing hundreds not thousands.

I one time bought a Groupon to rent a sailboat for a day. The company had a fleet of like 5 boats but sold like 1500 Groupons so good luck trying to schedule something, I forget if I wound up refunding it or just got burned for the money.

For service based groupons this is especially a problem. If its a good oh well not a big diff between shipping 100 products or a 1000 but when you have a limited amount of cars or room in your establishment or people to teach lessons and you sell thousands of groupons your going to have some upset customers.