Billed by Facebook as “a great way to drive new people to your business and engage customers”, a trial of the new Offers feature by Huon Bush Retreats has proved just how powerful the tool can be. The test elicited a strong response and also highlighted glitches in the beta that Facebook is now working on.

The offer

Tasmanian getaway company Huon Bush Retreats were granted access to trial the new feature and created their first deal offering users 3 nights in a studio cabin at $99 per night. The Offer was distributed via the brand’s Facebook page, as well as the Newsfeeds of users who had ‘liked’ the brand. Users who chose to get the Offer were also given the option to post this action on their Timeline, where it would also show up in their friends’ Newsfeeds.

Too popular

The company has experienced a staggering response; with over 127,800 people clicking “Get Offer” to acquire the coupon email, also received 96 likes, 143 shares and hundreds of comments. Through Facebook’s distribution channel the Offer reached 3,694,411 users and data indicates that 100,000 users are talking about the brand. However, not all of the online conversation is positive.

Backlash

Huon Bush Retreat owners Paul Dimmick and Michael Higgins have been swamped with emails, phone calls and Facebook messages from users accusing them of spamming their pages and posting their emails on Facebook. Many of the users did not read the terms and conditions of the Offers feature before claiming it, and were unaware that they had incidentally created a post on their Timeline stating that they had ‘claimed’ the Offer and passed it on to friends. Although the Timeline post included the recipient’s email, this part was only visible to the account holder. Owner Paul Dimmick has released a response on their Facebook page apologising to users for the confusion and explaining how Offers work.

In part, the apology reads:

“Huon Bush Retreats has been caught in the fall out of this Facebook trial. We have received lots of favorable comments, lots of Likes and website views and lots of actual purchases. We have also received a few complaints. We apologise to anyone who finds our offer to be offensive. However there is nothing that we can do to change this. Only Facebook has control of how Offers are distributed.”

Outcomes

The trial has identified a number of glitches in the Facebook Offers tool that need to be worked on, including misleading terminology and a lack of user education on how the feature works. Despite the backlash, Mr Dimmick said the promotion had been a huge success. “About 10 per cent of calls have been really abusive, another 10 per cent have been seriously concerned and about 70 per cent want to book and tell their friends,” he said. Mr Dimmick has contacted Facebook, who acknowledged that there have been some problems with the tool, which they are working to fix.

Want to know more about Facebook Offers? We delved into the details not too long ago.