The good news for the social media agency about the latest consumer habits for daily deals is that customers care about buying from small local businesses. The research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey conducted surveys and found that 43% of customers using daily deals services are more likely to make a purchase if it is from a local small business that they already know.
Another bit of good news for the social media agency is that the largest single driver of purchaser decisions is word of mouth recommendations from friends and/or acquaintances. This is where the social media agency can excel. While the daily deal service is probably already tapped into social networks, the social media agency can use this data to drive clients to further integrate with social networks. The social network is an efficient platform for word of mouth recommendations.
The problem exposed by this data is the industry specific preferences. Most of the daily deals used are for restaurants at 65%. Only 48% of customers share their experience with deals in the entertainment category and the number drops significantly to 36% for the next category, food and grocery. The final sobering news in this dataset is that only 42% of respondents would translate a good deal into long-term attachment to the brand. Something else besides a discount needs to be offered to make loyal patrons of the customers. However, this is another place the social media marketing agency can help close the gap by promoting engagement with the vendor well after the initial purchase and visit. That engagement can help create loyalty as well as an incentive for the customer to share her experiences with others.