reDesign

July 29, 2010

Why small businesses are snapping up the daily deal

Filed under: advertising,google,local search,marketing,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 1:05 pm

A sample daily deal from Living Social.

In recent months, we’ve seen daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social grow like crazy. Groupon is valued at $1.35 billion. That’s more than 4x the valuation of the McClatchy Company, one of the country’s largest newspaper publishers. It also ekes out The New York Times Company. Others are scrambling to get into the business, including DealPop in Seattle and CrowdCut in Minneapolis. Yelp is also testing its own entry in Sacramento.

A while back, I wrote about why small businesses were reluctant to get online. So what changed?

Well, the daily deal providers addressed most of the challenges I laid out.

  • No one was asking them to get online; now they are. Groupon, Living Social and others are rapidly building up local sales forces to approach small businesses.
  • It’s a lot simpler. Bidding on keywords is beyond the experience level and time commitment most small businesses can afford. Putting together a special offer is much simpler and the daily deal sites are doing a lot of hand holding. Even Google has realized this, with simplified pricing for its Google Tags product aimed at small businesses.
  • There’s no upfront commitment required. Unlike most advertising products, businesses don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an ad and pray that it works. Instead, they get paid for the deals sold before they’re actually redeemed.
  • Results are evident and compelling. Businesses can clearly see how many people are buying their deals in real time. They can also see customers as they walk through the door with the coupons. It’s a lot more trackable than other forms of advertising.

On the consumer side, the daily deal sites have turned coupons from something that were looked down on to a fun, social thing. Friends who wouldn’t use coupons in the past are touting the great deals they’ve found online.

A big challenge for providers will be providing enough new businesses to keep the deals interesting. Many of the deals I see these days are too far to drive to; a metro area is too large a geography. As the novelty of the daily deal wears off, deals will have to be more targeted based on location and interests to avoid becoming perceived as spam.

September 10, 2008

I am here, where is everyone else?

Filed under: apple,facebook,flickr,gps,im,instant messaging,iphone,lbs,mobile,social networking,twitter,where,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 12:02 am

Since the iPhone app store came online, I’ve been playing with a number of mobile social networks. There’s no shortage of them: Limbo, Loopt, Where and Whrrl are all attempting to play in the space.

The central idea of mobile social networks is to connect you with your friends while you’re out and about. Unfortunately, they all require you to rebuild your friend list. Early versions of the Loopt app went so far as to spam people in your iPhone’s address book with text messages.

Local events on Where

Local events on Where

Here are some of the keys to success in mobile social networks:

  • It’s the network, stupid. Getting people to create Yet Another Network won’t work. I’ve already created my network. Use it. My only friend on the iPhone version of Loopt is 2,500 miles away — hardly someone I can run into when I’m out in San Francisco on the weekend. Loopt and Where have Facebook apps, but their iPhone versions don’t seem to tie into them.
  • Let me control when I update my location. Location is very personal. Don’t automatically update my location just because I’ve launched your application. I may just want to check something.
  • Let me publish beyond your app. Early adopters who try your app are willing to accept that there is a ramp up period, but they aren’t going to do work for zero return. If I my update my status and no one is there to see it, have I updated my status? Let me automatically publish the information I collect using your app to Facebook, Twitter and my blog. Not only does it give me a reason to use your app, it becomes a distribution vehicle for you, providing exposure to my friends who just might say “How’d he do that?” I taught a lot of my friends about Facebook mobile simply by updating my status from my phone. (Facebook puts a mobile phone icon next to such updates.)
  • Seed your app with other content sources. If I don’t have friends, at least give me other content that makes your app worth using. Where does a good job of this, pulling in content from Yelp, eventful and Zipcar. If you can, get ego bloggers like Scoble to use your app.
  • 128 King St is not a place. Pete’s Tavern is. Whenever posting information, it should include a human understandable version. You’d never post a location of 37.778911, -122.391223; a street address is marginally more helpful. With the margin of error built into GPS and density of urban areas, place names are critical.
  • Let me take pictures. For a long time, mobile developers haven’t had access to cell phone cameras. With the iPhone, they do. The ability to take and send a picture makes it easier to communicate a lot of information quickly. And it adds life to your application. (Bonus points for dropping a copy of the picture in my flickr account.)
  • Tie into IM and SMS. Loopt claims that the most commonly asked question via SMS is “Where are you?” That claim is probably made up marketing b.s. without any hard data. Nevertheless, it is a frequent question. Make it easy for me to answer it. Let me send an SMS or IM that includes where I’m at (Pete’s Tavern, 128 King St.). To anyone. Include a URL with a map and optionally a picture.
  • Don’t spam my friends. What you do with my friends’ contact information reflects on me. If you spam my friends, I will never use your application again. And I will tell everyone you’re a spammer.

Tying into the various APIs I mentioned may seem like a lot of work — and it is. But the alternative is spending a lot of money on distribution and marketing.

See also:

July 14, 2008

Unlocking the creativity of the masses

Filed under: apple,apple tv,facebook,flickr,geotagging,gps,iphone,ipod,lbs,local search,mobile,mobile search,photography,social networking,twitter,where,wireless,wireless data,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 9:26 pm

With the launch of the iPhone last year (and the millions of dollars in ad spend around it), Apple did more for wireless data adoption than wireless carriers had in the last 10 years. With Thursday’s launch of the App Store, they’re doing it again by unlocking the creativity of the masses.

Wireless carriers had long held on to core cellphone features with an iron grip. Want access to the camera, GPS, microphone or address book? Good luck. It usually involved spending a year or more negotiating with a carrier and then writing and (rewriting) your app to work on dozens of phone models. And when you were all done, you brought it to a market with little distribution support at a price few people would pay.

In the last couple of days, I’ve downloaded more apps than I had in my entire history of cell phone usage (dating back to 1996). There’s one big reason: once developers had access to features like GPS and the camera, they created compelling applications.

The most compelling apps have come from independent developers or startups. Some have used public APIs for other products; although there isn’t an official flickr app, there are several apps that interact with flickr. AOL is the lone exception among large companies, with apps for AIM and AOL Radio.

Here are some of the apps that caught my eye. With the exception of iMilk, all are free. That’s another refreshing change: Apple is making it easy for application developers who want to distribute free applications. Even paid apps can be relatively cheap, with a one time price of $3-$10 being common. (Versus the previous $3-$5 per month.)

All is not perfect in app land, of course. Much like when Facebook launched their app platform, some developers are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. I’ve also had my phone reboot at least half a dozen times when using various apps.

The functionality in some of these apps is limited compared with their other incarnations. For example, in Jott, you can’t send Jotts to others. As these apps are revved, they’ll become even more compelling.

Jott

Jott allows you to record a voice “note to self”. The note is then transcribed and put in your Jott account, which is available by phone or Web. It isn’t as robust as Jott’s

Where

A mobile social network that lets you plot friends on a map, look for restaurant reviews, find and reserve Zipcars and even look at a map of the night sky where you are with the constellations plotted. (Video of the app.)

There are a number of players looking to create mobile social networks. Whrrl, Loopt and Limbo offer somewhat similar apps. Where offers a range of features beyond social, while Limbo is the most social.

(Disclosure: I did some consulting for Where last year.)

Facebook

Facebook took an early lead with the iPhone 1.0 by having one of the best iPhone optimized sites. The lead developer released a toolkit that was used by other developers. The application version adds the ability to upload photos and IM, but lacks some of the features found in the browser version.

AirMe

Upload pictures to flickr (or an AirMe account). The pictures are automatically geotagged with your location. AirMe also tags you pictures with the current weather conditions.

NearMe

See pictures from Panoramio of places around where you are.

Twittelator

See and update Twitter. Post pictures and location updates. Twitterific has less functionality and also has ads.

Urbanspoon

Kind of like a Magic 8 ball to decide where to eat. Uses GPS to find where you are. Shake your iPhone and it will select a place for you.

iMilk  ($2.99)

“Drink” virtual milk. Uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to empty the glass. If you prefer, you can pour it into a glass before drinking.

Remote

Control your Apple TV or iTunes. Play songs, see album art and search your iTunes library. Works over Wifi, so you don’t have to be in line of sight. Much better than the flimsy remote that ships with Apple TV.

Pandora

The world’s greatest music discovery service now streams to iPhone. The app is beautifully simple. Add in an aux in jack or FM transmitter for your car and say goodbye to the $14 a month you’re paying to XM or Sirius.

Yelp

Why settle for the hand-picked (usually glowing) reviews displayed in the restaurant window? Pull out your iPhone and check Yelp. My favorite feature is a filter that limits the search to restaurants that are open now. Very helpful for those midnight cravings.

December 13, 2007

Yahoo! Local gets Yelpy

Filed under: advertising,city guides,local search,search,web 2,web 2.0,yahoo,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 2:09 pm

Yahoo! Local has rolled out some new features to increase the Web 2.0-ness of its local search product:

  • RSS feeds. You can subscribe to feeds of all reviews near you. If you find a reviewer you like, you can stay up-to-date on his or her reviews.
  • A “first reviewed by” designation to highlight contributors who are the first to review a place.
  • Attribute drill down. You can narrow your search using filters such as “family friendly,” “casual” or “elegant.”

It’s been a few months since I last checked in on Yahoo! Local. Overall, it’s a huge improvement. It has a ways to go before catching category leader Yelp. (The metric being by my subjective opinion of product quality.)

Yelp has had the first two features for at least a year.

Among the local players, Yelp has had the best incentive system for contributors. Its “First to Review” designation is one of many things that Yelp does to encourage frequent participation. An “Elite” system rewards frequent contributors with a badge on their profile and invitations to parties. The front page of the site highlights a review of the day. Featured Yelpers also appear on the home page.

It may sound corny, but such incentives are important to keeping people engaged. Most social systems have some sort of perk system, including ODP’s edit-alls and metas and the Wikipedia cabal.

Although Yahoo’s design is more visually appealing than it used to be, it’s still cluttered.

Unlike Yelp, the map scrolls off the search results page, making it hard to see where results 3-10 are located unless you have a very large screen.

Getting reviews is more work than it should be. Yahoo! breaks its 69 reviews for The Italian Store across 29 pages, 3 at a time. Yelp shows all 42 of its reviews on one page, making it very easy to scan.

Then there’s the ads. I’m all for ads — I work in the Web space and like to get paid — when they’re relevant. The ads on Yahoo! Local are anything but. Here is an example of the ads that appeared above the listings for restaurants:

Irrelevant ads on Yahoo! Local

The top two ads are for services that compete with Yahoo! Local. Ads on the side (not shown) pitched “Watch mouth-watering videos of Oklahoma’s best restaurants” and one from Target offered “Find restaurant online. Shop & Save at Target.com Today.” (I’ll admit to clicking through on the Oklahoma ad just to see what would constitute a mouth-watering video of Okahoma restaurants. Unfortunately, they linked it to a video of a bad rendition of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.)

I understand that local advertisers are scarce, especially outside the Bay Area. But Yelp takes the right approach.

More on: local search, yahoo, yelp

Disclosure: I used to work on local products for AOL.

October 23, 2007

Google Maps gets social

Filed under: facebook,google,local search,maps,social networking,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 3:12 pm

Google has added a profile page for its My Maps and local reviews products. The profile page allows users to roll up their maps and reviews onto one page. Here’s a screenshot of my profile page:

Google Maps profile page

In addition to links to the reviews and maps that I’ve created, there are a few fields to tell people a little bit about myself. It’s not as robust as Yelp’s profile page, but it shows the beginnings of a social bent to Google’s local properties.

Among the things I’d like to see:

  • People-friendly URLs. The URL for my profile page is http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=110282169465175925759&hl=en&gl=us. On Yelp, my URL is http://rocky.yelp.com.
  • The option for people who use my maps to leave comments. The feedback options on flickr and Yelp are important drivers of continued participation; if I hear from people who find my work useful, I’m more likely to contribute.
  • A Facebook application that distributes my maps and reviews to my friends. Google has already released a Google News application and a third party has created a Google Reader app.

More on: Google, maps

June 19, 2007

Google Maps launches local reviews

Filed under: city guides,google,local search,maps,web 2,web 2.0,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 2:16 pm

In a potentially huge blow to local services like Yelp, CitySearch, and AOLCityGuide, Google is now offering users the ability to leave reviews for businesses they search on.

To date, Google has aggregated reviews from those sites and others in its local search results. Now it’s soliciting reviews directly. It lacks the community features of Yelp, but the tight integration into Google Maps will likely serve the needs of casual users.

One of the challenges with reviews is getting people to write reviews — sometimes, they just need a nudge. Google could use your search history to remind you. Did you get driving directions to a restaurant last week? A subtle reminder could appear when you return to Maps, encouraging you to write a review. (Kind of like the Netflix emails when you return a movie.)

Google maps reviews

More on: Google, maps.

May 21, 2007

Search your neighborhood on Google Maps

Filed under: google,local search,maps,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 7:48 pm

You can now search Google Maps by neighborhood in 50 U.S. cities. Some sample searches: “bars in adams morgan dc” “museums upper east side, ny” “pizza portero hill sf“.

I’ve long complained that ZIP codes are a terrible crutch used by programmers. Neighborhoods are a much more human way to search.

Google neighborhood search

Neighborhood definitions are fluid — even locals typically don’t agree on where one neighborhood begins and another ends. Yelp has been doing neighborhood searches for a while; I prefer their tighter borders to Google’s. Compare Google’s results for “bars in adams morgan dc” with Yelp’s results for a similar search.

Another nice touch on Yelp: the ability to narrow results based on human-friendly distances (within 4 blocks, 10 blocks, walking, biking, driving).

More on: Google, maps

March 20, 2007

Cleaning up my digital neighborhood

Filed under: aol,google,local search,yahoo,yellow pages,yelp — Rocky Agrawal @ 5:27 pm

My neighborhood undergone a lot of change in the three years I’ve lived here. It’s been very exciting to see new businesses come in and sad to see some old favorites go away. (I’m still puzzled as to how the tombstone store stays in business in a neighborhood where a 1 bedroom condo runs $400k.)

All this makes local search virtually useless. I tried to clean up my digital neighborhood the other day by identifying businesses that have closed.

Knowing what businesses have gone under since the last Acxiom or InfoUSA update is more valuable than reviews. There are few worse experiences that local search can provide than sending people to business that don’t exist.

But most local search sites don’t make it easy to provide this input:

  • Yahoo! has a multi-step process.
  • AOL has a link to report closed businesses but it takes you to a nonexistent page.
  • Google doesn’t have an option.

Part of the reason they make it difficult is fear that pranksters (or competitors) will erroneously report that businesses have closed.

There are a number of ways around this:

  • Let users police the listings. Display user reported closures as “unverified” and allow other users to agree or disagree. Have a line on the listing that says something like “This business has been reported closed by 25 users.” At the very least, this will signal to users that they should call first.
  • Use telephone verification. This can be automated to a degree. If the business closes up shop entirely, chances are the phone has been disconnected and calling the number will result in a three tone. Calls that are answered can be routed to a call center.
  • Use direct mail verification.

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