Personalized Deals FAQ « Groublogpon – The Serious Blog of Groupon

Personalized Deals FAQ

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on our launch of Personalized Deals – we’re so excited it’s finally in the wild!

We’re receiving enough repeat questions to dictate the creation of an FAQ. We’ll add to this post as more shared questions surface.

What do I see if Groupon doesn’t have any personalization information about me?

There will continue to be a city-wide “spotlight” deal for when we know nothing about a subscriber. If we know a little personalization information, subscribers will see their personalized deal instead (we’ll also show them the city-wide spotlight deal if it’s different).

Will I be able to see all the deals running in my city?

Yes and no. There won’t always be a full catalog of deals, but if someone receives a different deal than you, they can share it and you can still buy. Plus, everybody will still always be able to see the deal designated as the “feature” for that city and we’ll highlight a number of additional interesting regional deals on the Groupon homepage. This is our way of trying to maintain the simple “yes/no” decision of one deal a day that’s made Groupon so popular while running deals that fit the interests of more customers. If we do a good job with our personalization targeting, we don’t anticipate customers “missing out” on deals they would have wanted but weren’t sent to them; we’re excited to hear what people think once they start receiving personalized deals, and as always, the site will evolve in the direction dictated by our customers.

I love Groupon because it helps me discover new businesses that I didn’t know I’d like. Will that go away with personalization?

Not at all – we realize that discovery is a core part of Groupon. Personalization on Groupon is mostly about removing the most egregiously offensive deals while continuing to provide your daily dose of serendipity. This also allows us to feature more businesses than before. You will start to see more deals in your email and on the homepage over time, which gives you exposure to even more new businesses.

I often buy Groupons as gifts – how will I do that now that I’ll only see deals that are personalized for me?

If we get personalization right, you’ll still see plenty of deals that will make great gifts, both as the one that we feature for you and also in the area where we show more great deals nearby on the side.

I’m a merchant – does this mean that less subscribers will see my deal?

No – in fact if we do our job right, more subscribers will see your deal. As we get better at sending people deals they care about every day, we think overall engagement will increase, growing the Groupon pie and benefiting all businesses.

How can you know what deals I want based on just my ZIP code, gender and age?

That’s not all we care about, we’re just asking for these first because they are really important. For example, people generally spend most of their free time close to home. All else equal, a deal near where you live will be preferable to one way across town. The other things are also fairly predictive in a lot of cases. At the same time, we will get better as we learn more about you whether by seeing the things you buy on Groupon or as you fill out your “My Profile” page (located under “My Stuff” if you’re signed in) with more information.

What do you do with information about me?

We take your personal privacy very seriously. This information is being used expressly to help us give you deals that suit you better. Related to this, we recently became certified by TRUSTe. Earning certification involved a review of what information we gather, how we keep it secure and how we make use of it. We think it confirms that we’re protecting you extremely well and following best practices here.

What if I don’t want a personalized deal to replace the city feature I’m used to?

Even when we give you a personalized deal, you will always still get to see the city spotlight deal. This will give you a choice of the deal we think you’ll want most, plus the usual feature (if that’s different). We’ll also sometimes promote a few others that are available in different parts of your city. In other words, you still get to see the deals you would have seen before — and often will see more.

19 what you had to say about it

Schizm
on
July 29, 2010 8:20 am

I would love a groupon for South Coast Med Spa for their laser hair removal technology…
Char
on
July 29, 2010 8:33 am

I love the deals I have bought so far. I am more interested in the spa treatments etc. these are things I would not buy for my self at the regular pricees but when I get a deal I will jump on it. I would like to see more deals in the Northern Utah Weber County area.
Pam
on
July 29, 2010 8:47 am

Would appreciate a GROUPON weekend package deal, i.e. Clipper Seattle to Victoria, with one night in Victoria package, or Amtrak from Seattle or Tacoma to Portland with an overnight stay in Portland.
Brenda Barrett
on
July 29, 2010 11:28 am

I would like more top chef food location offers.
lori
on
July 29, 2010 12:40 pm

What if I want to shop deals in several cities? I travel to a couple of specific cities frequently and like to watch the deals there as well. Can I enter multiple zip codes? Or choose “tourist friendly” deals in those other cities?
Bill
on
July 29, 2010 12:57 pm

I have already been a “side deal of the day” and loved it. My company sells products over the internet and as such we have no physical “storefront”. We sell to all 50 states via our website. I have asked to be included in additional cities Groupon offers but have been seemingly ignored. Since our business is on the internet thus excluding your customers from having to be within driving distance of our “store”, why have no other Groupon cities featured us either as the main deal or side deal? Will this new personalization feature help us gain additional exposure via Groupon?
Jason Thomas
on
July 29, 2010 2:00 pm

Hi,

I know I am repeating myself, but haven’t heard from anyone for many months now.

I have seen quite a few salons have their deal presented and I have been waiting since February to have my deal on your site. Will this new program get me going? Please.

Thanks, Jason
David J
on
July 29, 2010 3:37 pm

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

@Schizm, Char, Pam, Brenda, thanks for the suggestions. It won’t be instantly, but Personalized Deals will help us to offer more variety of category and location — as well as match stuff that suits you.

@Lori, you can sign up for the daily email in as many cities as you want, or browse other cities from our site header (where it says “Visit More Cities”). Right now you can only indicate one ZIP code location, but we’ll work to support multiple addresses in the future.

@Bill, Jason and other merchants looking to be featured: one of the reasons we did this is to be able to feature more merchants that meet our quality standards. This should help reduce the wait. In the meantime, you can contact your sales rep or email GrouponWorks.

See our related post on why we built Personalized Deals.
Gail
on
July 29, 2010 6:06 pm

Will you have any “deals” in foreign cities?
Maggie
on
July 29, 2010 11:04 pm

What if Groupon totally bombs and sends us deals we don’t like and we miss out on other deals we may have liked? Wouldn’t it be wised to do a trial run for a short period where we get to see all the deals and actually click yes or no to get a better perspective? I’m reluctant to believe that providing my gender and age (and I’m assuming information from a limited amount of past groupons I’ve bought) will offer a substantial degree of personalization.
Greg k
on
July 30, 2010 3:49 am

I think Groupon may be missing it here. If I personalize and enter “male” I suspect I will not get the mani-pedi offers that my wife likes me to send her or possibly even the child relevant ones.

At the very least, the “married and children should be offered as check box options.

In the absence of this, I will not personalize.
jane
on
July 30, 2010 6:08 am

We can opt-in to have the personalized deals, but if we decide after opting in that it’s not for us.. can we opt out? Also, will the details of our personalizations be sold to third party vendors or other affiliates?
Scott
on
July 30, 2010 6:50 am

I already do not like the offers I have been getting under this new system. A look at my Groupon purchase record will show you that most of my purchases are for fine dining in certain neighborhoods of Chicago, but under the new system I am getting deals based on my home location only — golf (yuck) in the suburbs. Right now I am getting much more appealing deals offered by one of Groupon’s imitators. If you want to personalize, let us pick 5 zip codes anywhere in the country and tailor our deals to things in those areas.
Olga A
on
July 30, 2010 9:54 am

DAVID J: I think is awesome that you are considering “multiple cities”, I’ll be waiting

and although I really like having personalized deals, I agree with JANE that this should be an option for people, and not a forced thing
David J
on
July 30, 2010 10:36 am

@Gail, yes we currently operate in 22 other countries though Personalized Deals is not yet available in those.

@Maggie and Scott, currently we’re actually sending out all of the deals. This will change, but for now just pay attention to the other deals nearby both in your email and on the right side of our homepage. Also, we will get smarter about offering deals based on your purchase history and other things. In Scott’s case, that will eventually lead to more fine dining offers in Chicago — though we’ll keep variety and not go TOO narrow.

Also, you’d be surprised that a few pieces of basic information can add a lot, plus that is just the starting point and we will do more in the future.

@Greg, you can indicate that information and more from your “My Profile” page which is located under “My Stuff”. You have to be signed in to get to this, in order to protect privacy particularly with some more personal questions there.

@Jane, we will never sell this data. If you’d like some bedtime reading, you can check out our Privacy Policy for more details. Also, if you decide that you want deals that are less relevant for you, just contact Groupon’s Customer Support to remove this information.
Josie
on
July 30, 2010 12:06 pm

it was my birthday last july 19, you miss or probably does not know. every time its my birthday, i go to a spa called glen ivy hot spring in corona in south 15, if its your birthday its free, or the entrance is $39 monday to thursday. then nearby there is some eating places not fancy like hamburger and the best fish and chips, mexican restaurant, sandwich places, if you show your id you dine for free. no coupon. the spa by the way is outdoor, great place
Charlene B
on
July 30, 2010 9:50 pm

I have irregular hours at which I log in–is there a said time that offers are posted? it seems at times the window of opportunity varies. Would some sort of ‘survey’ type response to offers.. ie. ‘no thanks’… ‘maybe’…..’good idea’…. ‘more perfection’–allow customers maximum participation options/clearer profiles? Do you find specific days of the week provide more interest in / quicker ‘sell out’ responses?
ryoma
on
August 1, 2010 4:17 pm

this is what i was alyaways wanted for! thx for contunus improvments:)

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