Another measure of success – people became addicted to Groupon and its brethren and were enamored with the deals, purchase them but failing to redeem the offer.  According to a recent article, about 20 percent of purchased coupons go unused. 

One man’s addiction is another man’s business opportunity.  Websites such as Lifesta and DealsGoRound connects people who have purchased coupons they won’t use with someone willing to buy the coupon.  Lifesta charges 99 cents per transaction plus an 8 percent commission for this service.

So, what connection does this have with dentistry?  Occasionally I would receive a dental Groupon offering a half-off deal for teeth cleaning, exams, whitening and various other services.  I thought this was an interesting use of the Groupon phenomena and was likely to bring in new patients. 

Could we create a mechanism that would allow a dentist to easily identify open appointment slots as “Groupon Deal Worth” and have these automatically issued through one of these discounting services?

I floated this idea in an article in our weekly newsletter.  An informed client said that I might want to run this by the Oregon Board of Dentistry.  According to the board, they had determined that “these (Groupon deals) would violate the unprofessional conduct rule – offering rebates, split fees or commissions for services”. 

One person’s right click is another person’s unprofessional conduct.

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