
The secret of Groupon’s success is … good writing & Email?  - Cmccann7
http://venturebeat.com/2010/09/15/demo-the-secret-of-groupons-success-is-good-writing/
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patio11
Aggressively targeting women who have money and enjoy spending money instead
of young men who don't have money and enjoy stealing the product isn't hurting
their financial performance, either.

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buro9
Except when my girl uses it to try and get a discount on some health session
things locally and no coupon ever materialises and the money is seemingly
impossible to get a refund on.

You cannot imagine the bad press she's telling all of her friends. There's not
much I can imagine being more powerful than one of the key people in a little
social group starting with "You wouldn't believe how bad this company is, I
think it's just a scam.".

Anecdotal it clearly is, but once you have the opportunity to sell the same
time and energy that is put into copy should be put into customer service.
Especially when your company can be affected by third parties not pulling
their weight.

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awakeasleep
Doesn't Groupon have a no-questions-asked refund policy?

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buro9
It does... but she seems unable to gain access to her account. She's getting
email updates, but can't login. Password reminder emails aren't coming through
so she can't reset. It just says her email isn't recognised even though she
made a purchase. She's only got the one email so it's not like she's confused
about which email she used.

She's emailed Groupon a few times and tried to contact the supplier of the
classes she purchased... no response from either. So she's now just venting at
anyone who will listen, which is me a lot of the time but more effectively her
friends.

~~~
buro9
I've just had her login using Facebook Connect to see if that was what she had
done originally, but apparently not.

I'm just encouraging her to give the bank a call and do a chargeback.

She clearly was charged, clearly hasn't received any coupon or class, hasn't
received responses to customer services, cannot login and is being treated
like her account doesn't exist. A chargeback seems to be the only option.

Though now I've tried to talk her through all possible scenarios I totally get
why she's really pissed at Groupon.

~~~
weaksauce
Try giving them a call maybe?

From their contact page: <http://www.groupon.com/contact-us>

Having trouble using Groupon? Email Groupon at support@groupon.com or call 1
(877) 788-7858 (during normal business hours, central time)

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KleinmanB
Consistent, short, engaging; writing and video are the most undervalued part
of any consumer facing company. Good copy reinforces a "brand personality"
which leads to a feeling of connection.

Whenever I consult I always tell companies, a company cant and never will be
considered a "friend" by any consumer. A company wont help you move places, go
drinknig with you, or give you personal advice. The goal companies should aim
for is to make a company/brand feel like a "familiar acquaintance." If people
feel a companies brand personality is consistent and they are comfortable with
the company existing some place in the web of their life to be called upon in
a limited number of scenarios they are doing the most you can do.

See: Virgin, GroupOn, Google

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zaidf
The BIGGEST secret to groupon's success is....being able to convince store
owners to give REAL, REAL good coupons!

That is the OVERWHELMING value of groupon--which is why I question their
longterm strategy. Store owners will at some point figure out that they can
give the same type of super-awesome coupon online and get similar value as
groupon provides only in this case they don't need to give 50-60% of the
revenue to groupon.

Groupon is basically made possible due to the spread of crappy coupons in the
past decade. When coupons originated, _all_ coupons rocked. I remember as a
kid in India, when a coupon appeared in a paper, it was rare and the paper
would _sell out_. Literally sell out! All because it had a coupon. And by
definition, a coupon meant _real_ savings--not 10 cents off your dinner.

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systemtrigger
Groupon's editorial manual describes in detail their approach to copywriting:
<https://docs.google.com/View?id=dmv9rbh_11gtqx983t>

I just started working on a groupon clone. Dev site: dealhill.com. If you're
working on one too, feel free to email me. It would be cool to share knowledge
and discuss strategy.

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Revisor
Upvoted for the link to the manual, not for the copycat site. ;)

~~~
systemtrigger
Ignored for explaining your vote, not for the cheap attack. ;)

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niccolop
David Ogilvy's book, Confessions of an Ad Man; makes this point even more
clearly: Good copy can lead to successful businesses.

~~~
heinel
Yap. Especially in the case of Groupon, many of their articles read like
poetry--very daring imagery and voice. They are doing as much service to the
people who subscribe to their emails as to the brands who have the honor to
get the Groupon face-lift.

It is a very refreshing model compared to most other startups where as far as
I can see, paid no attention to copywriting.

~~~
2arrs2ells
Woot would be another example of a startup with great copy. I buy something
like 0.5-1% of all Woots that I see - but I keep checking them because at
least 20% of the descriptions make me "lol".

~~~
heinel
Yeah, and another one I like (that's probably not new by now) is ThinkGeek.
The beauty of this is probably how drastically different they all are :)

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vlad
In my limited experience with the site, Groupon appears to use fake images of
discounts coupled with the region's name in their web ads and web site in
order to entice new users, not letting the users know that no discounts for
the advertised area actually exist until after they sign up. If this is an old
practice, this may factor into their "secret of success", as well.

~~~
2arrs2ells
It's the "AdultFriendFinder" advertising model!

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bretthellman
"Groupon’s approach was shaped by its constraints..." It's all about the
constraints. "Constraints shape and focus problems, and provide clear
challenges to overcome as well as inspiration. Creativity, in fact, thrives
best when constrained" Points for whoever can name the author of the quote.

~~~
fbailey
uh the Lady...but I think there are historic layers behind this quote

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samd
I buy a couple Groupons per month, but I've never read their emails entirely.
The secret to their success with me is cheap prices for fun activities that I
would have otherwise never done.

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kgermino
I receive and usually read the Groupon emails even though I'm yet to actually
buy anything, but I think that the emails are significant because they make it
easy to share Groupon deals with friends. As I said I haven't actually bought
anything but fairly often people ask me if I know about "that coupon thing"
many of these conversations end with me forwarding a deal email or two, or
just adding their email address to Groupon's mailing list (with their
permission of course).

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GBond
I know that laws of suppply/demands are at play here but it is strange that
Groupon would attribute their success to good copy yet pay writers only a
merger salary of $35k.

source: [http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0830/entrepreneurs-
groupon...](http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0830/entrepreneurs-groupon-
facebook-twitter-next-web-phenom_2.html)

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Mc_Big_G
I heard a rumor that, internally, they think the secret to their success is
their referral program.

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bmr
Nobody likes a grammar Nazi, but second paragraph, last sentence. Perhaps they
should have learned from Groupon? :)

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wying17
their success is probably more because business owners are willing to provide
a massive discount to get the Groupon exposure, $120 million funding and an
enormous subscription base.

their copywriting is quite lame.

~~~
il
I don't think you know much about copywriting if you say that.

I've studied their landing pages and emails. Groupon has fantastic
clear,benefit-driven copy and landing page design, and they split test
everything fanatically.

That's the real secret to their success- constant iteration and improvement.
They're one of the few American companies to truly master kaizen, and the
results are easy to see.

~~~
rlander
"Groupon has fantastic clear , benefit-driven copy and landing page design ,
and they split test everything fanatically ."

Care to provide us with references or examples?

