Actual Cost of the Deal

• Most companies that promote a daily deal will keep 50 to 60 percent of the sale price collected from the consumer. For instance, if you want to promote a daily deal of $50 worth of merchandise for $25, you would get paid roughly $12.50 for each coupon sold. Additionally, you have to factor in that you will have to give away $25 of retail value for each customer that comes in to redeem the coupon. It is important to understand the complete metrics so you do not end up financially upside down each time a coupon is redeemed.
  
  

The Competitive Landscape

• The daily deal model has been so successful that now many businesses are signing up with various providers to run a daily deal special. This is great for the providers, but it also creates some pressure on the business owner. If you want to run a deal, you have to be competitive with what peer companies are running -- that is the expectation of the consumer. For instance, if you wish to run the $50 for $25 offer but all of your competition goes with a $50 for $10 offer, your deal will likely not be well received by consumers.
  
  

Ability to Attract New Customers

• The spirit of the daily deal program is to introduce new customers to your business or to entice customers to come into your restaurant or store. The idea is that the customer will be intrigued by the value of the deal, try out your place of business and then become a repeat customer. If the daily deal is accomplishing this for you, then the program is a big win. However, if you find that your existing customer base are the ones primarily redeeming the coupon, you may have somewhat shot yourself in the foot.
  
  

Can You Do It Yourself?

• The actual process of distributing a daily deal coupon is not very difficult. All that is involved is coming up with an offer, collecting credit card payment from the buying consumer and then facilitating the fulfillment of the deal. The various third-parties offering the service help with the technical process and also have an existing base of customers to market to. However, if you maintain an email list or a loyalty program, you can likely set up the deal yourself and promote via your existing advertising, an email blast or direct mail, particularly to customers you have identified that have not visited you in some time. In this approach, with the $50 for $25 deal, you can keep the entire $25 or get more aggressive in the deal since you will not have to share the revenue with a third-party.
  
  

Staff Challenges and Headaches

• Having a flock of customers come into your place of business is definitely a positive thing, but when they come in armed with a daily deal coupon, expect some challenges. You will need to train your staff how to handle the redemption process. This may involve how to enter into your point of sale system, verifying the authenticity of the deal and making sure the terms and conditions of the deal are adhered to. There is also the concern of added headache for the staff. Especially in restaurants, servers will have to deal with tables with multiple checks where each party wants to redeem their deal -- which is often disallowed -- or getting lower tips as sometimes restaurant frequenters forget to tip on the original bill amount and not the discounted total.