NETTING IT OUT

I’ve always considered myself a loyal customer. So imagine my surprise to realize that I usually treat Daily Deal merchants as a one-night stand! I go/shop once, and never return.

So why don’t I become a regular customer? The merchants don’t provide me with the proper incentives or mechanisms to do so. My relationship is with the daily deal provider, such as Groupon or KBG Deals, not with the restaurant of electronics vendor.

So, what can you do about it? I recommend combining an excellent experience, excellent service, and excellent product with personal treatment. Create marketing programs that you offer to those customers who came to you through a deal broker. Be sure to follow up with customers who may have come to you for the discount, but are more likely to become repeat visitors if you make them feel valued and important.

These marketing programs should kick in automatically whenever someone takes advantage of the offered deal to try out what you have to offer. Claim the customer relationship as your own!

ONE AND DONE?

I recently read an article by Michael Lowenstein, on Customer Think, entitled “Avoiding the One-Night Stand: Targeting Customers Who Will Stay With You.” Although Michael is talking about how companies “need to segment their customers so they can determine how much longer that customer will remain with them, how much revenue each customer will contribute, how much and what kind of services the customer should receive, and what efforts will be needed to keep them whether they are new, at risk, or even already lost,” it started me thinking about my relationships with daily deal providers and how I have become, much to my surprise, a “one-night stand.”

As regular readers know, I am a regular customer for daily deals. I receive daily emails from Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Local, KGB Deals, and Gilt. And there might be one or two that I’ve forgotten.

I primarily use these deals for restaurants/specialty food stores (like local fish markets); I also use deals for events (such as theater tickets) on occasion; and I use them for merchandise (jewelry, electronics, household items), mostly as gifts around the holidays.

In general, I’ve been happy with the deals. But I’ve come to realize that, once I’ve used up the voucher I bought, I rarely become a regular customer of these establishments and merchants. It’s a one-and-done situation, for the most part.

A Loyalist at Heart

The reason I’m surprised at my cavalier customer commitment is that I am, at heart, a loyal customer. I remain true to providers who give me good products and good service, believing in the “tried and true” philosophy that creates loyal customers.

I tend to go to the same stores, visit the same online merchants, dine at the same restaurants (unless I have a coupon), and frequent the same service providers (hairdresser, mechanic, dry cleaners, etc.), until I have a good reason to switch (bad service, most likely). So why don’t I keep going back to the new venues I try out via my daily deals?

AM I REALLY A VALUED CUSTOMER?

Usually Treated Well

On occasion, I have experienced a less-than-stellar reception from the provider once I present my coupon for a significant discount. Usually it’s the host/hostess (I’m talking restaurants here) that gives a faint expression of distaste (since I won’t be paying the full boat). The wait staff knows it will get the same tip (usually), so they aren’t a problem.

But, most often, I am welcomed graciously and my coupon accepted with no fuss. The meals are usually delicious, and the tiny bill at the end (for tax and the few dollars I might have gone over my voucher value) plus tip are kind to my pocketbook.

I have experienced restaurants I would have never tried or even known of without the daily deal prompting. I have found unique and affordable gifts for those hard-to-shop-for friends and relatives. As I said, I’m a happy daily deal customer.

But am I really valued by the providers? You would never know it from the radio silence that follows..(more)

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