With a title like that, I must first pay homage to 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. This article has nothing to do with habits of people; but rather common traits of successful daily deal sites.
Daily deal and group buying websites have seriously taken off over the past couple years and the trend continues to grow. Since Groupon went public, the mass media has even taken further notice of these types of sites.
Anytime a major trend occurs in our society, like what is happening with the huge revolution and growth of Daily Deal and Group Buying Websites, there are typically three types of people that emerge:
- Those who made it happen.
- Those who watched it happen.
- Those who wondered what happened.
One of the core reasons that this model has, and still is changing the world before our eyes – is because it harnesses the power of the USER and the user’s ability to SHARE.
- User Generated Traffic
- User generated Revenue.
I encourage you to take a look at the most visited websites on the net and nearly every one of them incorporates user generated content and traffic – thus resulting in what I like to call user generated revenue.
Most Daily Deal websites incorporate and use user generated traffic. They are able to generate so much traffic and revenue mainly because of “collective buying power.” Collective buying power is when a group of people come together and use the rule, there’s power in numbers, to leverage the group size in exchange for discounts. Most daily deal sites incorporate this model into their business because it also gives them a risk-free advertising channel for local merchants, service providers, and any product owner in general.
From a business perspective, the daily deal market is being flooded by Websites, in which entrepreneurs and store owners of all kinds can offer special sales around the clock. These trendsetters can be, and have historically been, all types of business professionals who clearly see the potential behind what has already taken the internet by storm …Daily Deals!
Groupon, Steepandcheap, and Woot have all exchanged millions of dollars by now, and to say that they are far ahead of the trend would be a complete fallacy. These 3 sites have only, merely capitalized on 3 niches out of millions of starving industries that are begging for a means to move their inventory more efficiently.
As a company we are focused on serving niche marketplaces by providing a platform to base a deal of the day style with ease. We see all sorts of ideas, but in general I wanted to share my knowledge with people, publishers, entrepreneurs, and/or companies looking and interested in starting a daily deal program:
Know your target market and know them well:
It is critical to identify who will be buying and WHY. You must know what they are looking for, and what kind of deal will entice them to come to your site. Not just once, but again and again. You can go into a niche specific category OR a local geographic sector OR a broad geographic sector.
Return business is a key factor!
What type of customer will be coming to your site, and what type of products will these people want to buy at a special price? What arrangement of deals can you put in sequential order so that the product offers will actually build of one another?
ie. “I just bought skis, now I’m going to need some ski boots too.”
Remember that your Daily Deal is a Brand… You must manage it!
Keep in mind that people are going to be talking and telling their friends all about where they got 60% off… Make sure that your brand is memorable and recognizable.
Are you actively supporting your products and caring for your clients?
Make sure that you are taking care of those that helped you financially. Take care of them, tend to them, and have a good attitude! Be as personable as possible, and your clients will come back again and again. Sell them a great relationship on top of a great special offer.
Lastly, what research have you done?
Take a good hard look at what is already out there, and see how you can beat the competition. Do a S.W.O.T analysis for you, as an online business owner, and your brand as a whole. Look at Google Trends and see what keywords are hitting… Look at the news and see reviews and forums on your potential industry. From here, you can see what the people want, and you can then provide it to them with excellence. Solve their problems and give them a great deal, based on what you can learn from your research.
These 7 habits are not solely directed at daily deal sites and can be seen on many different levels, across many different industries. When you take a look at the most successful daily deal websites in existence; they all use many (if not all) of the below habits.
Let’s dive right in…
1. The Use of Incentives.
As if great deals aren’t enough, some of the top-notch daily deal sites online use further incentives to encourage their users to share deals and tell their friends. User generated recommendations are one of the best ways to sell a product and so if you can entice your user base and prospects with incentives you are putting yourself in a great position.
Notice Deal4Real.Asia’s use of incentives to refer friends, Eversave’s easy sharing capabilities, and iCouponOnline’s affiliate program.
The goal is to incentivize your visitors to share your website and great deals with their network of friends. The easier you make it to share; the more people typically do share.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution DDB also makes it easy for you to use “Cause Marketing” in your website. You can decide to have your members be associated with any charity or cause of your liking. This is easily set up and managed in your admin panel. |
2. “Innovators” and First Mover Advantages.
Being a “first mover” in nearly any industry definitely has its upsides (it does have its own set of downsides too), but in the daily deal industry; the first mover companies who got a jump on their competition have had a huge advantage and it has proven to be a wonderful thing. There are many niche specific daily deal sites out there that have been popping up in random industries and the first movers have shown to be doing great.
Take Woot; they were one of first daily deal sites and really gained a following quickly and have maintained a massive presence in the deal space. Groupon’s technology innovation and leadership with group buying and GrouponNow has been nothing short of incredible and has helped them maintain leadership in the industry. GiltCity became a first mover in the more luxury, high-end type deals.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution |
3. Character / Animal / Food Usage
Using a characters, animals, or food to connect with your audience has been proven over and over again, even well before the entire daily deal industry began. If you can have your visitors connect with a character it can make them more comfortable with your company and add an instant level of credibility and connection.
AppSumo uses their Sumo Wrestler, the Groupon cat, The Master Thief at DailySteals, and the cartoon character on HomeRun are just a few examples.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution |
4. The Use of Comedy and Sarcasm
By correctly incorporating comedy and humor into your marketing, message, advertisements, and email copy you can effectively connect with and engage your site visitors.
Advertising is a method of attracting a viewer’s/listener’s attention to your website / product. Done right, it achieves success. Doing it right means not only engaging the prospect but getting them to remember the website. Humor scares most us; most likely it’s the fear of falling flat as no one wants to be “not funny,” which makes this slightly risky.
With risk, however, comes opportunity. Just take a look at DailySteals About Us section, and Groupon’s sarcastic writing style. The important thing to remember when you use comedy and humor in your marketing that you do not “push the boundaries” too much and offend anyone.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution |
5. Just Plain Awesome Deals
Getting back to the root of this whole industry; fantastic deals that appeal to various groups are the main reason why people buy deals in frenzy. Quality offers – of a great product – at a high discount is the magic formula.
My personal favorite shining example of great deals is LivingSocial Escapes, however, each deal site appeals differently to different consumers. Deals, discounts, coupons, and vouchers are the core competency of a great a daily deal site.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution With Daily Deal Builder you can use the deals from our deal feed or use your own deals. Our strategic partnership with iCouponOnline allows you to tap into world class deals in over 40 major markets. If you decide to use and negotiate your own deals; we provide the training and contracts you need to lock in the deals with a great closing rate. |
6. Convenience and Ease of Use
People have become very impatient in our mobile, high speed internet world that we live in. When someone wants a deal, they typically want it right “now.” Sites that are focusing on mobile development and making it super simple to make a purchase and redeem coupons and vouchers are going down the right path and continue to gain traction.
Take GrouponNow, for instance. I can pull out my phone as I leave my house for a date with my wife and find a deal for dinner and an activity on the way out of my driveway. By the time I leave my neighborhood, I can have already figured out where I am going, what I am doing, and I was savvy enough to save around 50% on everything on the date. Score!
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution The Daily Deal Builder platform is built to look and work great from all mobile devices. We make it easy for your members to buy and redeem coupons directly from their mobile device. |
7. Great Customer Service
Providing timely and knowledgeable support to prospects and customers will help them feel confident in their purchases as well as keep them coming back for more. AppSumo provides a live online support tab directly on their site making it easy for customers to get in touch.
|
Daily Deal Builder’s Solution The DDB platform allows you to input a support desk drop box into your website to help increase trust and conversions on your website. We also provide training on how to best fulfill and outsource customer support. Out of the box, your platform will have an FAQ and “How My Site Works” filled out and ready to go. With DDB we also give you 1 free month of a virtual assistant who can help you with your support. |
To learn more about Daily Deal Builder and set up your own group buying / daily deal website we encourage to visit http://dailydealbuilder.com.
You can also email us directly at support@hcdesk.com.
Finally, you can also just give us a ring at 1-800-794-7192.
Make moves today,
Marc Horne
[…] great, compelling copy is one the 7 habits of highly successful daily deal sites, and it all starts with the headline. These are headlines that have worked for clients we have […]
[…] easy to see what habits make up a great daily deal site, however not quite as easy to spot the things that you need to avoid as a deal site owner in […]