Each morning, my inbox is full of messages about a great Daily Deal that will expire if I don’t purchase by midnight. It all started with Groupon and then I added other local & national deal sites as they’ve popped up with enticing discounts.
The Deal may be a great discount – but that doesn’t mean it’s a good deal to you. Let’s look at the thought process of a Deal in order to avoid the temptation to buy when it doesn’t fit within your budget.
Scarcity Motives Action
Scarcity is a key ingredient to success of the Deal. As consumers, scarcity is not a good thing – it motivates us act quickly and sometimes without logical thought. Take a moment to understand the deal and your family budget before buying.
Questions Before Buying
- Is this a product, service, or experience you were planning on purchasing?
- Does the Deal purchase plus any transaction overage fit within your budget for that category?
- Have you bought from this business before and would you return?
- If it’s a known business or product, how many Deals would you realistically use before the expiration date?
- Is this business about to close? Do you need to use the Deal immediately to be sure?
- What is the fine print of the deal?
The Fine Print
Expiration dates – Sometimes there are two: one for the promotional value and then a later date or no expiration date for the purchase price. This means that if the Deal was for $40 of merchandise for $20, you’ll need to redeem it within the shorter period to get the $40 value. If you wait, then you still have a $20 gift certificate for that business but miss out on the $20 freebie portion.
Days and Times – Many restaurants will limit the deal to dinner when prices are typically higher and you might order an adult beverage that is not included in the Deal price. Some even exclude holidays or weekends.
One time visit – The paper certificate you print off the site is not like a typical gift card. You must use the value during one visit. The Dairy Queen deal for a $15 purchase for $7 was a bargain, but not to us since we typically only spend $8 in a visit.
Locations – Sometimes the only franchise location offering the Deal is 30 miles away and not the one right down the street.
Best Deals
The best Deals are going to be for purchases that are part of your budget and places where you are a returning customer. You know the business and you are really capturing the savings because you were going to buy there anyway.
Normal gift cards that hold a balance and can be used over multiple transactions are more flexible than paper certificates that have to be used during one visit.
Rewards in Sharing
Just like we learned in Kindergarten, sharing is a good thing. Each Deal site has its own referral program. You might get the Deal for free if 3 of your referrals via email or facebook buy the same deal. You might get a $10 credit on the site for a future purchase if one person uses your referral link to purchase the deal.
If our family wants more than one Fandango deal, I’ll refer the link to my husband and daughter. My account gets the rewards and we all head to the movies for less than half-price!
Out of sight, out of mind
Be sure to print off your Deal as soon as it’s available. I have my Deal accounts set up to send me reminders before the Deal expires just in case it slipped my mind.
We keep all cut or printed coupons, gift certificates, and Deals organized in plastic sheets in a binder. When it’s Date Night, we head to the binder for our pre-paid options.
Alternatives to Daily Deals
Entertainment Books in some markets are great deals. The small investment upfront of the book price pays off time & time again. Wait a few months after the release of the new book and get it for less.
Restaurant.com typically has some kind of promotion for a percentage off, but we like to wait for the 80% or 90% off Deals. We still use the same criteria of calculating total cost of the transaction, evaluating our experience with the business, and whether the place will still be in business next month.
Daily Deals can be a great way to save money if you understand how to overcome the temptation to take advantages of a deep discount and take a moment to evaluate the best Deals for your budget!
Do you routinely purchase Daily Deals? Where do you find your best savings? Did you ever have Buyer’s Remorse? Meet us in the comments!
Image by Arcady/Shutterstock
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I like to check woot.com and groupon for deals. I just bought a deal the other day ($50 gift card for $25) to Guitar Center. I was going to buy something anyways, and this just happened to come to my inbox beforehand, so I got an awesome discount.
Tim – a great example of capturing the savings on a planned purchase!
One of my favorite sayings is, “That’s a great deal for someone, just not me.” Thanks for sharing, Cherie. Great advice.
Carol – So true! Even with a deep discount, there are still restaurant Deals that exceed our dining-out budget or product Deals we would never purchase regardless of the price.
I like The Customer Advantage. It is free to join and all members earn 5% commission on all deals purchased by friends and family anywhere.
I agree with the article, I only purchase deals if I know I will use them.
Thanks for the great article.
Kathy – I’ll have to check that site out too.
Well, we run a service cleaning business which has been severely slow since the economy went south. We have offers through two of the major programs and they have revived our business.
First of all, you have at least six months to redeem the coupon. Yes it is good for only one visit, but fuel costs would most certainly prevent us from returning over and over.
Further, the idea is to introduce people to a business they may not have used, not to give them a huge break on a service they regularly use. Our steady and long-time customers hopefully will never pay for one of these to use our service. They already know they get a good value and a very good job when they schedule us.
These coupons have introduced people to our business who have never used a service like ours before, or who have put off cleaning their homes. In many instances, they are willing and happy to provide an Email address so we can put them in our data base, and then send them our own offers. We are already seeing returns in that area.
Sending our own offers also keeps the money in the local economy, rather than sending it to Groupon or whatever. Please stop suggesting these are for steady, long time customers. You are totally incorrect.
The consumer needs to know, the offer is a huge deal at fifty percent off. They also need to remember it is meant to be used within the six month (or in some cases one year) time frame. If they don’t use it, they still get the value paid for the coupon/voucher, but not the deal. We allow them to schedule anytime they want, as long as they get on the schedule book before the deadline.
It’s also important for them to read the fine print, and believe me many do not. We cannot afford for instance, to travel out of town for the small amount we earn on the deal. Most of them know and respect that.
I think it truly is not a good idea to comment on this without understanding it from the business side. Yes, you can get addicted and buy too many. But you can also have a very positive experience with a company you may not otherwise have tried. We are very happy we went with two of these programs, and we plan to do many more. We’re also on the way to building a new client base, of very happy customers.
LLS – Thanks for sharing how Deals help you attract new customers.
I know there have been many small businesses who have used a Daily Deal site and not had good experiences.
This purpose of this article isn’t to dissuade using these Deal programs – but reminding folks to use the same criteria to purchase a Deal that they use in a department store or discount store.
Don’t let the idea of saving a ton of money drive the purchase of a Deal if it doesn’t fit in your spending plan.
My “Daily Deal” addiction is Amazon’s Lightening Deals. I have gotten a ton of great bargains there–stuff for myself, as well as gifts for those on my holiday shopping list. But I always make it a point to research the “going” price for the item in the lightening deal, just to make sure it’s as good a discount as Amazon claims. (On occasion, I’ve been able to find the “deal” elsewhere at a cheaper price–although, not often.)
Lea – Great point in knowing your prices before jumping on a Deal!
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