Groublogpon – The Serious Blog of Groupon

We often blog about features that make our customers’ lives better, but this week we wanted to introduce you to a few of Groupon’s efforts that have added ongoing value for our merchants and help improve their businesses’ day-to-day.

Groupon has proven to be an extremely effective form of marketing for local businesses – it’s the reason 97% of our merchants want to run on Groupon again and again. But it’s important we ask ourselves and our vendors how we can improve their Groupon experience beyond the online exposure and initial stream of customers. Surveys and focus groups have bred a few ideas we’ve implemented, including leveraging merchant testimonials like this recent clip filmed with Corey Kaplan of NYC Bagel Deli in Chicago.

Another such initiative is the Groupon Chamber of Commerce.

Groupon’s Chamber of Commerce offers an arsenal of resources to help small businesses. One of the best: member discounts. We’ve partnered with great service providers to give our merchants unbeatable deals on services like payment processing, payroll processing, search engine marketing, email marketing, phone/Internet service, printing services, travel services and others that are coming soon. If you are a Groupon merchant, go to http://www.groupon.com/mychamber for more information on the discounts and instructions on how to get them. Once you log in, you will be taken directly to your own Chamber page.

In addition to the discounts, the Chamber also includes other resources like:

• Webinars on timely small business topics – up next on May 17, “Loyalty Programs”
• Networking events – most recently in Seattle and D.C.
• Monthly newsletters – with news about Groupon and spotlights on our partners and merchants
• Educational small business content

If you have any suggestions or questions about the Chamber of Commerce, please email us at chamber@groupon.com. We’re excited by the possibilities of growing this resource and helping our merchants become even more successful.

Tags: merchants