As useful as I find my Smartphone, one thing I’ve been aware of ever since I drank the Verizon Droid Kool-Aid is that I need to pay attention to how it works (that is, what Apps I have installed and what they do) in order to get the most out of it. Which is too much work, even if you’re a geek and stay on top of this stuff naturally.
Yelp has just introduced a “Daily Deals” component to their Android App. And if you think about it, Yelp’s the kind of company that ought to be doing Daily Deals, aren’t they? Yelp has relationships in place with thousands of restaurants, just waiting to have you show up for lunch. It’s Daily Deal heaven!
I’m not going to get snarky about that pesky little “Yelp in the Extortion Business” issue. I’m not going to pick on the quality and reliability of Yelp’s reviews. This discussion is strictly about business change, and Yelp, in adding Daily Deals to their App, has made one that makes sense. Now, when you’re out and looking for a snack, a meal, or a drink, you just have to whip out your SmartPhone, fire up the Yelp App, push the “deals” button, and … oh wait; too many steps.
This isn’t Yelp’s fault. I’m sure Yelp could make their app start up automatically, feed you deals in a pop-up windows as you got near them, or something similar to automate the process of finding their Deals. But as we saw with Starbucks’ Android App, that “run in the background” thing isn’t a great idea. Nevertheless, there are too many caveats. Daily Deals may be a huge business, but until they’re easier to use they’re just not worth the effort.
Assume, though, that the technical issues get resolved. Your Daily Deals get delivered to you in a way that makes sense, at the right time and place, without draining your Smartphone battery or being too intrusive. And really, that isn’t all that difficult; a button on your home screen that with one press brings up “what’s near me now?” information is all this would take.
Daily Deals become truly useful to you. Now all you need to do is decide who you trust! Groupon? Yelp? Google?
Watch this business change unfold. And decide carefully who you want to get into that metaphorical Daily Deals Bed with. Need Help? Contact Me, Here.
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