Google Offers, the new offering being molded to compete with the likes of Groupon, is expanding and in the process, hoping to make an impact in the increasingly crowded deal space. Google recently started presenting deals from 14 new partners, including localized businesses such as Juice in the City, Plum District, and PopSugar Shop. It also introduced the personalization quiz, a new feature that takes an interesting approach to the deals concept. This article will closely examine the Google Offers personalization quiz and what it means for marketers.
Google Gets Personal
According to Google itself, the new personalization quiz is all about making deals more relevant. The feature allows consumers to express the categories they are interested in and the places they spend the most of their time. With that information handy, Google sends them offers that are customized based on those preferences via email. So for example, someone who is interested in dining and entertainment will be presented with offers in those particular categories rather than deals for spa treatments, outdoor adventures, and other areas that do not match their interests. Users can easily update their preferences as their interests change.
For businesses participating in Google Offers, the inclusion of the personalization quiz is great news. It essentially makes Google’s offering even more attractive to business owners by targeting their deals to be more personal and relevant. An individual who lives in the same city as a popular baker may not necessarily wish to receive deals for cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. By providing the luxury to tell Google what type of deals they would prefer to receive, users can filter out the irrelevant stuff and interact with content that matches what they’re looking for. This is great for the marketer for the simple fact that it puts their offers in front of people who are more likely to respond.
Deals Competition Growing
Google Offers has officially been live since April, when it launched in the city of Portland, Oregon. As you may have guessed, the product is very similar to Groupon, which exploded into popularity in 2010 and actually turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from the search giant in December of last year. Although things appear to be moving along, nothing is for certain as far the longevity of Offers goes because Google’s deals products has plenty to contend with. Aside from Groupon and LivingSocial, both of which have become household names in the market, it also has to deal with newcomers such as Amazon, AT&T, and Microsoft.
Google is hoping that the new personalization quiz will enable it to successfully combat the so-called “deals fatigue” observers having been discussing so frequently these days. Quite a few experts have gone on the record to state that the days of both Groupon and the deals market in general are numbered. Whether or not this is true is something that remains to be seen, but for now, features such as the personalization quiz are additions savvy marketers should embrace and take advantage of.
