
Groupon's Hidden Influence on Yelp Reputation - robg
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27150/
======
achompas
First, a direct link to Arxiv and the study:
<http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/1109/1109.1530v1.pdf>

Second, let's avoid talk about how "correlation doesn't imply causation".
Quote:

 _They examine this effect in more detail by pinpointing reviews that
specifically mention the words "Groupon" and "coupon". "Reviews mentioning
either keyword are associated with star ratings that are 10% lower on average
than reviews that do not, while the very small fraction of reviews mentioning
both keywords are more than 20% lower on average," they say._

I'll offer an alternative to the hypothesis that "Groupon customers are
terrible:" customer volume shoots up after a deal, causing service to suffer.
I haven't read the paper yet, but I hoped they checked reviews for content as
well as final ratings.

Still, a novel little study that takes advantage of a naturally-occurring
experiment. I'd love to work on research like this in the future.

~~~
count
Every year, our city has 'restaurant week', where tons of local restaurants
offer 3 or 4 course prix fixe menus for the same price (usually $24.99 or so).

For some of these restaurants, that price point is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than
their normal price.

Inevitably, what happens, is that throngs of people who wouldn't dream of
making reservations and paying $150 for a meal show up and demand the same
high quality food and service for $25. Guess what - it doesn't happen.

Now those people who don't know any better, assume that the $150 is a total
rip off and that the restaurant isn't any better than the $20 place down the
street. It also makes life hell if you want a real 'nice' meal that week...

Is it dumb for the high end places to do this? I think so, but I guess they
like to 'show support' for local restaurants or whatever. Groupon feels like
it's just the same thing, one place at a time.

------
rhygar
This raises the question: Are the merchants giving poorer customer service to
Groupon customers, because Grouponers are cheapskates, or are Groupon
customers just jerks?

