Daily deal websites and email campaigns have certainly gotten a lot of attention this past year. With Groupon leading the charge, now other big players such as Google and Facebook are drooling over getting a bite of the pie.
The real question is, have consumers eaten their fill and could more chefs in this soup cause a loss of appetite?
According to research from Yahoo! Mail and Ispos OTX MediaCT, deal overload doesn’t seem to be much of an issue yet. The survey from February 2011 found that at least in the US, adult internet users subscribe to an average of almost three daily or weekly shopping emails or newsletters. More importantly, respondents actually read them! 61% of those who subscribe to at least two of these emails indicated they read all of the messages. They also reported accessing those messages at least once a day.
Another bit of good news is that most of those subscribed to daily deal emails pass them along to friends and family, albeit with less frequency. Only a quarter passed them on daily, but almost half (45%) forwarded them on at least once per week.
There seems to be a good deal (pun intended) of positive news for daily deal email programs. Even the enthusiasm doesn’t seem to wane too much among subscribers. Six out of ten said they are subscribed to more of these programs than last year and almost half were still excited enough to say they “can’t wait” for the latest and greatest offering message.
There also seems to be a certain level of trust here with only 27% of respondents admitting they use an email account (other than their main one) for these daily deals. In other words, the vast majority don’t mind getting these in their primary personal account inbox. That seems to suggest that subscribers view them as desirable and relevant.
Speculating on this, I think the perception of these emails for many is about the same as a wrapped present. Part of why we love these daily deal emails is because it promises the potential to reward ourselves. The ribbon on the box is that we can rationalize giving ourselves that treat because we are getting a deal on it.
Fear of Email Overload?
Of course relevancy is the key here for daily deals as it is with any email marketing campaign. If your messages are not relevant people will soon tune out and unsubscribe. I wonder why more brands don’t engage in their own daily or weekly deal emails. Is it because we have become so hung up on the frequency issue (the fear of overloading subscribers) that we just don’t even consider trying it? Or is it just a case of most brands not having the variety of products or services to offer consistent deals? Or is it because we just don’t have the imagination to try such things?
Which is it? Or is it something else or a combination of all of them? I don’t have pat answers for this – you tell me.
Some of these numbers are staggering.
“Only a quarter passed them on daily, but almost half (45%) forwarded them on at least once per week.”
This seems high because of the frequency of the email list messages which are daily means that this really has almost an exponential effect.
There is no doubt that the daily deal model is one of the hottest product / models on the Internet today. I believe that the Groupon name is a great brand that can be trusted and the whole concept of social media and trust makes this business one that is taking on a life of its own. If I personally have a friend, colleague or relative recommending an offer to me I’ll at least take a look at it.
The whole idea of coupons is powerful. As I examine my analytics for my sites that are coupon related I do see a lot people using keywords with the word “coupon” in it. I recently added promo code functionality and a coupon page to the site directly on the sitemap so users can find the coupon if they dig for it. I think my users find a sense of accomplishment when they find the coupon promo code. We can see many sites and business models using promo code functionality and coupons to grow their business. Check out your stats, people want these coupons and they keep coming back. More traffic when optimizing coupons within your business leads to greater ROI.