Digital CPG Blog

For some companies, an online coupon is social enough. Huggies recently took it one step further, however, with an innovative offer: “Instead of just the traditional online coupon to drive more diapers off the shelf, Huggies is offering parents a 2-for-1 choice.  More precisely – that is a choice between a $3.00 or $1.50 incentive.  The “catch” is simple and pleasant – just tell 3 friends about the Huggies deal.  They also offer customers the choice of how to spread the news to other fellow parents:  via social networking sites like Facebook, via instant messaging or via a good old-fashioned email,” reports Colloquy.

Their research shows that child care is the most important category for advice and referrals from friends and family, which makes the Huggies promotion all the more critical and smart.

The offer is clear, engaging and compelling – word of mouth at it’s best.

“A recent Grocery Manufacturers Association study found that 62% of shoppers search for deals digitally before at least half of their shopping trips. While traditional media still plays an important role in shaping purchase decisions, marketers need to add proactive social marketing programs to their promotional strategies,” argues a new report from BzzAgent.

The study shows that social marketing most definitely affects loyalty, with one case study reporting a 37% increase in program membership, a 55% increase in loyalty transactions and a 75% growth in dollars spent per cardholder.

Those are some pretty impressive reasons to integrate your social strategy with your loyalty marketing. You can learn more and download the full report here.

“AOL and media and marketing services company Valassis have partnered to create a digital coupon service that will enable more than 7,500 grocery stores to distribute deals through the two companies’ online and mobile networks,” reports DM News.

Consumers will be able to download coupons to their loyalty and grocery cards and then browse, select and save at specific participating retailers.

“This partnership is all about distribution and finding eyeballs to reach a mass audience,” said John Lieblang, president of Livonia, MI-based Valassis Digital Media. “If we add up our networks, it allows us to touch 127 million active, frequent shoppers…and in turn it saves time for the consumer.”

When digital coupons become so easy for the consumer, I think the next wave we’ll see from companies are more creative and meaningful loyalty programs. After all, a discount can only go so low.

Over in the UK, brands are having a heck of a time keeping their customers brand loyal. Is this a sign of things to come for the U.S.?

“There was a time when your local travel agent on the high street had the luxury of strong brand loyalty from its customers,” reports E-Consultancy. “On the web, the same company will have to fight a lot harder.”

“The results show that when it comes to booking holidays online, British consumers have little or no loyalty to travel operators. Is this diminishing brand loyalty just a natural result of a more open web or is it because brands are less adept at building relationships with web savvy visitors?”

No doubt that the web is certainly making it difficult for customers to stick to a particular brand. When you shop for travel tickets, the main concern is price and it rarely matters what airline you choose anymore. But while brands will find difficulty, it’s not impossible to hold onto loyalty.

“It might be harder, but it is still possible to build online brand loyalty. There are brands out there that are getting it right and have incredibly loyal customers who, because they are social media-active become far more powerful than they ever were offline. They are now very active and vocal advocates for the brand.”

Are you having trouble keeping brand loyalty? How do you plan to revive loyalty?

Do consumers prefer hard or soft benefits from their rewards program?

“According to a Mintel study,” reports Colloquy, “cash rebates — a super-hard benefit — show the most resonance for consumers. But, it also points out that consumers are burned out on frequent flyer programs and the discipline and time needed to accumulate and cash in miles. Instead, spontaneous travel options, like the opportunity to qualify for a trip they would not have been able to take, are more popular. And time-sensitive, unique experiences — the surprise and delight kind — are also desirable, especially related to luxury destinations, professional sports and cultural events.”

Colloquy goes on to say this makes sense because of the overload of discounts and deals, and I couldn’t agree more. Any company can provide a discount, but can you provide a memorable experience from your product, and not just the consumption of said product? I strongly believe the companies who can build a larger story around their product will be more successful.

“Excitement and experiences are, in a sense, even more desired than EDLP (Every Day Low Prices),”  something Colloquy confirmed in their 2008 study on word-of-mouth.

How can you bring the unexpected into your promotions and loyalty programs?

If you’re trying to fake it until you make it with cause-related marketing, stop. Consumers are seeing right through it.

“The annual Goodpurpose study of corporate involvement in social issues found consumers are expecting more from companies, reports AdWeek, “with 62% saying it is ‘no longer enough for corporations to give money; they must integrate good causes into their everyday business.’ The research indicates consumers will reward such social engagement, with 72% saying they are “more likely to purchase a product from a company that supports good causes and has fair prices than a company that simply offers deep discounts.”

Sometimes it seems, doing good leads to good profit. There’s a great opportunity here for CPG companies as well. When study respondents were asked to identify the causes they’d like to see companies engage in, “alleviating hunger and homelessness” topped the list, cited by 89 percent.

Efforts to give back don’t have to start big. Why not let your employees have a day off to volunteer? A simple initiate such as that is sure to spread lots of goodwill this season.

Photo Credit: Kevin Labianco.

Just how much are your social media efforts worth?

Well, the average value of Facebook fan for brands is an astounding $136.38, but it can swing all the way up to $270.77 on average for “best” fans or go down to $0 in the “worst,” reports Retail Wire. ” This value is based on Syncapse analysis of five factors per fan: product spending, brand loyalty, propensity to recommend, brand affinity and earned media value.”

Other findings in the study:

• On average, Facebook fans are 28 percent more likely to continue using a brand than are non-fan consumers.
• Overall, 68 percent (on average) of Facebook fans indicated that they are very likely to recommend a product across the 20 brands. This is contrasted by 28 percent for non-fans.
• Thirty-eight percent of respondents reported that they would likely become a fan of a brand if they saw a family member or close friend do so. This influence is slightly reduced to 34 percent if it is a person known through Facebook rather than a family member.
• Eighty one percent of fans said they feel “connection/empathy” with the brand, compared to 39 percent of non-fans.

Photo Credit: n0r.

AdAge recently launched their predictions for big marketing ideas for 2011… with a bit of humorous reporting.

Here are our favorites:

Big Sampling – Which AdAge editor Jonathan Salem Baskin calls opt-out selling. “The logical next extension of the economic philosophy of ‘free’ means you send products to people, then keep sending stuff until they pay you to leave them alone.”

Sleep Shopping. “Inception meets HSN in this new technique to stop chasing eyeballs and get behind the eyelids of sleep-walking consumers, including dream product placement opportunities (think running gear and things that float) and inclusion in recurring dreams (requires a platform upgrade).”

Branded Conspiracies. “Skip facts: Your toothpaste is a plot to democratize Antarctica. Your competitor employs Martians in Area 51 factories.”

MirrorCasting. “Imagine a set of technology tools that allows people to record blog comments, chat posts and video clips about themselves, and then applies proprietary algorithms to automatically and randomly change the content and play it back to them … so consumers can spend all of their time interacting with themselves!”

Hope these marketing ideas gave you a little chuckle as well. Do you have any predictions for the New Year?

Loved this idea from Rishi Shah:

You know those loyalty gift cards you get from coffee or sandwich places? You know… if you drink 10 cups of coffee you get 1 free.  What would be really cool is if after you turn in your loyalty card and get your free drink they hand you another loyalty card.  Except this one is special.  This one is even better.. where you only have to drink 9 cups of coffee to get one free.  Oh yeah and this one looks nicer printed on higher grade stock paper and a cool design.

I can see people bragging about what loyalty card they have.

CPG using e-commerce can utilize create a similar loyalty incentive online using the data about their customer to create an even more direct and meaningful realtionship.

Photo Credit: Nick J Webb.

If the numbers have anything to say about it, yes.

Colloquy reports that U.S. companies that use social media primarily to deepen customer loyalty spend almost twice as much as competitors who use it for brand awareness, customer acquisition and other core marketing purposes. Specifically, their survey results show the average social media spend for marketers whose primary objective is to obtain customer loyalty was $88,000 last year, compared to $53,000 for brand awareness and $30,000 for customer acquisition, the objectives that attracted the next highest spending levels…and the spend is increasing…by nearly 300% over the last year.

So companies must be seeing some strong return from these dollars and initiatives. What are some social media loyalty programs that you’ve seen?