Doing a daily deal has changed in the last few years from what I gather.  Now Groupon allows you to do caps on your deal monthly so you can offer just 10 or 20 per month for a few months.  Then you can decide whether to continue or not depending on your results or pause the campaign for a period of time.  This worked well for me as I was doing a lot of different things when I decided I wanted to get a lot busier.  So instead of going all out with Groupon or Living Social and offering to do a deal to sell like 400 or 500 massages and end up being booked with nothing but these vouchers for a year I figured better to just "test the waters" and sold 20 deals max per month for 3 months.  Did it around the holiday season.

I also boosted the value of the offering by including aromatherapy, foot scrub, and hot towels which I said "I value at $45" so I could sell my vouchers at a higher price point.  I got tips from most people and ended up averaging around $35 per 1 hour of massage even after Groupon took their 50% cut.  Now if you get good reviews Groupon or Living Social will probably offer you a higher cut if you ask for one.

Look around at other people in your area offering Groupon deals and see how many they are selling and what they offer.  If someone is trying all the Groupons in order to shop around for a therapist, you might be the one to impress them and gain a regular.  I had a few people from my Groupons buy packages and have stayed with me coming in more than once per month for over a year now.  So was that worth doing all those lower priced massages?  I think so. 

Be ready for a lot of people just buying the voucher to get their quarterly or yearly massage.  They won't come back.  But think about finding those few clients who do come back and refer all their coworkers to you.  Make sure you let people know you offer an introductory massage at the same rate of your Groupon so any friends of theirs buy directly from you and don't just go to buy the Groupon!  This way you get 100% of the discounted rate rather than 50%.

I say try it.  Limit it to just 10 per month just to see how it goes and if you are liking the results you can always increase the number of vouchers offered.

Hi Elaine,

I am a Massage Therapist who has run two Living Social promotions and I still say both decisions were the best I ever made. 

Will you get a lot of people who are only going to come in once? Absolutely. 

Will you get a lot of people who are trying to find the right massage therapist but don't want to spend a fortune doing so? Absolutely. 

With the right approach - NOT treating your purchasers like they're "discount clients", honoring the full amount of time you offer, being professional, courteous and giving a really good massage, following up, etc., etc., etc., you can have tremendous success with these features.

Keep in mind - it's NOT for everyone. (What is???) 

In my opinion, the daily deal features are basically guaranteed advertising so it makes sense to me. 

There is a LOT to think about before committing, though. In fact, I've written a pretty lengthy guide on how to do it correctly which I've attached to this response.

I do know that SOME of the information attached is dated - I spoke with a representative from Living Social recently and the splits are actually a little better (for US) these days, so make sure to check with your local rep for their current prices.

And finally, don't be afraid to reiterate to your purchasers that this is a TRUE bargain and encourage tips. I don't normally advocate for this but when you're offering that much of a discount I believe you have every right!

Hope this helps! 

Alyson

Oops, forgot the instructions for the Excel sheet!

Alyson Schlobohm said:

Hi Elaine,

I am a Massage Therapist who has run two Living Social promotions and I still say both decisions were the best I ever made. 

Will you get a lot of people who are only going to come in once? Absolutely. 

Will you get a lot of people who are trying to find the right massage therapist but don't want to spend a fortune doing so? Absolutely. 

With the right approach - NOT treating your purchasers like they're "discount clients", honoring the full amount of time you offer, being professional, courteous and giving a really good massage, following up, etc., etc., etc., you can have tremendous success with these features.

Keep in mind - it's NOT for everyone. (What is???) 

In my opinion, the daily deal features are basically guaranteed advertising so it makes sense to me. 

There is a LOT to think about before committing, though. In fact, I've written a pretty lengthy guide on how to do it correctly which I've attached to this response.

I do know that SOME of the information attached is dated - I spoke with a representative from Living Social recently and the splits are actually a little better (for US) these days, so make sure to check with your local rep for their current prices.

And finally, don't be afraid to reiterate to your purchasers that this is a TRUE bargain and encourage tips. I don't normally advocate for this but when you're offering that much of a discount I believe you have every right!

Hope this helps! 

Alyson