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The goal of this guide is to cut through the confusion and provide an in-depth overview of how to get started advertising on Groupon. Whether you’re a seasoned business owner or just getting into marketing, there’s something for everyone here.
Groupon is a website that allows people to buy and sell coupons (also known as vouchers) from local businesses. Groupon does not charge any upfront costs to promote these offers; instead, they take 50% of each transaction. Simply pick a deal category, calculate the discount, and add offer information to create a Groupon deal.
How Groupon Works
Groupon is an online marketplace allowing companies to offer discount vouchers (coupons) for their goods or services. The captive customer base of 49.3 million users globally adds value to firms advertising on Groupon. Plus, launching a deal is simple: companies go to Groupon’s website, fill in information about their company, enter their offer discount and details, and choose a launch date. After a contract becomes live, payments are made every 30 days.
Groupon’s advertising relies heavily on discounts. Groupon recommends a discount of 40% to 90% off the standard price, but if deal information is uploaded to the site, the platform will provide more focused suggestions. These are merely guidelines; merchants may set their own discounts depending on the cost of the goods, shipping costs, and other deal costs.
Groupon will handle the selling of coupons to its members when an offer goes live. When a Groupon member shows a coupon to a company, the business is bound to offer the product/service listed on Groupon at the specified price, whether in person or online. Groupon will give the company money for total sales, less a 50% charge, every 30 days the offer is active.
When a company advertises an appealing Groupon offer with a competitive price, they may anticipate an increase in traffic to their website and, in many instances, foot traffic to their store, which is why it’s also a search engine marketing approach. While businesses may successfully convert Groupon members into loyal customers, others argue that retention is difficult and that clients are simply looking for a discount, making them difficult to convert.
Who Should Use Groupon Advertising?
While practically any company may use Groupon, it works best for small businesses that provide consumer-facing items or services for less than $100 and need to generate discounts for a certain product/service or time of day. Groupon advertising is especially useful for entertainment venues that need to fill seats for upcoming events, as well as travel firms that give savings on transportation.
The following are the kind of deals that Groupon is best suited for:
- Local businesses — While anybody may sell things online, local businesses often rely on sales from physical locations. These businesses may simply attract local customers who can redeem their certificates in person by utilizing Groupon.
- Service businesses – Because Groupon offers can be set up with certain redemption days and hours, they are ideal for service businesses like restaurants, activity centers, and spas that experience seasonal slowdowns.
- Entertainment venues – Venue managers typically profit from Groupon by being able to readily offer discounted performance tickets that haven’t sold by the event’s day of the performance.
- Travel firms — To fill resorts, hotel rooms, and aircraft seats, travel companies commonly use Groupon to offer discounted tickets and bookings. These deals are handled differently by Groupon than the others on this list, therefore we won’t go through them in this post.
While many local companies benefit from Groupon promotion, be sure yours can manage the surge of new consumers that comes with it. Consider including small language in your promotion that requires voucher holders to make appointments or notify you before using their voucher to assist handle this increased traffic.
Cost of Groupon Advertising
Groupon does not charge a fee to generate and run offers on its platform. Instead, they get half of the proceeds from each voucher sale. Every month, Groupon provides a check or an electronic money transfer (EFT) to merchants for the amount received via sales, less their 50% share. The Groupon cost may be negotiated in exceptional circumstances, but only over the phone with a Groupon sales agent.
While the Groupon cost may seem high, it is usual for people to buy a coupon and then let it expire. This implies you don’t have to pay for the service or product; you just keep the money after subtracting the Groupon charge. According to Groupon, 30% of certificates are never utilized, therefore this is a substantial benefit for companies who advertise on the site.
How to Advertise on Groupon
In 11 easy steps, here’s how you advertise on Groupon:
1. Decide on a deal type
To get started, go to the Groupon Merchant page. “How can we assist your business?” will appear as a prompt in the middle of the screen. Local discounts, vacations, live events, and products and retail offers are among the options (or deal categories) available.
The following are some of Groupon’s solution options:
- Deals for local companies and locations: such as spas, restaurants, entertainment centers, and activity centers.
- Getaways: Vacation packages as well as hotels, resorts, and flights.
- Live: Those selling tickets to live events like festivals, concerts, and comedy shows should use the Live solution.
- Goods & Retail: This category is for those who wish to sell goods or services.
By clicking on the relevant symbol, you may choose the best option for your company. The methods below will assist you in setting up local business deals, which are the most common deal type on Groupon. 
Choosing the best Groupon solution for your company
2. Fill up the blanks with your company’s information.
After you’ve chosen your offer, fill out the next page with your company’s information, including its name, address, phone number, website, and the number of locations it has. Begin entering your business category in the “Business Type” section, then choose from the list of possibilities that appears. Click “Submit” after you’ve completed all of these fields.
Add your business details to Groupon using this screen.
3. Choose a Deal Type
You’ll be led to a page with many ideas for the sort of discount you’ll give depending on your company category on the next screen. You may normally pick from 10 to 15 choices, and this will produce a template for you to fill out for your transaction. Choose the one that best matches your situation.
To choose your offer type, use Groupon’s Deal Builder.
4. Enter the price and discount for your deal.
Fill in the product cost before the discount and the amount of discount you’d like to provide on the next screen. Based on data obtained from previous Groupon offers, Groupon recommends a “green zone” for the discount % that will have the best results. It also informs you how much money you’ll make from each transaction, depending on the discount you choose.
The offer will work best with a 46 percent to 54 percent discount, according to Groupon’s past deal statistics. The buyer would spend $17 and the merchant would collect $8.50 if we chose a 52 percent discount.
5. Choose or upload a deal photo
Choose a deal graphic for the following phase. You have the option of selecting from Groupon’s picture database or uploading your own. It is preferable to submit your own.jpg or.png picture to stand out and ensure that no one else is utilizing the same image. According to Groupon’s requirements, photos must be horizontal, centered on your service or product, and 700 by 420 pixels in size. Keep in mind that you may only choose one picture, and movies are not supported by Groupon.
6. Create a synopsis of your company.
Write a brief overview of your company in less than 115 characters on the following screen. This content will show underneath the tiny print data on Groupon deal pages, giving customers a clear idea of your company’s mission and competence. Make sure to include information on what sets you apart from the competition and why your goods or services are the best in the business.
7. Answer the Business Questionnaire
After you’ve completed your basic business profile, Groupon will ask you to reply in 300 characters to four questions about your reason for starting your company, what makes it distinctive, and what you find most satisfying about it. You are not required to respond to these questions, but they will display on offer sites, so answering them is typically useful.
8. Decide on the fine print details.
After you’ve answered Groupon’s company questions, you’ll be asked to choose your fine print information for your offer. Choose the options that make the most sense for your transaction. If you need to add anything that isn’t shown as an option, you’ll need to contact Groupon’s Merchant Support. To discover whether extra fine print may be added, contact them at 866-956-1276 or merchantsupport@groupon.com.
9. Decide on a redemption location and a launch date.
After that, decide where your offer may be redeemed. This is often a storefront, although it may be any business address. You may also choose to visit clients who have bought your offer. Set the criteria for this travel-based reward by deciding how far you’re willing to go to meet a client from a given ZIP code.
Sign the Groupon agreement and wait for the deal to be reviewed.
Review and electronically sign Groupon’s merchant agreement now that your offer information has been input; your deal will be evaluated by Groupon’s staff after this step. If any changes are required after an offer has been evaluated, Groupon will seek to alert retailers through email within three business days. If no changes are required, you will be alerted that the offer will go live on the scheduled day.
11. Get ready for visitors
Start preparing for the probable rush of clients after you’ve established a date for your promotion to go live. Offering a Groupon offer will boost traffic to your website and shop; plan for this by hiring extra personnel to deal with more clients and training your workers on how to use the Groupon deal. Also, make sure your whole staff is aware of any small print they should be aware of before redeeming a certificate.
5 Ways to Use Groupon to Grow Your Business
It might be tough to run a successful Groupon campaign, but there are certain fundamental guidelines that all merchants can utilize to maximize profits. Begin by delivering excellent customer service, then upsell as often as possible, sell excess inventory, and capture user email addresses for future marketing efforts during redemption.
The following are the top five techniques for developing a successful Groupon deal:
1. Exceptional Customer Service
Offering an amazing experience to someone who discovered you on Groupon is the greatest method to encourage them to do business with you again. Unfortunately, due to their inexpensive purchases, some companies perceive Groupon clients as second-class customers. As a result, you’ll get a lot of bad feedback and a lot of one-time consumers. Don’t make the same mistake; treat your Groupon clients like top-tier, devoted customers, and they’ll reward you with additional sales.
2. Upsell
It’s simpler to convince a consumer to purchase more once you’ve persuaded them to buy your goods. When clients use their Groupon coupons, teach your personnel how to upsell to them. To make this happen, make sure you have a family of items that are related to the Groupon product you’re discounting; this will make it simple to upsell at the checkout. A consumer using a coupon for a discounted haircut, for example, may easily be persuaded to purchase coloring or a blow-out.
3. Encourage users to post about your offer on social media.
Ask the customer to post the discount on social media every time you use a voucher. If they do so, you may even give them a future product discount. Finally, new consumers acquired via Groupon deals are very valuable to a small company, and a modest discount in exchange for a deal endorsement from a real client goes a long way toward expanding your customer base.
4. Collect email addresses
Always ask for a customer’s email address when they redeem a coupon. Let them know they won’t be spammed, and describe what you’ll be sending them—a monthly newsletter with updates on your company’s growth, inventory adjustments, and special offers for loyal customers. You’ll convert a Groupon consumer into a direct client with this freshly crafted information.
5. Get rid of any excess inventory
A lot of businesses have unsold inventory. Instead of getting rid of it, try selling these things on Groupon at a steep price. You’ll save some money while also promoting your brand and items to new clients in this manner. This maintains your brand top-of-mind for Grouponers who already know you from prior offers and encourages them to contact you directly about additional goods in your inventory.
“Don’t simply assume that people will notice your Groupon deal and buy it right away—the majority of them will check out your website, social media accounts, and even read reviews before making a purchase, so make sure that all of these areas of your company are up to par.” It doesn’t matter how wonderful your Groupon deal is if you don’t use it. You’re not going to get any leads.”
— Sarah Fox, Mahlatini Luxury Safari’s Product Manager
Conclusion
Groupon is a platform that facilitates the selling of vouchers, sometimes known as coupons, by third-party merchants. Local businesses, such as spas, restaurants, activity centers, and event venues, benefit the most from it, but travel corporations also benefit. Companies will certainly notice a rise in exposure, traffic, and revenue by providing a Groupon deal with appealing language and an attractive price.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to advertise in Groupon?
You can advertise for $10,000 the first time and then it goes up to a maximum of $100,000 after that.
How do I sell my Groupon voucher?
You cannot sell Groupon vouchers as they are considered a gift. However, if you’re looking to get rid of your voucher then the best place would be in an online marketplace such as eBay or Gumtree.
What is Groupon’s marketing strategy?
Groupon’s marketing strategy is to motivate potential customers to buy their products.
