It’s not an easy time to be a marketer. Consumers are more fickle and less brand loyal than in recorded consumer behavior history. It was recently reported that sales of low-fat Greek yogurt fell over 20% in a two month period of time as consumers suddenly worried less about calories and more about protein. Consumer “winners” and “losers” change in the bat of an eye.
The QSR, beverage, beer, natural foods, telecommunications, and fashion industries have all fallen victim to whiplash-generating changes in consumer purchase behavior, sometimes within a matter of months.
The billion dollar question is how do you thrive in this environment and regain the loyalty of previous customers and “non-considerers” without hurting your image among loyalists? Here are 4 helpful steps we uncovered:
1. Understand Consumer Behavior. It is imperative that you understand the purchasing differences between those who are still loyal to your product and compare them to those who have moved on. To evaluate these differences, don’t just ask them about their purchase behaviors and drivers – watch them. Did their purchasing habits changed across many different categories, or just yours? Was price a prime driver in their decisions? What about healthier food choices? Are they purchasing products that follow a dietary restriction such as gluten free? Do they appear to be stepping up their purchases of brand name products? These real-world experiences provide the critical answers to the tough questions marketers are facing in boardrooms across the country.
2. Be relevant. It is critical to test new introductions; and sometimes without the family name. At PTG, we’ve found that maintaining a family name can occasionally prevent true consideration of an item that consumers may indeed want to try but are hesitant to do so because of a halo effect. For instance, J&J had to introduce their now successful Aveeno line of skin products as a standalone brand because J&J was viewed as a company that made products “for babies”.
3. Speak their language. Be sure to study and approach non-considerers differently than your loyalists. For example, non-considerers may have different reactions to the same TV spot, digital ad, in-store display, package or claim. You may even need to target them differently, with a unique brand in order to bring them back to the fold. However, if this segment didn’t leave you due to taste or quality, but, rather, they moved on seeking something special, then you have a good opportunity to get them back.
4. Give them what they want and what they always had. Offer them what they’re seeking while making it sound that it is a natural feature of your (new) brand. If you are now additive-free, say “we always believe in nature.” If it is a new beer flavor say “always providing surprises for those looking for unique tastes.” If you reduced sugar in your product tout the healthful benefits rather than admit you had high sugar content to begin with.
Use technology that enables you to follow and study the shopping and usage habits of your target audiences. Target your media strategy to reach this lapsed audience even if it means a separate campaign from your loyalists. Keep pressing and, lo and behold, they will be yours once again.
Let’s discuss how you’re winning back your customers and how PTG can help. I can be reached at 201.569.4800 or dan.morris@pretesting.com.
While the “pundits” projected this Cyber Monday to be the best ever, let’s face reality. Retailers are still falling short in maximizing the experience for shoppers to create even bigger results. Here are three ideas to help you maximize results.
1. HD presentation of your product. The one thing buyers have a hard time adjusting to online retailers is their need to touch and feel the product. The more angles and 3D views you can give your customers on the product, the more they will feel they are seeing everything they would if they were picking up the product and examining it. Let the individual package be the hero. After price, it’s the second biggest driver of purchase.
2. Engage them and don’t worry about the competition. Online favors the little guys because shelf placement and SKU numbers are irrelevant. Everyone is on a level playing field, allowing the little guys to appear big. The product beauty shot is more important than ever because the major brand players can’t rely upon the on-shelf billboard effect or the supporting POS to give them a leg up.
3. Time is money. Your money. Capitalize on the sense of urgency, especially with mobile. The faster the digital shopper gets the information they want, the faster they’ll make a decision. Personally engage your consumers. The size of the visual, its 3D placement, and copy readability can significantly impact consumer purchase decisions.
The ultimate measure of success online is pretty clear: get consumers to add your product to their cart. While this task seems straightforward, it’s not so easy to feature your products – visually and descriptively – to yield higher closure rates. At PTG, We See What You Don’t by passively capturing shopping behaviors.
Email me at dan.morris@pretesting.com to discuss your e-commerce challenges.
Without discussing politics, we all agree that the pundits got it all wrong. Ask yourself this – are you sure you are engaging and connecting with your target audience? The reason why POLITICIANS and BRANDS aren’t connecting with their audience is because they think they’re listening to their consumers, but they’re not!
“I’m giving consumers better quality, value and performance, but they’re not buying my product, or even taking a moment to listen to what I’m telling them?” If you’re a marketer and this sounds familiar, ask yourself this – Are you looking at the product and advertising through your consumers’ eyes, as opposed to your own? Are you telling them what you think they want to hear, but not what they are really looking for?
It’s fair to say that marketers know their product inside and out. They are intimately aware of the unique advantages of their offering as well as its competitive differentiators. Product marketers are the first to read the fine print of their carefully crafted ad, watch their TV demo, click on their banner ad, view their pre-roll to completion, recall their refreshed logo, and note their endcap message. Moreover, in a supermarket, marketers will go out of their way to find their product on-shelf among their competition and bend down to purchase the item. Can the same be said about their desired consumers?
Not even close.
Realistically speaking, 60% of shoppers won’t bend down to seek and/or buy a product, 92% will pass on viewing a pre-roll ad, and 55% will ignore an endcap display. What’s more, consumer research programs that administer surveys and/or evaluate forced exposure to ads and packaging won’t help because they don’t reveal the truth about what’s working versus not working. In order to truly connect a product to its target, marketers need to watch TV, surf the Internet, read, and shop through the eyes of their consumer since it’s their experience that matters most. Consumers are the ones who are making the decisions and, as difficult as it may be, marketers need to take themselves out of the equation.
At PTG, we see what you don’t! We have the research technology and proprietary approaches that offer a “real world” one–way mirror that captures the all-important human element as consumers experience your brand.
To learn more about how our real-world research methodologies are benefiting today’s biggest brands, please reach me at dan.morris@pretesting.com.
Best wishes to you and yours for a Happy Thanksgiving!
I just participated in a follow-up interview with Bob Lederer, host of the Research Business Daily Report, and I wanted to share our conversation about PTG’s truVu audio and video recording eyeglasses.
As discussed in the segment, truVu’s patented technology allows researchers to finally be inside a consumer’s laundry room, join in on a shopping trip, and tag along during a restaurant visit.
Today’s interview can also be found on RealTimes cloud.
I’m excited to discuss how truVu can take your research to new places. I can be reached at 201.569.4800 or dan.morris@pretesting.com.
PTG’s patented Saccadic Eye Motion Recording system objectively measures cognitive response to marketing stimuli in real-world environments by uniquely capturing the eye’s tiny vibrations that are essential to determining consumer engagement and interest.
Unlike other nonconscious approaches available in the marketplace, PTG’s proven end-to-end research solution is fully supported by norms and passively conducted without respondents being influenced by intrusive biometric equipment.
We See What You Don’t!
The interview can also be found on RealTimes cloud.
Want to learn more about how PTG’s Saccadic advantage can be applied to your brand communications and in-store research programs? Let’s talk. 201.569.4800 or dan.morris@pretesting.com.
Today’s marketers are navigating a wide range of complex digital media channels. However, for all of the technological advancements behind digital advertising, the real world success metrics remain the same as measuring more traditional media such as TV and print. In order for a campaign to be successful, it needs to clear the following three hurdles.
Hurdle #1 is opportunity. Will consumers look at the screen to see my message? Hurdle #2 is involvement. How much time was spent on my video? Did consumers attempt to immediately click out of my pre-roll? At what point were consumers hooked by my ad? Where did they drop? Finally, hurdle #3 is focus/engagement. Where were consumers specifically drawn to my communication? Was it copy? Was it imagery? Was it a spokesperson? Did they take action i.e. download a coupon or put my product in a shopping cart?
PTG’s real world approach to measuring digital media captures critical nuances that are completely unique to digital and sidesteps traditional forced exposure metrics and irrelevant clutter breakthrough that are common to tv copy testing. For example, pre-roll videos have a max of 5 seconds to engage the viewer before the ad is skipped. How can you ensure success? Engagement! If the viewer isn’t immediately drawn in by the creative the content is doomed.
At PTG, we take a two pronged approach to understanding engagement. First, we unobtrusively measure Saccadic Eye Movement which is an objective level of actual consumer engagement and the foundation of our copy testing and brand communications solutions. Second, we measure line by line copy readership to better understand where consumers may be losing interest. Only PTG measures second-by-second visual engagement with the stimuli as well as element-by-element eye tracking in a completely natural viewing environment.
We welcome an opportunity to provide you with more information about our philosophy on testing digital creative. Drop a line to marketing@pretesting.com and we will gladly share an example of our truWeb approach, patented technology and analyses.
Dan Morris
As the President of PTG, Dan is responsible for building lasting client relationships and leading the development and implementation of the company’s research offerings.