I recently purchased a coupon from Living Social for a boot camp here in San Francisco.  I was one of about 600 people that thought getting up early to have someone yell “do more push-ups” sounded like a good idea.  But after I purchased it and began to think about the offer, I got worried.  All sorts of thoughts about “do they have the room” and “are there enough instructors” began racing through my head.  The next morning, rather then being excited about getting an amazing deal with what I’m assuming is a great company, I woke up with visions of hundreds of people showing up for our first class and over running the bootcamp.

That got me thinking that beyond the process of managing all of the business and selling products, photographers (and other businesses) need to  really think about the concerns and fears of their clients if they want to have a successful groupon.  Avoid this and they run the risk of off putting off clients the moment they purchase the groupon.

To point out ways to better manage those customer fears, here are three companies that recently used a daily deal site.

Ultra-Spective Photography Studio, Livermore, CA

Ultra Spective ran a groupon offering a 30-minute on-location or in-studio portrait session, plus a choice of a three-sheet prints package of one image (one 8”x10”, two 5”x7”, and 8 wallets) or one high-resolution image on disc for $55 ($345 value).  A solid deal that is appealing without giving away too much in terms of product or processing time.  They ended up selling 150 sessions which feels like a good number for groupon sessions.  But where Ultra Spective excelled was in their Groupon FAQ Post .  US went out of their way to address just about any concern that client might have.

• Basics – where, when, how long and how many people.  US limited the sessions to 30 minutes in 4 different locations.  Smart for them and clear to the clients.
• How clients would view and purchase their photos – great way to set up client expectations about purchasing additional photos.
• Staffing – they address the “can they pull this off?” client concern by saying they have brough on additional staff.  I felt great about that purchase and I didn’t even buy one.
• Additional questions – love this line “We have cleared our calendar to answer your questions and book your session as soon as you’re ready.  We believe in amazing customer service so be prepared to receive!”  Clearly the US staff thought about their client experience and took the steps to guarantee to make sure everything went well.

And I did hear from Anna Vickroy, Ultra-Spective photography Director and Photographer – “The groupon has been an amazing success for us.  We did a lot of research before running our groupon including getting advice from PPA through their Studio Management Program.  Keys for us were to only provide one image, have a trained staff already in place and have a sales plan with an agressive up-sale strategy that requires in-person sale appointments.”

Karina Marie Diaz Photography, San Francisco, CA

Karina did a wildly successful groupon – $99 for a 45-minute ladies’ boudoir photo session, including a web gallery and two prints (a $545 value).  Her work is amazing and that clearly resonated with her clients as she sold almost 1500 sessions.  Logistically she is set up well as all the shoots are done at her studio and she put in a short deadline (8/1) so she ensured that she wouldn’t be doing the groupons forever.

When I first saw her offering and those numbers I thought “that is crazy – another groupon blow up.  Who can do 1500 sessions that fast?” But from what I gather from her yelp reviews and from some people I know that are familiar with the deal, she planned for these numbers and brought on a team of people to help her manage everything.  So while I’m sure she is very, very busy, with a team of people, that 1500 goes from being impossible to simply challenging.  Definitely applaud her for that.

I don’t know if her clients got worried about doing all those sessions but I imagine that a few did.  I think she could have alleviated any potential problems by simply mentioning  ”I have a team” like Ultra-Spective did.  Plus, Since she is sure to have a ton of upsell, I think a statement about the sales process would have helped as well.   Lessoned learn on this – let it be known that you have a great team.   And if you don’t have a team – get one.

Start Fitness, San Francisco, CA

This is the boot camp deal from Living Social that I purchased last week.   And while risking the additional attention/wrath  of the coaches when I finally do start the bootcamp, I wanted to point out a couple things that I think would have reduced the concerns that I had.

• How are they going to handle the additional 600 clients – from their home page their SF location “runs from 0600-0700 (6a-7a) Monday through Friday” an “all classes are 60 minutes.”  Because there wasn’t a special Living Social FAQ page, this was all I had to reference.  My brain naturally went to “how will 600 people all fit into one place?” and “man – 600 people will be really smelly.”  Now this maybe completely handled from their perspective (after all not all 600 people will show up on the same day) but since that wasn’t 100% clear to me I started to get concerned and apprehensive about my purchase.
• FAQ Page – can not be stated enough.  If you are going to do a daily deal – have a FAQ page and make it prominent.  My only feedback for Ultra-Spective is that I think they should keep their “groupon deal” button on their main website.   Because there was no FAQ on Start Fitness’s website when I purchased the coupon, I had to search around and try to determine what will happen.  This makes me wonder if they can provide there normal level of exceptional service.

I haven’t started started with Start Fitness yet so these concerns may not be warranted.  I hope not of course and given that they have been in business so long, the logical part of my brain tells me not to worry.  But with so much hype around businesses being over whelmed by ill-planned daily deals, the non-logical part of my brain can’t help but worry.

(Follow up – Start fitness is awesome.  The best and most inspiring boot camp I’ve ever been to.  Very glad I did this.)

Lessons learned from these – not only think about the processes once your clients enter your doors, but also think about how they will perceive your business the moment they purchase their groupon or daily deal.  Once again, for me, Groupon is a great opportunity but it requires some serious thought and planning.

Please leave your comments – what else should people plan for when doing a daily deal?

And if you are a child, family or wedding photographer looking for more groupon information, you might like my other post about my groupon experience.