Daily Deal Benefits: 8 Reasons to Run a Daily Deal

Small business owners are always looking to attract new customers as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. With the explosive growth of daily deal sites targeted toward both consumers and businesses, many businesses are considering running a one-time discount as a way to accomplish this.

Attracting new buyers and garnering new sales are obvious benefits of running a deal, but there are a number of additional ways small businesses can see value in distributing a deal to prospective customers:

1. No up-front cost or risk. No vendor in the daily deals business charges a merchant to enter into a partnership and run a deal. Just as you can set up a Facebook page without paying anything, the vehicle of a daily deal itself is free.
2. Predictable and fixed expense. This is the math you should do before running your deal. Take into consideration what you would normally spend to acquire a customer, and you can understand what percentage discount you should offer - and how many deals you make available - without spending as much or more than your other marketing efforts.
3. Pay only if deal performs. You only spend money on new customer acquisition if the deal performs, and customers purchase your product or service. Which leads to our next point...
4. Receive vs. write a check. You will never actually write a check to your daily deals provider. Most sites will send you a check for the amount your new customers paid, minus the cut taken by the daily deals company.
5. Create a stream of new customers. Customers pre-pay for the opportunity to do business with you, and by putting upsell and cross-sell opportunities in place, you can connect with customers in a way that makes them repeat buyers of your product or service. You could also renew the connection you have with old customers that have not purchased from you for awhile.
6. Built-in brand advertising at no cost. Even if your deal does not strike a chord with buyers, you are not forced to pay anything for the opportunity to be exposed to the thousands (or millions) of people who saw your company's name in their inbox.
7. Receive residual value. You're not only receiving value by way of sales, but by using daily deals to promote your company, you have potential to acquire brand ambassadors, new partners, viral exposure, and return customers. This residual value could also be in the form of new Facebook fans or Twitter followers for your business.
8. Daily deal sites process credit card transactions and pay fees. As a merchant, you're not required to process the payments for purchases, saving you from fees charged by both your merchant account provider and card issuers.

By running a daily deal through a specialized site like business or deals for international travelers, merchants can benefit from broad exposure to a targeted market. Deals can also be used to offload excess inventory, test the response to a new product, and fill service appointments for low-volume days or seasons, helping merchants truly maximize the value of their daily deal approach.