Welcome to our new series - Wouldn’t It Be Great If? - where we take a close look at an email and turn it into an… ActiveMail.
 
 
 
Let’s start with an email many of us receive often – from Groupon, king of the daily deals.

What we know about Groupon:

• It’s a great way to entice local audiences to try something new for a discount.
• It thrives on alerting us about those daily deals by email.
• The current Groupon email experience is lacking; when you see the message, you can’t know if the highlighted deal is still available, how much time is left, or view deeper details related to the product or service without continuing in the browser. In addition, how often are the displayed deals actually relevant?

And now for the question:

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get a live, fully interactive Groupon experience in the moment that you’ve opened the email, spot the deal you love and actually buy it, without leaving your inbox? 

Here’s what we propose: Several simple but key features which, with a bit of standard web code for Groupon, and ActiveMail installed for its recipients, can activate the rejuvenated Groupon email experience.

1. Real-time view: Ever check a Groupon email hours later, click the deal, and find it’s been sold out? Groupon could include the actual countdown clock, ticking live right inside the email, along with how many other folks purchased so far.

2. The grand tour:  Readers become tourists as a Groupon email turns into a website-esque experience, offering rotating images of the featured deals of the day from different categories, as well as navigation that goes beyond the initial content display. Want to scan more than the deals highlighted? Choose from other categories inside the email.

3. Product preview: Sometimes a video is worth a thousand pictures. Vendors can show off their offering with videos, playable within the email body.

4. Simpler sharing: Make a group coupon experience even more social, with the ability to share the deal within the email, instead of hitting forward/choosing addresses/clicking send – or even clicking ‘Like’ and being taken to a new browser tab. With one click inside the email, share to any social channel included and return to scanning deals.

5. Personal touch: It is your email, right? Groupon’s latest feature, the “Getting Personal” button, would allow you to ‘love’ your favorite categories from directly inside your inbox.

6. One-stop shop: No need to click through to the website or save for later and lose the deal; just make the purchase on the spot, from inside your inbox…  and tell your girlfriend you’ve got plans tonight.

What else would you want to be able to do from inside a daily offering email?