Wild is the Wind

Everyone (well, mostly everyone) knows that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

When it comes to low prices, I've learned the hard way that sometimes you get what you pay for.  The adage is true: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I remember when I moved into my first real apartment post-college.  Unlike a lot of my peers, I had to pay for all of my initial expenses myself, with support from my boyfriend who I would be living with.  At the time, I worked for a nonprofit organization (for those that don't know, that's code for "not getting paid much") and he worked in theatre (also an industry where low salaries are not surprising).  This meant we had to get creative about how to spend money on furnishing an apartment.  Luckily, the apartment wasn't very large so there wasn't too much to buy.  We were also very fortunate that bed bugs were not widespread then; many of our furniture pieces then were found objects of unknown pedigree.

Though I tried very hard to find one on the street, nobody was getting rid of a pine wood antique chest of drawers like I desired for myself.  Some things just don't come easy.  Seeing no other way of affording a place to put my clothes, I ordered a filing cabinet made of particleboard that would happen to be large enough for my clothes and fit in our small bedroom.  For a short time, it did the job.  Until one morning, I was getting ready for work and the thing just crumbled.  If you can imagine a dresser imploding and collapsing upon itself, that's exactly what happened.

Now imagine this happening as you are trying to stealthily get ready for work while your boyfriend, who works evenings, is still trying to sleep.  Uncomfortable, annoying and totally frustrating, but it taught me that valuable lesson that sometimes paying more is actually worth it.  By the way, after that experience, I purchased a solid pine dresser for a large sum of money that I still use to this day.

I've noticed that, in this precarious economy, getting a good deal is huge.  In the past couple of years, flash sale websites like RueLaLa and Gilt Groupe have emerged and carved out a niche of offering high fashion looks for more affordable prices.  More recently, websites like Groupon and Living Social (and countless others) have gotten into the deal market letting you pay a lower prepaid price for services or goods.  In fact, even Facebook is starting it's own version of this (Facebook Deals) which is currently being tested in select markets.

When it comes to Groupon and Living Social, in particular, it seems pretty straightforward.  It's very similar to movie ticket vouchers; essentially, you purchase a voucher for a service or product in advance at less than full price to be used at a later date.  And again, like movie ticket vouchers, sometimes there are exclusions and restrictions.

For those of us accustomed to hoarding coupons (I'm not into extreme couponing, but I know how to get a good deal on clothes from time to time), the idea of restrictions is nothing new.  However, when it comes to online deals, it isn't the restrictions that are the problem.  From personal experience, I've found the problem is that either restrictions are not made clear or the retailer is not prepared for the influx of new business these deals may generate.

A friend of mine recently purchased a voucher for a night of karaoke and free pizza.  She called the location to make a reservation and, despite calling many times and leaving messages, she never got a response.  A voucher deal will not help your business if the new customers it attracts are left with a bad taste from the lack of conscientious customer service.

Similarly, I recently purchased two deals.  One was a magazine subscription for a popular women's magazine.  The second was a voucher for a wine shop in my neighborhood where I could purchase lots of wine for half the price.  Both deals have been less than ideal.  The magazine subscription delivered out of order for the first month but seems to have finally gotten on track now.  Meanwhile, the wine voucher was doomed from the start.  The deal site was unclear about what was or wasn't included in the voucher; this required several emails to purchasers (like myself) to offer a refund if this was unsatisfactory.  I thought this was a great effort by the deal site though; it showed that they were not intentionally misleading, but severely absent-minded.  Today I decided to redeem this deal as it's Mother's Day weekend and I'd like to bring a bottle of wine up to some of the festivities that are happening.

My boyfriend and I went to the wine shop near our house and gathered a selection of bottles.  The wine shop has an area near the entrance labeled "specials" where they feature many lower-priced wines.  We made sure to avoid this area as the voucher explicitly stated "no specials."  However, upon getting to the checkout counter, we are informed that many of our selections were indeed "specials."  Only at the counter were we informed that all prices ending in "7" were "specials."  And in fact, some of the bottles near the entrance labeled "special" were not in fact specially priced.  In order to make use of the deal, we had to gather some new selections and bring them back to checkout where we had to wait in line again.  This was a bit annoying, but reminded me that deals sometimes are not as good as they seem.

But what really bothered me was when we got to the checkout employee.  She had no idea how to handle the voucher I gave her and had to call over a colleague.  This to me signals that the store perhaps did not put much thought into the deal.  All of their staff should have been trained to expect lots of these vouchers and thus know how to input them into their system.  Over time, I've learned that being prepared is so instrumental in how others perceive you.  For a brand, this is huge.  And considering that a deal is used to bring in new customers, you want their first interaction to be positive so they will come back and also be an evangelist for your brand, recommending your product or service to others.  As many folks know, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

However, sites like Groupon and Living Social are also making a first impression with consumers.  If every time I purchase through one of these sites, I get a raw deal, chances are I will stop purchasing there.  And in fact, if location-based services take off, deals can be offered instead to everyone who checks in to a location or perhaps location-enabled users who are within range of the establishment.  There are lots of ways to engage customers and get them to try your product or service but at the end of the day, you want to retain customers and it seems the best way is through clear, consistent messaging and providing excellent customer service.