LEAKED: Here's Groupon's Secret Copywriting Guide

Andrew Mason, Groupon
Dan Frommer, Business Insider

We just found a Google Doc that seems to be an internal (but public) Groupon document that sets outs its "strategies" for achieving the "Groupon voice." That document is their secret sauce, if you will.

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A big part of Groupon's success is its editorial voice. In a market where there are so few barriers to entry, it's important for customers to trust and love Groupon's brand, and a big way they do that is thanks to the quirky humor of their copy on the deals.

We originally found it on Hacker News and can't vouch for its authenticity, although we do hear it's authentic (and we think it would be pretty weird for someone to make something like this up). We're trying to dig up more info.

Since we assume the document might be taken offline soon, we're reproducing it here.

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Here's the front page

groupon secret sauce

Strategies to achieve Groupon Voice

groupon secret sauce
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Strategies to achieve Groupon Voice, Part Deux

groupon secret sauce

Traditional marketing clichés and crutches to avoid

groupon secret sauce
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Traditional marketing clichés and crutches to avoid (Part Deux)

groupon secret sauce

Groupon Thesaurus (in progress!)

groupon secret sauce
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Groupon Thesaurus (in progress!), Part Deux

groupon secret sauce

Offensive Taboos (Good idea not to offend people)

groupon secret sauce
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Humor Taboos

groupon secret sauce

Humor Taboos, Part Deux

groupon secret sauce
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Narrative Point of View

groupon secret sauce

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