Groupon Gifting Just Got Easier [en_AU]
In recent years, gifting has seen a shift from traditional physical gifts toward a preference for experience-based gifts. So, since Groupon is the marketplace for unique experiences and local services, it’s no surprise that our site traffic peaks during the holiday season, when customers browse our platform for the perfect gifts for their loved ones. That’s why we’ve released a slate of new product features to make gifting on Groupon easier and generate more business for our merchants!
Read on to see the new features we’ve debuted and how they’ll help our merchants create memorable experiences while maximizing their revenue.
Giftable Deals, with a New Gift Voucher Redemption Process
To facilitate gifting on Groupon, we’ve launched a new Giftable Deals feature that makes it easy for customers to buy and send a Groupon voucher as a gift, with the option prominently displayed on the deal page. Our algorithm selects which deals to make giftable by analyzing the service categories that make for the best gifts and then determining which deals are gift-appropriate. By optimizing your deal to become a best-selling Groupon Gift, you can maximize the exposure and sales opportunities you receive during key gifting periods.
What Do Giftable Deals Look Like?
If your deal has been made giftable, customers will see an additional “Give as a Gift” button displayed with the other purchasing options on your deal page, complete with a preview of the gift voucher, like this:
How Can Customers Buy and Give Gift Vouchers?
Once the customer completes the purchase, it’ll be added to their account. The checkout page, order confirmation page, and voucher list will all present the option to create and send the gift voucher:
They’ll have three options for how to give the gift voucher to the recipient:
- Send it as an SMS / text message
- Send it as an email, as pictured below:
- Download and print it out so they can give the recipient a paper gift voucher, with multiple design themes to choose from:
How Can Recipients Redeem or Refund Gift Vouchers?
While the customer that receives the gift voucher can use the Groupon Code to redeem directly with the merchant, we highly encourage them to instead add the voucher to their own Groupon account. Doing so lets them view all the voucher details and redeem as if they’d bought it themselves:
The paper gift voucher even has a QR code, so all they have to do is scan it to add the voucher to their account:
We’ve also made gift returns and refunds easier for both customer and merchant. Instead of having to contact the merchant to deal with it, the recipient can either contact Groupon customer service, or after adding the gift voucher to their account they can exchange it for Groupon Bucks from the Voucher Details page:
New Groupon Bucks Gift Cards
Sometimes a gift-buyer wants to give a fun Groupon experience while still letting the recipient choose the specific deal for themselves. So as well as giftable deals, we’ve also debuted our new Groupon Gift Cards! These allow customers to buy a set amount of Groupon Bucks, load it onto a personalized gift card, and send it to the recipient all without leaving Groupon.
Similar to giftable deals, purchasing a Groupon Gift Card adds it to the voucher list in the customer’s Groupon account. From there, they can personalize the card by selecting a design theme and adding a message, and deliver it with any of the following methods:
- Send as SMS / text message
- Send within Groupon app
- Send via email
- Download and print
The recipient can then add those Groupon Bucks to their account the same as with a giftable campaign, and can apply them when purchasing a Groupon. If someone uses Groupon Bucks to buy one of your deal vouchers, there’ll be no difference in the redemption process on your end. Just think of it as another payment method customers can use at checkout, making the platform more accessible and driving more Groupon customers your way.
Promoting Groupon Gifts with Banners, Search Filters, and an AI Advisor
To drive more attention and sales to giftable campaigns, Groupon is deploying a variety of new ways to promote these deals throughout our platform, as well as making it easy for customers to surface deals that make great gifts.
The centerpiece of these efforts is our newly released Groupon Gifts homepage. Here, customers can discover top gifts from across Groupon, browse carousels loaded with specialized gift collections, and narrow their search with filters.
But that’s not the only place where giftable deals will be promoted:
- The Groupon homepage will feature a Groupon Gifts banner at the top of the page, as well as a carousel of trending gifts.
- Browse pages will have “Gifts” added as a top deal category, and customers will be able to filter by giftable deals, as well as more specific gift filters like “For Him” or “For Her”.
- Deal pages of giftable deals will all have banners leading to the Groupon Gifts homepage.
- Last but not least, we’ll be introducing customers to our AI Gift Advisor. By learning about the gift recipient’s interests and preferences, the AI Gift Advisor can give the customer useful recommendations for great giftable deals to check out. It’s like having a personal shopper, but for free!
More to Come
Gifting is a year-round activity, and this is just the beginning of what Groupon has planned. Here are just a few initiatives we’ll be working on in the future:
- Improved sorting and ranking algorithms for trending gifts
- Tools enabling customers to organize “Secret Santa” / “White Elephant” gift exchanges
- Themed and multi-brand gift cards
- Groupon Gift advent calendars
- Retargeting of customers who bought gifts in previous years
- Gamification to encourage customers to redeem vouchers before they expire
Keep an eye out for these and other updates in the near future, and launch a Groupon deal now to take advantage of the new and improved features we’ve already released!
