The marketing team at Mount Hermon Christian Conference Center didn’t expect too much of its one-day feature on Groupon.com, a deal-of-the-day Web site that tailors offers to markets in the U.S. and Canada.
Using the online ad, Mount Hermon promoted 51 percent off its Redwood Canopy Tour, giving customers the tour for $39 instead of $80.
“We were really excited about the feature and estimated selling about 500 to 700 Groupons,” said Andrea Bonilla, Mount Hermon’s marketing manager. “But we ended up selling 1,700.”
Groupon.com, which launched in 2008, offers one “Groupon” coupon per day in each of the locales it targets. Subscribers get at least 50 percent off products and services offered by restaurants, retailers, spas and more, assuming a minimum number of people accept the deal. Becoming a subscriber is free.
Each offer must be bought within 24 hours of when the notifying e-mail goes out. The coupon itself, however, is good for months.
Local businesses, including the conference center and several Scotts Valley eateries, have reported significant gains when they have been featured. Groupon makes money by getting a percentage of the resulting profits from the retailers.
The company had a debut for its Santa Cruz locale just last month, meaning businesses in the Santa Cruz area are now featured in daily e-mails to Santa Cruz-area customers.
Bonilla said she and some of her team had subscribed to Groupon as customers for a while before they tried it from the other side as a business.
“We basically thought, ‘Why aren’t we using this?’” Bonilla said.
She said Mount Hermon’s Redwood Canopy Tour was the second feature in the Santa Cruz locale.
“Groupon told us that 10,000 subscribers were waiting for Santa Cruz to launch, so we had our expectations,” Bonilla said. “But the actual numbers blew us out of the water.”
Rosanna Herrera, owner of Bruno’s BBQ in Scotts Valley, jumped on the Groupon train this month, too. The restaurant had a feature promoting $15 worth of food for $7 shortly after opening in the Kings Village Shopping Center.
“We did it, and (it) turned out to be terrific,” Herrera said. “It’s gotten me a lot of new customers.”
Herrera said Bruno’s sold 426 coupons.
Lisa Love, owner of YoGizmo Yogurt in Scotts Valley, said the Groupon office called her about a month before it launched its Santa Cruz locale.
YoGizmo’s feature sold 460 coupons.
“It’s been a good experience,” Love said. “Most of the Groupon users are new customers, and we definitely wanted to target that audience.”
For information: www.groupon.com.
