In a recent study, the accuracy of the coupon codes was inspected and four coupon code websites were included in the study; Retailmenot, Dealspotr, Coupons, and Groupon. Despite the fact that Dealspotr is only 9 months old, it has the highest number of accurate coupons, has up to four coupons for any given retailer, and has the highest number of unique coupon codes available.
Though Retailmenot, Coupons, and Groupon are fairly old and established websites but they don’t have as valid and accurate coupons as the newly created Dealspotr. What is the difference? And importantly, how Dealspotr has managed to deal with coupon accuracy and validity?
Critical analysis of the business models used by these four coupon sites and analyzing how they have structured their businesses reveal some interesting information. Let’s see what marketing lessons we can learn from these businesses.
Communities work
Retailmenot and Dealspotr are community websites where anyone can go and submit the coupons. Coupons and Groupon, on the other hand, have affiliate programs.
Dealspotr has taken the coupon communities a step ahead by integrating social networking. According to its founder Michael Quoc, “Dealspotr is a social network at its core, but tailored for shopping, coupons, and saving money.”
Integrating social network has done the work for the startup. People love spending time on Dealspotr where they are more likely to get new deals and coupons every day. This doesn’t happen with the other three coupon websites.
Incentive works
Nobody will visit your website, join the community, and will participate if there isn’t a win-win situation. If you wish to run a community of coupon publishers and coupon users, you have to respect their time and should pay them it.
This is what exactly Dealspotr is doing. Instead of focusing only on the business coupons, it allows everyone to publish coupons and get rewarded for the effort and time. It is not a business-focused coupon website where only businesses are allowed to submit their coupons – it is a social networking website for coupons and deals.
On the other hand, Groupon, for instance, pays its affiliates. It is focusing on the business side of the coupons. It does give an incentive in the form of commission to its affiliates but they have missed the ‘social’ aspect. Affiliates are businesses and they are interested in making money and if Groupon isn’t working for them, they will switch.
User generated content is crucial
Dealspotr focuses on user generated coupon codes. If you find a deal that you have tried and has worked for you, share it and get rewarded. This is the business model that has worked for the startup.
This is what makes their coupons accurate and valid.
Retailmenot has been in business for more than a decade and it also has a community but its business model is not as flexible. They don’t pay for submitting the coupons and this is one reason why it houses such a low number of coupons.
Do your homework
Do your homework and spend time on marketing research. These statistics and research are a clear example of the fact that Dealspotr knew what’s in this coupon industry for them even before they started the website.
“We posted these statistics on our blog recently, however, these are the statistics that our marketing and research team collected and analyzed well before the launch. We were sure of the gap in the coupon industry”, said Quoc.
Other three coupon websites are very old, they must have done market research back then. Fine enough, but they ignored the recent trends in the market such as social networking and the rise of user generated content. The future of Dealspotr will be in jeopardy if it will not analyze the market and industry for future trends. It is crucial to conduct research, analyze, and upgrade the business and the business model regularly.
It is time to implement these four business and marketing lessons in your business and startup to outperform your competitors.
