A new ad product called “Local Deals” is being launched by Nextdoor. This is the first broad-based self-service offering for small businesses (SMBs) on the site.
To set up a Local Deal, SMBs have to create a free Business Page. After that, they are guided through the simple ad-creation process in a wizard. Users will choose a radius from a business location using a slider and adjust to reach or opt-out of specific neighborhoods. They pick an expiration time frame (such as 14 days), create a redemption code, upload images from their phones/computers or provided stock images, enter payment credentials and then publish.
Right now, pricing is fixed (which is impression-based) and depends on the number of neighborhood targeted and the populations density of those areas. According to Nextdoor’s Head of Product, Tatyana Mamut, there isn’t any bidding, and competition won’t impact pricing.
Local Deals will show up in several places on Nextdoor – in residents’ feeds, on Business Pages, in the Business section and in search results. There is a Local Deals space on the site that displays all deals in a consumer’s area.
There are two buttons for consumers to engage with: save and redeem. Redemption can be used either online or in-store. Nextdoor is tracking and reporting these actions by consumers. Right now, it isn’t tracking offline store visits, although it’s possible in the future.
Mamut said that Local Deals was created to respond to a common request from local business owners, “The ability to communicate directly with their neighbors.”
According to Nextdoor’s data, there are 40 million neighbor recommendations on the site and “76% of members [have] been influenced by a neighbor’s suggestion on Nextdoor.” Asking for and recommending local businesses and service providers is pretty common on Nextdoor.