Daily Design Fix

We have been spending a lot of time lately reviewing daily deal site designs. We have had a lot of requests for custom deal branding for our daily deal software, Deal Current, and we wanted to share tips, sites for critique, and sites we have designed.

Groupon is one of the hottest internet companies on the web today and this is due to the fact they are a steward to their brand. We feel the foundation of a great company is brand design. The way you communicate each element of your brand through design determines the initial impression and lasting memory you leave with a customer.

Here are some tips:

1. The brand initially starts with the name. Try not to use “Deal of the Day” or “Daily Deal”. Deal in the title is OK, but keep it short and simple.
2. Try to have a mascot or at least an icon that people can associate your brand with.
3. Keep the design simple. You don’t want to distract from the purpose of selling the deal.
4. Make sure the deal title, main image, and buy button are the 3 most prominent focal points.

Here are some sites we found that we weren’t too fond of:

The next two are from the site Media Web Connect. They have created their software on a template system and the design customization capabilities are minimal. Also its hard to see the buy button on the sites and there doesn’t seem to be any guidance with design standards and color choice.

The following two are from the site Tippr. Tippr runs their own daily deal site and is licensing their platform out to 3rd parties. We like their site, but their 3rd party sites seem to be the same template and brand. Usability is clear, but the design is pretty plain.

Here are some sites our clients designed on our platform that we love:

IDineDeals.com is from the Rewards Network. They implemented a very clean design with a clear focus on the offer each day.

Another one of our clients Morgan’s Deals implemented their brand with a great sense of style leaning towards the female demographic.

The design is clean and the messaging is clear. These are the key elements to a good e-commerce and daily deal site.

Another one of our favorites is by DiscoverSD here in San Diego. They call their program the Hookup and have an excellent sense of brand. Their program is a weekly deal and each week they feature the coming weeks deal upfront. This builds the momentum and ensures a strong day of sales each week.