Newsletter subscription double opt-in

Email newsletter is the most popular way to inform users about new daily-deals. But with anti-spam filter rules getting more and more strict, it becomes a challenge to prove that your newsletter is legitimate, and each recipient was actually subscribed to it.

For Getsocio daily deal newsletter we have added an optional "double opt-in" mode. It can be enabled via "Confirm subscription" toggle in "Email" block on the "Settings" page. When enabled, each new subscriber will have to click a link in the email to confirm they actually want to receive the newsletter. And if they do not click, they will not be bothered by email again.

While this option is off by default, it may be reasonable to enable it on your site to be sure that your subscribers are indeed happy to receive your newsletter.

Refunding orders

Sometimes an order needs to be refunded. It happens quite rarely, as the most of the daily-deal site customers are happy with their coupons and enjoy the discounted service offered. But from time to time customers claim they cannot use the coupon for some reason and ask for refund.

Of course, it is always possible to issue a refund via payment system. But what happens to the coupon?

Recently we have made it possible for site owners to refund an order in Getsocio admin section. When an order is refunded, it will destroy the coupons, void the payment transaction and also will adjust the Getsocio fee, so you don't have to pay the commission for refunded orders.

Of course, it is up to the site owner to decide should they refund each particular order. Having a payment/refund policy posted on your site is a good idea too.

Manipulating purchase numbers

Most of people tend to "follow the crowd" in various ways, and online shopping is not an exception. So when a new daily deal is posted, many potential buyers will hesitate seeing "zero bought" counter. And even replacing the dreaded zero with more encouraging "be the first to buy" is of little help. Being the first requires a significant mental effort, a courage.

Knowing that, several daily-deal site owners came up with a simple solution: they make a first purchase themselves. When users see that one or two people already bought the deal, they follow along much smoothly.

Still this clever solution has its drawbacks, as the site owners end up with the coupons they do not need. And if the deal becomes a hit and gets sold out they are missing a few sales.

But there is a better solution. From now on Getsocio platform makes it easy to adjust the visible number of sales without making a purchase yourself. There is an input box called "extra purchases" on the deal form, which accepts a number (and it is zero by default). This value will be added to the purchase count shown on the public pages. It will increase the tipping point by the same amount as well, so the deal does not get accidentally tipped.

This "extra purchases" parameter can be adjusted any time, so it possible to post a new deal without any adjustments and wait for a brave first buyer for a few hours, then bump it a bit if no one shows up, and then drop it after the real purchases start flowing.

Referral program settings

We have made Getsocio built-in referral program more flexible.

Now the referral bonus can be either a fixed amount or a percentage of the first purchase. Also now it is possible to adjust the maximum time frame between click on the referral link and the purchase (by default 30 days) when the purchase is eligible for referral bonus.

Check the "Referral program" page in admin section.

Deal categories

Initially all the deals on Getsocio-powered sites were grouped by location (city). Recently we added another way to organize deals – categories

Now you can have multiple categories (and subcategories) on your daily-deal site. You may create any category, for example, "Food" or "Wine" or "Restaurants", "Massages" or "Beauty", "Theaters" or "Shows", or even more specific ones, like "Gadgets", "Home decoration", "Gold fish aquariums", whatever.

Categories are optional, so if you do not need them they will not get in your way.

Organizing your daily-deals by categories is a great way to further tailor your offers to each particular user. And your site visitors will be able to subscribe for updates in any particular category they are interested in.

Referral program update

A referral program is a way to increase sales of an e-commerce site by sharing a fraction of profits with users who send you more buyers.

Each registered user gets their own "referral link" to share with their friends. When someone clicks that link, the referrer ID is stored in a cookie on the referred person browser, and when they make their first purchase (and the deal is tipped), the referrer gets their bonus paid.

Getsocio had the referral program built in from the very beginning. And it proven to be quite a popular and widely used feature. The referral link is used by default in widgets and Facebook "Like" and "Send" buttons.

But there was an issue with referral program. Some users were abusing the system – creating several accounts and "referring" themselves to earn a bonus. When a person refers themselves instead of spreading the word it clearly defeats the purpose of the referral program.

Recently we reworked the referral program in Getsocio. We added more visibility for the site owner into referral system. Now it is easy to see for each user who and when referred them and whom did they refer in turn.

Most important, from now on the referrer bonus is not paid automatically. Instead, site administrator gets email notification and then either approves or rejects each bonus. In other words, referral payments are now pre-moderated by the site owner.

Overall the changes will allow daily-deal sites built on Getsocio to use referral program in larger scale, further increasing their sales, while being safe from referral abuse.

PayPal Website Payments Pro

Recently we have added support of PayPal Website Payments Pro (WPP) payment method to Getsocio.

Unlike PayPal's "Express checkout", WPP mode allows to receive card payments directly on your daily-deal site, without sending your buyers to PayPal page.

On the downside, WPP is only available for sellers in USA, UK and Canada. Merchants from all other countries can only use "Express Checkout" to accept payments with PayPal.

How do I pay the merchant?

Any daily-deal website needs to pay the merchants which deals it promotes (unless you try to charge your merchants instead of paying them).

So, how do you pay the merchant? The short answer is "You decide". And here comes the long one.

Getsocio does not impose any restrictions on your business model. The funds from all coupon purchases made on your site come to your PayPal (or bank) account. From there you may use the money any way you see fit.

To pay the vendor you may use any method you have come to an agreement with them (cash, PayPal, check, bank transfer, whatever). It is up to you to decide what amount to pay (and what percentage to keep to yourself). Also you decide when to pay it (immediately after the deal ends or later).

You may pay the merchant for the number of coupons sold. Or you may consider requesting a confirmation from the vendor of the number of coupon-buyers served, and pay only for the served coupons, while keeping funds for unused coupons to yourself.

Overall, there are many options available, and the choice will probably depend on particular deal/vendor. Of course it would be only reasonable to discuss them with the vendor and come to an agreement on payment terms before you run their deal on your site.

Free deals

Some deals on a daily-deal site have a really low cost to get as many people as possible to buy coupons. It is even possible to run a free "deal", that is a deal with zero cost. When the deal price is zero, the Getsocio engine will not even ask for credit card and just will give a coupon to any user who clicks "Buy" button.

Running a free deal could be a great way to promote a new business. Sure it has drawbacks, as people will clearly see that it is an advertisement rather than a real deal, and will be more cautious.

Of course, the "free" deal is not entirely free. While users get their coupons at no cost, a "free" deal usually has some cost charged from the vendor for the promotion. On Getsocio for the deals with the price less than $1, including free deals, the transaction fee is calculated as if the deal cost was $1. So if you run a zero cost pure promotional deal, each coupon will cost you 5% of $1, that is $0.05.

While tempting, it would not be reasonable to start a daily deal site with free deals. When your subscribers get used to free stuff from the day one, it will make them angry when you run your first non-free deal, and many of them will get mad and unsubscribe. Much better strategy is to start with a low cost $5-$10 deals, and introduce more expensive deals later.

But for an established daily deal site with a solid subscriber base, an occasional free promotion, especially holiday/entertainment one, could be an exciting addition.

When the buyer's credit card is charged?

On a daily-deal site there is no simple answer. It depends.

• If the deal is not tipped yet:
  • Funds are "reserved" on the card. This step ensures that there is enough funds on the card for the purchase, and "locks" them, so the buyer cannot spend them elsewhere before the deal ends.
  • Then, after the deal is tipped, the purchase is finalized and funds are transferred from the buyer's card to the daily-deal site owner's account.
  • And if the deal expires (never gets tipped), the purchase is canceled and the funds are "unlocked" on the buyer's card.
• And if the deal is already tipped, the purchase happens in one step – the funds are transferred from the buyer's card immediately.

This is how it works. Or at least this is how it is supposed to work. There is a complication: not all payment systems support two-step payments. While PayPal and Authorize.net support them, 2Checkout and several other payment systems only can perform one step payment, and there is no way to "reserve" funds.

In the case of using payment system which does not support "reservation", the funds are transferred from the buyer's card immediately, even if the deal is not yet tipped. If the deal expires the purchase is canceled, and since the funds cannot be returned back to the buyer automatically, the payment amount is added to the customer's balance on the site, so they can use that balance for the future purchases.

There is always a way to refund the payment manually via the payment system control panel. But it will be necessary to adjust the buyer's balance on the site as well. For example, if someone paid $10 and the deal did not get tipped, the buyer's balance will become $10. So if the payment is manually refunded through the payment system, it is necessary to add a corresponding transaction ($-10 adjustment) on the daily-deal site to get user's balance back to zero.

Coupon fraud protection

While coupons have "no cash value", someone still may try to get the deal without paying for the coupon. How to help the vendor to identify and eliminate fraudulent coupons, like attempts to use the same coupon multiple times, or even outright forged coupons?

The following tools provided by Getsocio may be used to counter fraud:

• Buyer's name is printed on coupon
• A unique coupon code is printed on each coupon. The number is generated randomly, so it cannot be easily guessed.
• The daily-deal site owner can print a list of coupons for the deal with codes and names of customers, and give it to the vendor.

To begin with, for the promotional low-price deals (under $5), it is probably no need to bother, as the deal goal is to get as many people as possible, so if someone comes with a forged copy of coupon – let them have it.

For the most of deals the simple check of the coupon code should suffice. The vendor takes the coupon from the customer and checks if it matches the code in the list of coupons.

1. If there is a match the vendor should mark the coupon as used in the list (like cross it out with the pen on the printed copy of the list), then serve the customer.
2. If there is a match, but the coupon is already marked as used – tell the customer that this coupon has been used already and do not serve it again.
3. If there is no match for the coupon code in the list, the coupon is clearly forged, and should not be served.

Finally, for the most expensive deals (like $300 and above, no strict rule here) it may be reasonable for the vendor in addition to regular coupon code check, to request an ID from the coupon bearer and match it with the name on the coupon and with the list of coupons.