#Groupon users (#Grouponers) can wreak havoc on your #SEM.
Nothing against Groupon, but the behavior of its users can be a little… costly!
Typically, the Grouponer:
- Checks out your deal
- Conducts a search on your brand
- Clicks your paid ad in position #1
- Likes what she sees
- Heads back to buy the deal
How This Affects SEM
The last click gets credit for the sale. In this case, that’s your paid ad. Cool, right? Not so fast! That cost you a click. Not cool. Plus, your CPA on the sale will be a few bucks, which might just wipe out your margins on the Groupon deal. This has done repeatedly for my client.
Granted, this really only becomes a problem when you’re running multiple deals throughout the country, but I see a trend moving away from local deals to national deals, and marketers need to be aware of the potential negative effects on search campaigns.
How to Solve This Problem
One solution: Just ask your Grouponer to click the link that is embedded in the deal, you’d have saved several bucks per sale. Put it clearly in the deal copy. This will be huge!
Another solution: Pause paid ads for your brand. Hmmm. Sound risky? It sure is.
