Running deals longer proves very successful

As the deals space continues to evolve, trying new methods to keep your program fresh and interesting to your readers is key to your success. It is important to test different strategies and take notes on what trends work in your market and what tactics are bringing in the most revenue.

Recently, I noticed a trend in switching from the traditional daily deal, lasting just one day, to expanding the deal to run for seven days. This switch allows our paper to reach more customers and requires no extra work from our team. In February, we at the Billings Gazette adopted this new model and started seeing some impressive results. The deal runs for one day as the Featured Deal and gets exposure in print, online and in email. Days two through seven, the deal runs as a side deal allowing six extra days for our audience to purchase the deal. Not only did this give our audience longer to purchase the deal, but it also gave us a competitive advantage and a way to distinguish ourselves in our market.

As you’ll see below, our results have been overwhelmingly positive:

• 91% increase in number of deals sold
• 107% increase in gross sales
• 109% increase in NET revenue

The deal-of-the-day model still has its place, but it is obvious longer-running deals deals sell more. But deal quality is still imperative. Running a bad deal longer will not magically make it sell more. While many still purchase on Day one, we have not seen any indication that there’s a loss of urgency from our users by making this change. By running deals longer, you give your audience more chances to buy from you and build up your roster of available deals, so they are more likely to find something that sparks their interest and inspires a purchase.