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Computer Times Buckaroo is a cloud-based tool that lets small businesses run their own promotions, aiming to do for marketing what Salesforce.com did for CRM. Before, you had to use companies like LivingSocial and Groupon to bring in new customer, now you can do it yourself. Buckaroo has launched its long-awaited promotional tool, providing small businesses with an alternative to daily deal sites that won’t take half their revenue. The tool is differentiated from the competition by acting as a mechanism to grow the business’s own e-mail list instead of a glorified list rental service.
A transaction completed through a Buckaroo-generated promotion takes place as plainly as it normally would; customers bring in the printed coupon and pay the merchant. Additionally, there are no restrictions to the terms of the deal. An offer can be ‘Buy One Get One’, ‘Kids Eat Free on Sunday’ or ‘10% off Your Next Purchase’. You are not limited to a minimum of 50% off, as is typical with daily deal sites.
I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have an e-mail list for my business, so Buckaroo does me no good.” You would be incorrect on both accounts – you may not have a formal list, but networking happens every day and everyone you know is a potential lead. They may not all be interested in your offering, but they might know someone who is interested. Start with family, friends, associates and acquaintances. Buckaroo can grow your seed list faster than you think. A user can easily slice their e-mail list into different segments to test coupon text, coupon terms, or the offer itself. This makes the product not only an e-mail management system and a coupon tracking device, but also a promotional testing tool. Learn what kind of promotion works best with your specific audience and then continue to test within that framework. As you can see, the possibilities of the tool are endless. Buckaroo users can run three different types of marketing promotions including: Quick Coupon, Group Coupon, and Tell-a-Friend. A Quick Coupon is just as it sounds - a coupon that can be quickly sent out to a mailing list. Each coupon has a code unique to the specific customer, preventing fraud. Group Coupon works much as Groupon did before it became a daily deal site. A minimum number of people need to sign up for a deal to make it active. With group coupon, customers must get a group to sign up for your offer. If the minimum group size is achieved, everyone who signed up gets a coupon. Buckaroo users can set the maximum number of coupons issued to avoid a deal spiraling out of control through social media. The final promotion type, Tell-a-Friend, is the most sophisticated and has the greatest potential for the small business. The user sends out an invitation asking each person on their list to refer a certain number of friends. If the subscriber is successful, they get a special deal for doing so. The new subscriber also gets a deal as a ‘thank you’ for signing up. All new sign-ups are then automatically added to the list for their next promotion. The businesses that use Groupon usually do so because they don’t have their own list and get the opportunity to ‘get in front of a lot of potential new customers at once’. The problem therein is that they can’t target based on interest. Many Groupon subscribers have no interest in day spas, yet they continue to see them day after day. Alternatively, Buckaroo allows your current e-mail list to target new prospects for you. If I’m on the list to get deals from a pizza place, I may know a number of people who would also be interested. We are announcing this new service after participating in an electronic meeting that introduced us to several of Buckaroo's features. At a later date, we hope to do a full review and test of Buckaroo for a potential Computer Times Editors' Choice award. Buckaroo is open for public use during a beta period. When this three to four month period is over, the tool will operate on a subscription basis, likely priced at around $50 per month, regardless of how many promotions are sent. To sign up or to learn more, visit: www.buckaroo.com For Further Information Please Contact:
Brendon Ritz
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