Groupon...myth or magic?

In the last 12 months the Group On (http://www.groupon.co.uk/) phenomenon has hit the UK, and most importantly UK dentistry. Virtually every second day, I receive my groupon email with a different dental practice offering a hugely discounted check-up, whitening, hygiene and even lingual orthodontics.

Even my team have asked me why are we not using Groupon in The Neem Tree.

One of my clients signed up to Groupon early on, and did well ( he negotiated a good %), whilst others I know said they would not do it again, after their first attempt. Groupon take anything between 30-50% of the advertised price, so after all this, there really is not much left.

The aim of Groupon is to tempt the customers who come for the deal, to take up more services, but in my opinion, many of these such discount searching customers are unlikely to take up the additional services, since they probably don't have the resources. They are just deal hunting, and unlikely to come back 6 months later for a full price check up when they can get another super deal from Group On elsewhere. Such customers are not in for building your patient goodwill, they are just deal hunters.

Groupon may bring an increase in the volume of patients, but all too often it brings a type of customer that may just be very difficult and cause far too much hassle for you and your team.

For restaurants and bars wanting to sell a few more cocktails on the evening, I personally feel Group On may work, but for a dental practice selling a professional service - one does have to question it!

There are many much better marketing techniques available to dentists, rather than jumping on the Group -On bandwagon, it makes sense to get back to the essential basics of marketing...for help see www.samerastudio.com.

We can also learn from the US on the Group On phenomenon, just look at some of these links which make interesting reading - not positive for dentists planning to use Group-on.

http://www.tysonsteele.com/posts/display/is-groupon-just-a-put-on

http://www.screenwerk.com/2010/06/11/groupon-sure-but-is-it-sustainable/

So in summary would I use Group On? No, I feel for our business model, it just isn't financially viable for our practice, there are many other better marketing avenues that will have a much more desirable effect.

No doubt Group-On is a phenomenon, but mostly for the owners of this clever business!