A Groupon primer for massage therapists
Every new massage therapist considers Groupon at some point in his or her career, often in the early days when it’s most difficult to tell the world about your services and get those bookings coming in.
And every massage therapist who has been around for even a short amount of time has an opinion on Groupon. I will share mine with you in this article, but more than that I want to give you some information and help you understand how it works. Often that is enough for you to know if Groupon will be worth your time and effort to even try.
And if you do try it, I hope you can learn from my mistakes.
How Does Groupon Work?
I first participated in 2016, and my most recent usages of the platform was in 2021. It has evolved during that time, and has changed even since 2021, and may have changed since the time I’m writing this.
Ultimately, you’ll need to go directly to the source for the most current information, but this article will give you the basic overview, and that will help you get an idea of whether or not you want to try it for yourself.
When I first used Groupon, you had to post your services for at least 50% off of what you typically charge. Then you split that price with Groupon 50/50.
For example, if I charge $60 for a 60-minute massage, I would have to put that on Groupon for $30. Then Groupon and I would split the $30 in half, so I would get paid $15 and they would get $15. But I still had to do the same hour of work.
And now you see why massage therapists all over the country hate doing business with Groupon.
When I ran my last promotion on Groupon, they had changed that to be more flexible, meaning I wasn’t required to set the discount price to 50% off. For example, I might have been able to offer a 60-minute massage for 40% off. Additionally, they had a more favorable split with merchants, which might have been more like 60/40. So I would keep 60% of the collected price, and they would get 40%.
But that’s still not a super excellent way for massage therapists to make money. But it could potentially help with the Rebooking Problem, which I talk about later. And that is a really big problem with Groupon.
Additionally, Groupon vouchers do expire, but the amount paid for them never does. So if someone called me today and tells me she had purchased a Groupon for a 60-minute massage way back in 2016, and she paid $30 for it, I would have to honor that voucher by accepting it for a $30 credit. (The promotional value of being worth a 60-minute massage had expired.)
Now, that credit would be $30 off the rate I charge today, which is more than I charged in 2016, and when I redeem that voucher with Groupon, I would be paid out from Groupon whatever our agreed split was, so I would be paid for the appointment. But this is something to keep in mind, because this is a non-negotiable part of the contract you would have to sign with Groupon in order to use their platform.
Why Therapists Do It
So if Groupon sucks so bad, why do therapists use it?
Marketing your services is hard. It’s usually not taught in massage school, and if the topic is covered at all, usually little time is spent on it. Additionally, marketing is not something most massage therapists are good at.
After all, we went to massage school, didn’t we? Not business school. And not marketing school. I mean, if we wanted to be expert marketers, wouldn’t we have just gone to marketing school?
But the reality is that when we’re self-employed, we do have to learn how to effectively market our services if we want to keep our calendars full and make a living doing what we love to do.
Groupon is appealing because everyone has heard of it—not just therapists, but clients, too. And it seems so easy, the way we dreamed marketing would be. When we first think about going into business for ourselves, we dream of putting our names and services on the internet somewhere, and people will just magically see it, book appointments, and come to us.
But it’s not that easy, and it definitely doesn’t work this way in the beginning. And for most of us, that “beginning” is years long. At some point, once a therapist has had a presence in a community for a long period of time—three years, five years, sometimes longer—and he or she has a good reputation, eventually that therapist might have more business coming from random Google searches than from other efforts, but you definitely can’t wait on that. You have to work it in the meantime.
For a therapist looking at Groupon and reading their website, it’s presented as such a smart, easy way to advertise, like Groupon does all the hard work for you and you can just rake in the cash. And therapists looking for quick wins will go for that, especially if they haven’t been smart about how they got started. If, for example, they have a rent payment they can’t afford because they got too much office space, or thought they’d be busier than they are, they will do whatever they can to just get some cash coming in the door. Groupon seems like it will do just that, so they’ll try it.
Pros vs Cons of Groupon
Pros v Cons of Groupon
So let’s get real here and talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Groupon.
Pros
No Upfront Cost
This is the biggest draw for merchants to use the Groupon platform. With every other kind of marketing, you have to pay for the service upfront. And that’s a problem if you don’t have any money because you don’t have any appointments.
In exchange for the convenience of splitting your fee with Groupon once you’ve made some money, you’re going to pay a very high price for marketing.
Easy
It’s very easy to use Groupon’s online merchant portal and set up and design your own campaign. You can do it at your leisure, whenever it’s convenient for you.
Quick
It doesn’t take much time to set up your Groupon campaign, and it can be up and running on their site within a couple of days. A couple of days after that, they’ll email it to their customers.
Does Bring In Sales
Most deals on Groupon will generate sales. Merchants can see in their sales dashboards how many voucher sales there are at any given time.
Does Bring In Bookings
Some of the people who buy your deal will actually call to make an appointment. Over the lifetime of my campaigns, I’d estimate about 50% of people who purchased the deal called to make an appointment. About 95% of those happened before the vouchers expired. Only about one in six or so called right away.
Good Customer Service for Customer Users
I have very limited experience with Groupon as a user. I’ve only ever purchased one Groupon, and I did that years ago when I ran my first Groupon, just so I could see what it was like for the people buying them. I didn’t have any problems with my voucher, so I had no need of customer services. However, over the years, I’ve heard feedback from many users that the customer services for customers is really good.
Cons
Sales Don’t Pay Until People Hold Appointments
You may sell 1000 vouchers, but until they actually hold their appointments, you don’t make a dime. And even then, Groupon only pays out every two weeks (or more specifically twice a month).
You Only Get Paid On Redeemed Vouchers
You may sell 1000 vouchers, but if only 100 of them come in for appointments, you only get paid your half of those 100. Groupon keeps all the rest.
The Rebooking Problem
This has it’s own section, because it’s a big problem. So be sure to read below.
Good Clients vs Groupon Clients
This is the dirty secret no one wants to talk about. Therapists hate Groupon in general, and most of it seems to do with the very small percentage they are paid for their services. And sometimes they’ll talk about how it’s hard to turn Groupon clients into regular clients because they just want to shop deals.
But no one really talks about the quality or the characteristics of Groupon customers, and for me, this is the worst part. I think over the years, I’ve had about 250 or 280 Groupon clients come into my business. In some ways that’s a lot, in other ways it isn’t very many. But it has been more than enough for me to notice some similarities and some generalities of these folks.
>Groupon clients are deal hunters. They have become very skilled at finding deals, coupons, special offers, and sales. They don’t want the best services; they want the best deal.
>They want it right now. For the people that will call to use their voucher and make an appointment with you, many of them want the appointment the same day they call.
>It’s extremely common for someone to see your voucher, call to see if you can get them in today, and THEN buy the voucher. They don’t want your deal specifically; they want a massage today and it doesn’t matter where they can get it.
>Groupon clients rarely tip. The overwhelming majority of the Groupon clients I have seen personally did not leave a tip. The ones that did tip, left extremely small tips, $5 or less. About 75% of the Groupon clients that have seen the therapists that work for me did leave tips, I think because the checkout process was different and it wasn’t the therapist checking them out. The tips were consistently extremely small, however, $10 or less. And all my therapists average $15-25 for an hour session.
>Groupon clients place little to no value on massage as healthcare. For the overwhelming majority of these folks, massage is something nice they like to do for themselves sometimes. It’s not anything more. Yes, they can feel better, but it isn’t anywhere near healthcare or treatment for a problem or pain they have.
>Groupon clients can be difficult. I have found these folks to be demanding, and to have no regard for the rules or my policies. They also tend to have to reschedule a lot.
>Much more likely no no-show or late-cancel. Because they didn’t pay much for the voucher, and they have no real regard for massage therapy, these folks tend to miss more appointments than other clients. About one in eight no-showed, and about 30% cancelled late.
Can Generate Bad PR More Easily Than With Clients From Other Sources
Groupon has a feedback function for users. So every time a user redeems a voucher, they are invited to leave feedback about that merchant and service. This is helpful when people have a good experience and they leave a good review.
However, if they can’t have what they want, if they don’t like your rules or policies, or you tell them anything they don’t want to hear, they’ll leave it in the review. The reason I mention this is because earlier I mentioned the quality of client brought in by a Groupon voucher. Generally, Groupon clients are a lower quality client than those found elsewhere. They’re deal-hoppers, demanding, etc. These are the people who will challenge your policies, expect exceptions, and have a tendency to be very demanding. You can see how that can lead to more “bad” reviews than other circumstances. And once those reviews are out there on the internet, they’re out there. Even years later, my Groupon reviews pop up front and center in online searches.
Poor Customer Service For Merchants
While the customer service for consumers of Groupon is rumored to be excellent, the customer support for merchants is very poor. It’s difficult to reach the person that can actually help you, it usually requires phone tag, and issues aren’t resolved quickly.
The Rebooking Problem
The Rebooking Problem is, in my opinion, the biggest problem with Groupon. And, I think, it is the biggest pitfall new therapists using Groupon can’t see coming. So I want to lay it out for you here. If you decide to use Groupon, you’ll know about this problem ahead of time.
What is it?
The Rebooking Problem is that the overwhelming majority of Groupon users do not rebook after their Groupon sessions are over.
This has been one of the most cited reasons for people in our industry to drop Groupon, and Groupon has been trying to “fix” it by changing some of the rules of using their platform. For example, originally, merchants had to list their services for 50% off or greater. But it is nearly impossible to get someone who paid $30 for a massage to now pay $60 when they can just go get another Groupon for $30 or maybe less. So Groupon relaxed that rule, and now merchants can set their own discount amount, and Groupon just makes a recommendation based on sales for like services in your area.
But this still doesn’t solve the problem. Because there is no limit from Groupon on how many times a person can purchase like items. So a person can just buy a Groupon whenever he or she feels like getting a massage.
To help solve this problem, Groupon also does strongly recommend selling a series of services, rather than just one. So for example, instead of just listing one 60-minute massage for 40% off, Groupon really wants you to list a package of two or even three 60-minute massages, and maybe do 45% off the total.
The reasoning is that your potential client has already made a large purchase, so in theory it will be easier for you to get them to buy a single 60-minute massage at your usual rate when the Groupon sessions are gone, and because after two or three sessions with you, the person will know you, like you, like your work, and want to stick with you.
That doesn’t often translate into reality, though.
The majority of people purchasing Groupons for massage services are not looking for an affordable way to find a therapist they like. The majority of them don’t want to pay full price. They would rather bounce from Groupon to Groupon than ever stick with someone and pay the going rate.
Now, let me caveat this entire discussion by saying there are always exceptions to the rule. You may talk to therapists who have had totally different experiences than this. You may even be a therapist who has had a totally different experience. And that’s great! But it is the exception.
And for new therapists just getting into business, you’ll learn soon enough that you are not the exception. If you take that seriously from the beginning, you may just have a long career.
Should You Do It?
This is the part where I give you my opinion in no uncertain terms, and that is this: No, you shouldn’t. I cannot in good conscience recommend new therapists get involved with Groupon.
It seems like an easy way to market and tell a lot of new people in your community about your services, but it’s not going to work out that way for most people. There are far more effective ways to spend your time and money to market your business and get bookings coming in the door quickly (Referral marketing is the best thing you can do.). And the people Groupon brings in aren’t usually good clients or good customers.
I know some of you are going to do it anyway, so I’ve outlined a few ideas to strategize your Groupon campaigns that are work thinking about before getting started, so be sure to read the next section.
Strategies To Consider
If you’re so far down this trail that your mind cannot be changed, then at least consider these things when setting up your Groupon campaign.
Expiration Dates
Groupon gives you a range of time to set as your expiration date. I believe it’s from four to twelve months. I highly recommend you set it at the shortest amount of time possible.
The idea behind running a Groupon deal in the first place is to generate business. If people have a year to use your Groupon, that won’t bring them in quickly. On the other hand, if they only have four months, the chances of them booking in the next four months is much higher.
Additionally, you are required to honor the promotional value of the voucher until it expires. Do you really want to be working for $15 or $20 per hour a year from now?
Rather, do that for a short period of time. When the vouchers expire, people have a credit with you for the amount they paid for the Groupon, but that will be taken off your regular rate, thereby raising your income for that massage by a significant amount.
Length Of Campaign
In the old days, your campaign would be set to run for a set period of time. Today, they just run until you turn them off. I would still recommend you set yours up with the plan of turning it off in thirty days, or sixty days, or some set timeframe. Put a note on your calendar for that date, and on that date, go in and turn off your campaign.
Your Groupon advisor will tell you not to do this, because it takes a few weeks to get some momentum on a campaign, and that’s lost whenever you turn your campaign off.
But unless you’re going to work for Groupon money for the rest of your career, you better use that thirty or sixty days working on a more sustainable and profitable marketing strategy. If your Groupon deal is supposed to be just temporary, then actually make it temporary.
Restrictions
The majority of the people you will deal with from Groupon are very experienced Groupon users. These are people that have purchased lots and lots and lots of Groupon deals, and they’re good at using Groupon to their own advantage to save a ton of money. Good on them, but don’t let them do it to you. Because every dollar they save is another dollar you don’t get paid for the same amount of work (or more, because Groupon people are often difficult to deal with). Be smart with your restrictions.
For example, limit the vouchers to one per person, and one per visit. If you limit it to one per person, that will mean that if someone liked your service, they have to buy the next one from you rather than just hoping back on Groupon and buying the discounted voucher again. Limiting it to one per visit is more applicable if you offer more than one service, like massage and facials, for example. If you run a deal for a massage and a separate deal for a facial, limiting it to one per visit means they can’t use them together on the same day. Maybe someone comes in for the massage first, and really enjoys it. Maybe you can get her to do another massage when she comes back for the facial, which will mean she’ll have to pay for the massage.
I always also specify that vouchers may not be split. So if someone buys a pack of two 60-minute sessions for cheaper than it would be to buy two individual 60-minute sessions, they can’t split the two pack with another person. Like a husband and wife, or mother and daughter. If the point of offering two or three session deals is to increase the chances of rebooking that person, then be sure you’re seeing that person both times, or all three times. And don’t take any more money out of your own pocket by letting them split the cheaper deal, because you have to do the same amount of work either way.
Pricing
Spend some time doing some math. Figure out what you want your clients to buy from you after their Groupon sessions, and based on that rate, set your Groupon discount accordingly. If you want people to purchase a 60-minute two-pack that you charge $110 for, you might not want to set up a 60-minute two-pack on Groupon for $60.
As a general rule, or guideline, people can make a $10-15 jump in price. Any more than that is a much harder sell. So if they bought your service on Groupon for $55, you stand a chance of selling them your service after that if the price is $65 or $70. So maybe you have a single 60-minute service listed on Groupon for $45, and you can sell your 60-minute two-pack for $110, which makes it $55 per session. I would present it that way when selling it, and this does stand a decent chance of attracting some buyers.
But this is the Catch-22 with using Groupon. It’s hard to get a Groupon campaign to sell if it isn’t heavily discounted, which makes your regular rates look “too expensive.”
Enforce Your Cancellation Policy
In my experience over the years, a person with a Groupon is significantly more likely to late-cancel or no-show an appointment. So where does that leave you? High and dry, stiffed for an hour of work you can never get back, that’s where.
So I always recommend booking by phone so that you can actually speak to the person who is interested in your services. I know online booking is all the rage, and you probably have online booking set up. If that’s how you roll, that’s fine, but there are plenty of advantages to booking by phone.
Not the least of those advantages is being able to articulate your cancellation policy at the time of booking. This way you can explain that you have a 24-hour cancellation policy, and in the event of a late-cancel or no-show, you’ll redeem the Groupon. (If you haven’t worked out what your cancellation policy is going to be, you need to figure that out before you do much else.)
When you book by phone, not only can you explain the cancellation policy, but you can get the Groupon information so you can verify there is indeed a Groupon voucher, and now you have the information in order to redeem it in the event of a no-show. And you should do that.
I also got into the habit of checking the status of a voucher about 24 to 36 hours before the appointment. Sometimes people would return the voucher and not bother to cancel the appointment. So it was nice to be able to see that ahead of time instead of wondering where the person was at the time of the appointment.
Conclusion
Groupon will continue to be a powerhouse platform in the digital and online space. It will continue to call to massage therapists, and to appeal to consumers looking for the cheapest way to get and do the things they want.
But that call is a siren’s call, luring your ship onto the rocks. It’s a bad way to do business in the long term. And because Groupon people are deal shoppers, you’ll keep a few, but more often they’re going to keep shopping for deals. It’s hard to build a consistent and strong book of business on Groupon shoppers.
If you’re wondering about marketing, let’s talk about networking marketing.
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Catherine Nelson, LMT, CST, CKTS, is a long-time massage therapist with a long and varied background in Western medicine. She is the founder of Del Sol Community Wellness, The Master Institute School of Massage Therapy, and MyMassageTeacher.com. She specializes in CranioSacral Therapy for PTSD and anxiety, medical massage therapy for injury rehabilitation, and sports massage therapy for all phases of training and competition. She can be reached directly at Catherine@DelSolCommunityWellness.com.
2008 Blue Mesa Ct., Loveland, CO 80538 | (970) 218-7179 | www.DelSolCommunityWellness.com
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