Letsbuyit.com Partners with Dominos.co.uk for Viral Marketing Success

CHALLENGE
letsbuyit.com is keen to promote itself as an online community, not least because of the nature of its service (the more people that buy, the lower the price – they call it ‘co-buying’). So – how does letsbuyit.com, currently boasting over 850,000 registered users, drive traffic and encourage new sign ups? It’s not rocket science really – offer stuff at stupid prices, and let existing members do the rest.

CAMPAIGN
A few days ago, letsbuyit.com teamed up with Domino’s Pizza to offer users the chance to purchase two 9.5” pizzas for just £2 (including free delivery). In exchange for their two quid, users would be sent a voucher redeemable at all branches of Domino’s until the end of November. Details of the offer were to be published in the members’ newsletter, and Gnash Communications were due to publicise it in the consumer press. However...

RESULTS
Within 48 hours of the deal becoming available at the site, and before any promotion of the offer had taken place, 8,000 pizzas had been snapped up. How come? Well, letsbuyit.com include a crucial little option next to everything for sale at the site – ‘Tip a friend’. It gives existing users a highly convenient way to let all their friends know about any special deals. And, of course, those friends who receive an email direct from the site can forward it to all THEIR friends... that’s viral marketing in action, chaps and chapesses.

NOTES: letsbuyit.com ran a similar offer a few weeks ago in conjunction with Odeon and ABC Cinemas – two cinema tickets for £2. You guessed it – the results were equally impressive: 18,000 tickets sold in a fortnight. Again, each person wanting to take advantage of the offer had to register as a member. Great – but (we wondered) do people come back for things that cost more than a couple of quid?

‘The response to these offers has been nothing short of amazing,’ says Peter Jaco, Managing Director UK. ‘The great news is that people aren’t just going for pizzas. Many customers are returning for other products like hi-fis and homewares. It seems they liked what they saw. It’s been a great way of introducing UK consumers to the co- shopping concept.’

COST: Pin money (with the right partnership.)

[Ed. Note: if cheap pizza works this well, can you imagine the metrics if you offered free beer?]