Wednesday Thoughts: Does Groupon for Med Spas Still Work in 2025? - Med Spa Success Strategies

Summary

Med Spa Success Strategies Podcast Summary

Episode: Wednesday Thoughts: Does Groupon for Med Spas Still Work in 2025?
Host: Ricky Shockley
Release Date: April 9, 2025

In this insightful episode of the Med Spa Success Strategies Podcast, host Ricky Shockley delves into the effectiveness of using Groupon as a marketing strategy for med spas in 2025. He provides a comprehensive analysis of Groupon's current standing, its impact on client acquisition and retention, and explores alternative marketing avenues that med spa owners might consider.

Understanding Groupon's Landscape

Ricky begins by outlining the primary avenues through which potential clients encounter Groupon offers:

Direct Access via Groupon: Clients actively seeking deals on Groupon.
Google SERP Ads: Groupon-related advertisements appearing in Google search results when users look for specific services (e.g., "Botox in Miami").

He emphasizes the importance of recognizing these two distinct client segments:

"If clients are proactively going to Groupon, searching these offers, they're a Groupon user... They tend to be less sticky patients because they're always looking for the next deal."
— Ricky Shockley [04:30]

Pros and Cons of Using Groupon

Pros:

Client Acquisition: Groupon can still serve as a tool to attract new clients, especially those who might not have discovered the med spa otherwise.
Top Spenders: Ricky references Sarah Schickman’s experience, where auditing revealed that "80% of the top 20% of spenders had originally come from Groupon." This suggests that, contrary to common belief, Groupon-acquired clients can become valuable long-term patrons.

Cons:

Discount Shoppers: A significant portion of Groupon users are trained discount seekers who may not remain loyal, often hopping between different med spas in search of the best deals.
Retention Challenges: The key metric for success with Groupon is not just acquisition but retention. Ricky advises that med spas must have robust tracking systems to monitor:
- Effective Customer Acquisition Cost (ECAC): Understanding the true cost of acquiring a customer through Groupon.
- Retention Rates: Assessing what percentage of Groupon customers continue to patronize the med spa at regular prices after their initial discounted visit.

"If you're running a Groupon to get someone through the door for $174 for 20 units of Botox... you need to understand the catch rate, the effective customer acquisition cost, and the retention rate."
— Ricky Shockley [09:15]

Quality of Traffic

Ricky distinguishes between the quality of clients acquired directly through Groupon versus those who encounter Groupon offers via Google searches:

Direct Groupon Traffic: Typically involves discount-driven clients who might be less loyal.
Google-Driven Groupon Traffic: These clients are initially searching for services on Google and may encounter Groupon offers incidentally, potentially indicating a higher intent to purchase beyond just the discount.

However, Ricky notes the challenge in differentiating the source of Groupon traffic and suggests that overall, Google-driven traffic tends to be of better quality.

Declining Organic Presence of Groupon

Highlighting the shift in digital marketing dynamics, Ricky observes that Groupon's prominence in organic search results has diminished significantly:

"In the early days... Groupon seemed to rank really prominently in the organic search results. But that's really not the case for a wide variety of searches anymore."
— Ricky Shockley [12:40]

He illustrates this with examples, showing that in recent searches for services like "Botox in Bel Air, Maryland," Groupon barely appears in the organic listings, often relegated to lower-ranked positions with minimal visibility.

Economic Viability and Strategic Considerations

Ricky stresses that the decision to continue using Groupon should be grounded in thorough data analysis:

Financial Impact: Often, the initial revenue from Groupon deals at discounted prices may result in break-even or even losses.
Customer Experience: Prepaid Groupon deals can lead to disconnects between expected and actual service levels, potentially affecting patient satisfaction.
Review Management: Running promotions through Groupon can expose the med spa to reviews from less committed clients, increasing the risk of negative feedback.

"Action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action... We can shape perception through experience."
— Ricky Shockley [23:10]

He quotes the book "The Advertising Effect" to emphasize that real experiences with the med spa can more effectively build positive perceptions than prior attitudes influenced by discounts.

Alternative Marketing Strategies

As an alternative to Groupon, Ricky recommends leveraging platforms like Facebook and Instagram for targeted advertising:

Better Quality Leads: Unlike Groupon, these platforms allow med spas to present attractive offers to users who aren't solely discount-driven.
Control Over Messaging: Clients are more likely to engage based on the service's value rather than a discounted price alone.
Cost Considerations: While acquisition costs may be higher (e.g., $100-$150 per customer), the quality and retention rates can justify the investment.

Final Recommendations

Conclusively, Ricky advises med spa owners to approach Groupon with caution in 2025:

Test and Measure: Implement Groupon offers on a trial basis, meticulously tracking acquisition costs and retention rates to determine profitability.
Align with Business Objectives: Ensure that running Groupon promotions aligns with the overall goals and capacities of the practice.
Consider Alternatives: Explore other marketing avenues that may offer better long-term value and client loyalty.

"If you are knocking it out of the park and you're converting a satisfactory rate of Groupon customers into returned and retained clients, then the strategy still might be worth it for your practice."
— Ricky Shockley [19:50]

Ricky concludes that while Groupon can still play a role in a med spa's marketing mix, reliance on it should be balanced with other, potentially more effective strategies to ensure sustained growth and client loyalty.

This episode provides a nuanced perspective on using Groupon for med spas, urging practitioners to base their marketing decisions on concrete data and to remain adaptable in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Transcript

A (0:00)

Hey, MedSpa owners, let's talk today about Groupon. Is Groupon still an effective strategy to generate new customers for MedSpas in 2025? We're going to explore the pros and cons of Groupon, how Groupon works, and some alternative options in this video. Okay, so the first thing we have to understand with Groupon is there are mainly going to be two ways that people stumble across a Groupon type offer. They're either explicitly going to Groupon seeking the offer, or they're seeing Groupon related ads in the Google feed. So the Google results page, the SERPs. So one of two ways. They're either going directly to Groupon or they're performing a search like this for Botox in Miami, and they're being presented with these Groupon deals and Groupon offers. So with that in mind, that's two different types of clients. And so you kind of have to be a little bit wary of where the clients are coming from. If clients are proactively going to Groupon, searching these offers, they're a Groupon user. I think one of the problems you run into as a med spa is that these people are the extreme end of the spectrum in terms of being trained discount shoppers. These are the people that are more likely to hop from practice to practice. They tend to be less sticky patients because they're always looking for the next deal. Now, that's not always true. We had Sarah Schickman on the podcast and she mentioned that when she grew her practice, she audited her top 20% of spenders. 80% of them had originally come from Groupon. I think Groupon can still be effective, but I think it's less effective now than it has been in the past because it's really hyper focused on the trained discount users, the discount shoppers, the people that are actively on Groupon, which tends to lend itself to lower patient quality. So first things first, if you're going to run a Groupon offer, you have to have impeccable tracking systems in place. If you're going to run a deal on Groupon, you need to understand patient quality and retention. Because if you're running a Groupon to get someone through the door for $174 for 20 units of Botox, like the offer you see on my page here, I need to understand the catch rate, something I call effective customer acquisition cost at times of the patients that come in for this deal, what percentage of them are sticking around and becoming regular patients who purchase at our normal price. If you feel confident and comfortable that that retention number is satisfactory, then by all means keep going with Groupon if your schedule allows and it makes sense in terms of your business objectives and business objective alignment. If people are finding your Groupon on Google via Google search, that traffic tends to be a little bit better quality because those people were performing the search originally on Google and not on Groupon. They just happened to be presented with a Groupon offer after performing the search on Google. So there's no real good way, as far as I'm aware, to differentiate if that traffic from Groupon coming from one place or the other. But generally the traffic quality will be better for the people that came from a Google search through Groupon than the people that went through Groupon directly. The other thing to keep in mind with Groupon is it's less prominent than it's been in the past in terms of its organic search presence. So if I go to Google, I just performed a few searches here, some suburbs and some cities across the country. Just to illustrate a point, there was a time in the early days that I was in the aesthetic space and marketing where Groupon seemed to rank really prominently in the organic search results. But that's really not the case for a wide variety variety of searches anymore. I googled Botox in Bel Air, Maryland and we have the Maps Pack. And potentially if I'm local, I'm going to see some ads and then I just have a lot of organic results that consist of individual providers and offices and and Yelp Botox in Nashville. I get some Google Ads, I see the Maps pack, that's where I'm located, and then I see individual providers and practices making up the majority of the search results page. Plus Yelp Botox Miami. Here I see the Groupon ads at the top, which is one of the things we just talked about. I see the Maps results and then I see the organic results here. But you know, the organic results are mostly missing Groupon. This is like the 12th listing down, probably very low click through rate getting through to this Botox in Miami page. And it's just not prominent in terms of Groupon being in the organic search results consistent consistently. So because of that, you tend to have more of the trained discount shoppers coming through Groupon. But it all comes down to numbers like so many other things that we discuss. If you are knocking out out of the park and you're converting a satisfactory rate of Groupon customers into returned and retained clients, then the strategy still might be worth it for your practice. So my recommendation, as with most things is if you're considering Groupon, test it and audit and measure results. The last thing you want to do is run a Groupon, get a bunch of initial visit revenue coming through the door at a very low ticket price and not retaining a satisfactory portion of those prospects. This episode is brought to you by Med Spa Magic Marketing, my agency. We help Med spas and aesthetics practices grow with more effective marketing strategies. And I know that's a vague phrase, right? It's a vague claim. So. So I have an offer for you. I offer this to any new prospects if you're interested in exploring any of them. Another marketing option, a new agency, or just getting into Facebook and stream Google Ads for the first time. I'd love to show you why we're different, what we're doing for clients. And we can do that via a one and a half hour planning session where I'll outline a specific marketing plan and I'll give you all of the blueprints that we would implement if we were to do business together. Now you can take that, use that on your own, hire someone else to help you execute it, or work with us. We really don't hold anything back on that strategy call. And I think you'll have a lot of confidence in how you manage your marketing investment moving forward, understanding some of the nuances that can help you implement more effective marketing strategies for your business. So if you want to do that, you can go to medspamagicmarketing.com so I don't remember what the Groupon payout is right now. I don't know if it's 50%, but initial visit revenue, you're going to lose money, most likely. At the very least, you're barely breaking even. But most likely you're losing money on these initial visits for the group on offer, which again, one of the quotes that I use on our podcast and in our YouTube series all the time is from a book called the Advertising Effect. And it's action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action. I strongly believe that the best way to shape the perception of a user or a client is through experience. We can shape perception through experience. And getting those at bats and butts in the seats is really, really important. The problem is the means at which we achieve the new patient acquisition can really impact that retention rate. So the good part about running these Groupon style offers, for example, on Facebook and Instagram as ads is that people weren't actively searching for the service like they were on Google, but they're also not actively searching for the discount. We Just happen to present them with an attractive offer. As a result, patient quality tends to be better. But on Facebook and Instagram, you're paying maybe 100, $150 on average to acquire a customer. So a lot of factors at play here. I think if I had to provide guidance and advice in 2025, I'd be wary of Groupon. If you want to try it, make sure that you're measuring results so that the patient retention rate is happening at a satisfactory level and figure out what that level is. Don't have too high of ambitions with patient retention from Groupon. If you can run Groupon offers that, let's say you're losing, I don't know, $50 to $100 per, per session on these initial visits. If somebody's just purchasing the. The discount price, then you maybe need, I don't know, only 20%, 25% of these people to be retained to make this a profitable strategy. So if you contract that, Groupon still might have a place, but understand it has to fit within the objectives and the goals of your practice. So if you've got a pretty busy schedule and you don't want to be seeing a bunch of Groupon clients throughout the week, then that's probably going to be an issue. As a newer practice, or if you have a new provider, maybe you run these specifically to a new provider to help build their client database because it is relatively low risk. But long story short, I wouldn't rely a ton on Groupon in 2025. I think you have other issues here too, with pricing from a Groupon. People are actually purchasing this through Groupon, so they're paying upfront for the unit price. And there's a little bit more of a disconnect now. If you're going to tell them they need 40 or 50 units and they purchase the Groupon for 20, you have the potential for more of a disconnect and more issues with patient satisfaction. When you run these ads and offers through Google, Facebook and Instagram, they're not paying until after the visit, so they're not going to get a bill until they know the actual unit amount they're purchasing. So you tend to be able to smooth that conversation over a little bit easier. Only other consideration to keep in mind are reviews. So you can see people leave reviews on Groupon directly, but you do risk. Anytime you run these types of offers and promotions through a site like this, hypercritical patients that aren't going to be retained, you do at least incrementally increase your risk. For bad reviews. So that's kind of my analysis. My synopsis on Groupon's Groupon for med spas in 2025 if you have any advice, experience or insights related to your med spa and the experience you've had running ads and promotions on Groupon, please share those in the comments below. Let us know if you have any feedback. Thanks and we'll see you on the next.