I remember when I subscribed to – and purchased – my first Groupon.  They happened simultaneously when a local tapas restaurant that I’d been dying to try ever since I moved to Omaha offered me 50% off sangria and snack-sized tastes of Spain. The promise of a new dining experience and an inbox regularly filled with great deals seemed almost too good to be true.

There was  anticipation back then – a little high I’d get every morning, checking my email to see what retail treasures awaited me.

Then came LivingSocial. And now there’s Valpak, and two other local daily deals that arrive as scheduled when I check my phone as I walk out the door.

My inbox on a typical weekday morning . . . somehow the deals don't seem as exclusive as they used to.

I realized yesterday morning that the spark isn’t there anymore. Was it because I was on my way to a funeral (I didn’t think so) or have the daily deals begun to lose their charm?

I was curious, so I started to do a little research. Everything I read online seemed to discount my feelings. Groupon and Living Social both continue to see growth in their subscriber lists. But there’s no information that really divulges what’s happening with their open and click-through rates, or the rate that people are unsubscribing. So I asked around the office. The results were a mixed bag.

There were a couple of people who have unsubscribed from their deals altogether, some that still get pretty excited about them, and quite a few subscribers who have never actually made a purchase. One thing was pretty clear though – success lies in the subject line. We no longer open the email to get all the details.  If the subject doesn’t sell, the deal is done.

I’ve noticed a change in Groupon’s subject lines. Some days they promote deals from two different vendors. One those days they no longer divulge the savings of the deal, but simply tell you who’s offering it. Is the mystery of the savings enough to get us to open the email even if we’re not that interested in the retailer? I don’t think so.  But the difference in format does make them stand out among the offers from the other deal sites – good or bad.

I’ve purchased a handful of deals along the way, and it always feels good to save money on something I’d buy anyway. But the offers I’m really interested in seem fewer and farther in-between these days.

If we’ve reduced our daily deal interaction to subject lines, and the number of offers we receive continues to increase, how will the different providers make their offer more tempting? And if they can’t, how long will the lure of the deal sustain us?

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