[Adrian_Stiff]

We recently trialed Groupon as a promotion for memberships. We have various membership schemes full unrestricted golf is £1000 per year, there is another at £638 which has some weekend restrictions another at £398 where you pay £10 each time you play and another at £150 where you pay £20 each time you play. IT WAS THIS CATEGORY I LOOKED TO PROMOTE.

The offer was A 3 month trial membership worth 1/4 of £150 ie £37.50, The joining fee of £100 was included in the offer together with a free 4 ball for the member to bring 3 of his friends. The GROUPON OFFER cost £49 and was worth £186.50 rack rate.
The take up was 116 of which 10 reconsidered in thir 7 day cool off 2 we dont know what happened (GROUPON KEEP THE MONEY) and 104 got redeemed.
The youngest to take the offer was 21 and the Oldest was 65. 7% were under 25, 21% were under 30, 40% were under 35, 49% were under 40, 62% were under 45, 67% were under 50, 80% were under 55, 97% were under 60.

81% live with 20 minutes, 92% within 30 minutes.

97 used the 4 ball offer, of which 16 that joined as  groups of 4 just brought the other members so they got 4 free rounds. Several of the 81 just brought 1 or 2 friends and a 3 more just played on their own.

The Offer was taken up 99% Male 1 % Male.

I will post more stats when we know the percentage that continue with their memberships.

[Mark Pearce]

I guess the clincher is how many do continue membership.  What proportion would you consider would make the trial worthwhile?

[Bill_McBride]

I guess the clincher is how many do continue membership.  What proportion would you consider would make the trial worthwhile?

Since tee times are like airline seats, gone when unused, it would seem that any new members would be a good outcome.   

[Adrian_Stiff]

I guess the clincher is how many do continue membership.  What proportion would you consider would make the trial worthwhile?

I reckon 35 would be a good number. The thing about this offer is under this category they are playing and paying. One new 'Groupon' has played 11 times. About half have played more than 3 times, we have taken £2194 in green fees. In total 272 rounds, so its not a give away the money to Groupon and get little ourself. That aside new members was the target pre the promotion.

[Duncan Cheslett]

It sounds a very interesting way to get ongoing revenue from the initial offer.

How do these pay and play memberships work, Adrian?  How do you 'police' these members? Do they have to pay for a full round even if they just want to play a few holes after work?

[J Sadowsky]

The rumor mill that I've heard regarding Groupon (and LivingSocial and the like) is that it's retention rate among new customers is extremely low.  This makes perfect sense for restaurants and other "one-and-done" services; most people who buy on Groupon are either groupon hoppers or people who have some fair approximation of your services and will pay X/2 for it but not X for it.  On top of that, I think there's an ADDITIONAL problem Groupon customers have in that, having gotten your service for x/2, they're subconsciously unwilling to pay x.

But I wonder for things like golf membership - very unique, typically long-term services - the forces that make Groupon look like such a problematic long-term business strategy are different.  (The downside for unique services is that it seems there would be a lot more efficient ways to promote your promotion than to promise Groupon half the revenue when you are only aiming for a relatively limited audience, particularly an audience who is probably already keenly aware of your existence).

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