Daily marketing deals for the restaurant and food industry often get mixed reviews.

Daily deals remain a very popular form of marketing for our members, and these are some important steps restaurateurs can take to help ensure a greater return on their investment.

For some restaurants, offering discounted meals may bring in more foot traffic and repeat customers, while others take a huge cut in revenue if coupon users fail to spend more than the minimum advertised amounts or don’t turn into loyal, repeat customers.

New data is shedding light on what it may take to reap success from this kind of marketing, and the National Restaurant Association, along with national daily deal marketer Groupon, is capitalizing on the information to provide restaurateurs with a set of best practices for daily deal success.

“Daily deals remain a very popular form of marketing for our members, and these are some important steps restaurateurs can take to help ensure a greater return on their investment,” Julia Kanouse, NRA’s vice president, strategic marketing, said in a statement.

According to a survey of 500 restaurant decision makers by Ipsos MediaCT, restaurateurs with successful daily deal experiences are most likely experimental marketers who use a variety of platforms and methods to engage with customers.

They are more likely to connect with customers via social media and email, monitor online review sites, and promote their business through traditional print ads than those who don’t use daily deals.

Taking these demographics into consideration, the NRA and Groupon offered the following best practices for the successful use of daily deals:

• Prepare staff to focus on customer service, look for upsell opportunities, and track offer redemption.
• Schedule daily deal timing based on business needs and seasonality.
• Estimate and understand the promotion’s impact on profitability.
• Measure success by using free tools provided by the daily deal company.
• Encourage repeat visitors with a customer loyalty program.

According to the survey, 72 percent of restaurateurs defined daily deal success as an increase in the number of new customers, 67 percent defined it as increased exposure, and 60 percent defined it as the number of deals sold.

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