Google Offers: What I Like and What's Missing
I saw that Google Offers has now arrived in the ATL, so I thought I'd try signing up to see how it compares to the likes of Scoutmob, Groupon, and Living Social.
Honestly - a great experience up-front in filtering out requests for stuff I will never want. Kudos to the #GoogleOffers team for getting that right.
What I Like About Google Offers
While the preference selection process might have been a little longer than it needed to be, in the end, I appreciated the fact that the choices were not jammed all onto one page and that they were sensibly grouped. Clicking on the entire area vs just the check box was a nice little user experience bonus, too.
The next thing I was really impressed with was the fact that #GoogleOffers then demonstrates that it understands what kinds of offers I'd be interested in based on what I just told them.
#GoogleOffers clearly made a big investment in the on-boarding experience - more than just 'gimme your email address and zipcode.' Bravo.
What's Missing from Google Offers
The missing link (for Google Offers and other daily deal sites, in general) is the opt-in for future emails from the advertiser. These acquisition programs should put a finer point on helping businesses grow repeat customers, not just the first one.
Put yourself in the shoes of a small business owner -- the neighborhood coffee shop / bakery or Dry Cleaner -- that decides to do their first daily deal ... like Posies Cafe and what do they have to show for it?
Imagine if they had the opportunity to then provide an opportunity to opt-in to their own email list as a part of the checkout process or as a follow-up opportunity after the coupon had been redeemed. They need a way to make back the cost of the acquisition and make that new customer a happy customer that drives long-term revenue.
These businesses need a way to re-market to those who redeem the offer, solicit their feedback, maybe even provide an opportunity for them to give them another chance. (Someone, please set me straight if I've missed something really obvious that already addresses this).
These advertisers have too many other things they're trying to do, so they really need email service providers to provide 'turn-key' integration so that when the campaign is done, and the opt-ins are tallied up, these first-time patrons would already have a welcome/thank you/bounceback offer email in their inbox.
What about Groupon Rewards?
With all due respect at Groupon, I don't think Groupon Rewards does enough for merchants because the control and visibility still lives with Groupon and not the merchant. Yes, a merchant can see that a Groupon customer came back for a repeat visit, but it leaves the question of how the merchant invites that customer to come back again in the first place.
While I'm not sure how other daily deal sites handle this, it's obvious to me that by providing the added-value of ESP integration, daily local deal programs like #GoogleOffers would see more repeat business from their advertisers. And who doesn't want repeat business?
