I am in the process of planning the events for this year, and wanted to know what the community would like to see.
Would you prefer more smaller events, or less but larger events?
Vote in the poll below.
This is in no way binding, just gathering opinions and feedback.
Also, if you have any promotional or competition ideas, feel free to pm them through to me, and will see what I can do.
OK, so from a monetary perspective, small would be under $100 total prizes, large would be above that.
Example of small:
A monthly raffle where users gain entries based on the number and popularity of the deals posted, separate from the top weekly deals, with a single $50 prize.
Large:
An Easter event where the entrant has to dress up as a bunny and pose at a famous landmark. The most impressive would receive $250, second $100, 3rd $50. Voting would be done within the mod team.
Those are just what I could come up with top of my head.
Does that make sense?
Question could also be, would you rather larger events during holidays (Easter, Christmas, etc.) or smaller holiday events, plus more monthly events.
Yes, much clearer, thank you. In the light of that, definitely vote small. Allergic to Easter Bunny costumes.
Haha sweet, fair call.
That makes more sense. Definitely small. Much easier to participate :)
as long as they are not voting related I don't mind if they are smaller/larger.
May not be the right place, but think it also comes down to the 'why' of having events.
To reward behaviour beneficial to the visibility of the site;
To encourage greater participation of newer members,
To reward participation in keeping the site active eg. commenting, spotting errors/updates etc.,
To reward localisation of deal spotting,
To make the competitions sufficiently rewarding as to attract involvement, purely for the sake of the comp itself,
To encourage store reps to create special offers for site members,
To create a sense of fun, sociability for members.
Probably many more possibilities to add here …….
There are different kinds of participation.
Many of the regulars (and winners) are those who (legitimately) scalp deals from other sites, Ozbargins etc. This is in one sense, easy pickings as the deal is already posted. But it is a valuable contribution nonetheless as it saves having to visit other sites. It does take considerable work and commitment to repost these deals so deserving of kudos.
Other regulars have efficient systems in place to review multiple sites, regular coy emails, media etc finding the less obvious deals/competitions, direct from individual sites. Neil seems to do a great job at this.
Other users may find those one off deals, or specific store specials which may have otherwise slipped under the radar of the usual 'surveillance' systems. These postings are often of great local value.
Others keep content moving with comments, reviews etc. (Actually we don't seem to have a great deal of reviews, could be an area of development)
Others may add to the (mostly underutilized) help pages and other onsite maintenance.
Some regulars tend to always put up certain deals (eg pizza) so we avoid posting similar as it is their 'territory'
All of these 'roles' contribute to the freshness and relevance of the site. All deserving of acknowledgement.
The voting system is a little, ummm, not sure what word to use….. Sometimes it does reflect the value of the deal itself. Other times, it may reflect issues other than the deal itself, which create interest. (eg DSE). Other times though, you can see a high click through rate to the deal page, yet very few votes raised. Or visa versa. So not sure exactly what the vote system is indicating. Seems to vary quite a lot.
Anyway, just a few thoughts
I think more people winning smaller amounts is nicer than a few winning larger.
Also great stuff with what jay said there.
Regards to voting maybe split into +1 Nice Find | +1 Purchased/Got It
it's be nice to see how many buy or get the deals.
Thanks Huntakillaz. Yes, I tend to only vote on a deal if I actually use it. But others may vote differently. Would be interesting to have some way of collating 'I saved $$X this month/year', thanks to CCs. Creates Bragging Rights for the site. On that kind of data, possibly even be happy to pay an annual membership or the like.
Another embellishment is the best and most skillful combination of separate offers to get maximum value. This can get quite creative at times.
Will discuss aany suggestions at our next meeting, keep them coming.
Like the 125 toothbrushes for $50 using 3 different codes?
Or most audacious?! Like 100kg (10x 10kg) of coal from the UK with $10,000 free freight !!
@Jay:
Maybe we could do a Cheapies Awards Night, half yearly or something. Could come up with some categories and a panel of judges.
Be nice to be able to recognise and acknowledge the suppliers as well.
A. Special deals etc created for CC
B. Quality customer service and after market care, as experienced by members.
We often discuss these and be good to be able to feedback to the better suppliers, acknowledging their valued support. eg can't say any bad about PB Tech atm, especially put up side by side with some of the other suppliers.
One requirement for that though would be having a rep account and being active, so that counds out a few decent stores. Could be a gway to encourage them to join and participate.
Perhaps helpful if you can quantify the alternatives? Don't really understand the difference between 'smaller', 'larger' events, other than the obvious qualitative difference.