Category: Offer Development

Visit your favorite big box or grocery store online to find special offers available at your nearest stores and print coupons to use during your next visit. Simply type in your ZIP code and you have the same deals from the free-standing inserts (FSIs) found in your Sunday paper.

Now for the fun part: We’ve launched a turn-key solution for creating electronic FSIs that attract customers to local retail stores or to your site. We’re not talking about just uploading a PDF. We’re talking about creating elegant, interactive environments to advertise multiple products, complete with 360-degree product views and videos to highlight specific features. Customers can print coupons, save products to a wish list, and email themselves both to use later. We make it easy to update text and images, too. To learn more about the eFSI and to arrange a demo, email business@solutionset.com

The barometer for consumer spending attitudes might be tucked away in your wallet or purse right now. Sandra M. Jones of the Chicago Tribune reported that Americans have rediscovered coupons in 2009, with a projected 3.2 billion redemptions. That represents a 20 percent jump from 2008 and the first year-over-year increase since 1992.

While newspaper circulars account for 90 percent of the coupons distributed and more than half of those redeemed, the web is quickly becoming the next frontier for spendthrift consumers. From the article:

Searches on Google for “printable coupons” and “online printable coupons” more than doubled this year, and Yahoo, Inc. reported that “coupons” ranked first on its list of economy-related searches for 2009. Of consumers surveyed by the National Retail Federation, 42 percent said they plan to use a coupon for their holiday shopping.

At Coupons.com, one of the first and largest online coupon sites, consumers printed coupons worth $313 million in 2008. The site surpassed the 2008 annual figure in June 2009 and expects a total of $1 billion in printed coupon savings by the end of the year.

It doesn’t take much head scratching to figure out why coupons have become all the rage. But what retailers and manufacturers should learn from this trend is that 2010 might be the perfect year to readdress customer loyalty programs.

Are your print and in-store promotions prompting customers to sign up for email and mobile marketing streams? Have these segments been rewarded with a measured flow of value-first content?

Ultimately you want your customers to have category tunnel vision, where it’s your products or bust. And a strong loyalty program could help get you to this point.

One parting thought: If a third-party site is the primary source for your coupons, why not create (and promote!) a dedicated coupon corner on your own site? Keeps them that much closer to the point of purchase.

Last week, Hyundai was named Marketer of the Year by the readers of AdAge.com. The primary reason for this award was their approach to selling cars during a recession; specifically their strategy of addressing the consumer fear of job loss, which was understandably suppressing consumer spending. We blogged about their approach here, comparing it to the Schooner Tuna approach adopted by the marketer of premium priced tuna in the movie Mr. Mom.

Turns out, the approach was worth more than a laugh over at Hyundai HQ.  In the article on AdAge.com (which unfortunately we can’t link to, but it is on their home page today), Hyundai shares some metrics showing the increase in sales and market share, at a time when other car manufacturers were struggling. So we say yay! Congratulations to Hyundai for developing a truly relevant offer - one that is based on a consumer insight, that was delivered in a way that caused prospect relevance and attention. 

This is a lesson in understanding your customers and prospects not only behaviorally but also attitudinally - the combination of both will inform approaches that cause transactions.  

French fries. Gnocchi. Kugel. Pierogi. Europeans love them some potato. But it wasn’t long ago when this Peruvian import was viewed as hog feed that caused leprosy in humans.

This all changed thanks to research and savvy marketing by the French scientist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier. It was the mid-18th century and Parmentier was serving as an army pharmacist in the Seven Years’ War. The Prussians captured the big thinker and forced him to eat potatoes. He survived (with all limbs and digits intact) and returned to France determined to promote the potato as a viable food source.

Parmentier conducted experiments that proved potatoes were nourishing and helped cure dysenteric patients. He was showered with praises and awards from the scientific community. The French Parliament even lifted the national ban on potato cultivation. Yet his countrymen couldn’t seem to shake the hog feed stigma and continued in their non-potato eating ways.

When support from the government and academia failed his efforts, Parmentier turned to marketing. He hosted dinners for dignitaries (including Benjamin Franklin) with potato dishes proudly served. He delivered beautiful bouquets of potato blossoms to the King and Queen. But perhaps his most ingenious tactic was placing guards around his potato patch with explicit instructions to accept all bribes and look the other way when people tried to steal the crop.

Parmentier understood the basic human condition and marketed against our weaknesses. He sought celebrity endorsements, influenced the influencers, and created a high perceived value among consumers. After the potato saved France from famine in 1785 and 1795, the hearty tuber officially made the jump from feared to revered.

So the next time you order steak frites, take a moment to thank Monsieur Parmentier.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Online shoppers have taken a cue from  Count Laszlo Almasy from the movie The English Patient. They promise they’ll be back. And the outcome for shoppers seems to be more successful than it was for poor Almasy. From an article in yesterday’s Marketing Charts email:

According to a study by McAffee, nearly two-thirds (65%) of online shoppers who “abandon” their shopping carts actually come back after a day or more and full convert on a purchase.

So many of the shoppers who “abandon” are really just delaying. Which means your promotional strategy might require another look. For example, you might not remarket to “abandoned” prospects with discounts if really all they’ve done is delay their (full-price) purchase. Testing this premise is probably worth the time and effort.

As far as why prospects delay purchase, the study posits a few reasons: basically they all add up to prospects needing more time to consider their purchase (price, reliability, need) before committing to buy.

When taking that into account, your remarketing test might include a couple of cells that look like this:

1. Do nothing

2. Remarket with value/reliability messaging

3. Remarket with discount

Oh, and it is worth mentioning that the study also showed that the McAfee “trustmark” at checkout converted more buyers. This is not surprising, we find that lowering the barriers to purchase - one of them being security of transaction - is a “must do”.

Free operating systems. Free content. Free apps. Free email. Free hosting. In an article published on Fast Company, author Farhad Manjoo questions the merits of the business model that dominates the web:

Why? Because free costs too much, weighed down with hassles that you’ll happily pay a little to do without. That’s why people buy bottled water and cable TV. That’s also the model that The Wall Street Journal uses to goad people into paying for news online. Anyone can read its stories for free through Google or a news-aggregation site like Digg, but people who want the full newspaper experience pay $103 a year for the privilege. More than a million subscribers consider that a good deal.

Manjoo notes customers understand that responsibility for product quality is only truly passed when money changes hands. If a free iPhone app is busted, you’re not too terribly surprised and will just delete it. If a $4.99 app is busted, you’re ready to write an angry letter. It’s all about expectations. If you can justify a cost with a promise of quality and support, then why mingle with the businesses in the free pool that can’t? Read the full article.

Some nuggets from a retail analyst appeared in an otherwise grim New York Times article covering back-to-school results. Retailers who are succeeding in this tough climate are doing so by coming up with innovative and fun promotions, like the Zumiez “5 for $85” deal. From the source:

John D. Morris, a retailing analyst with BMO Capital Markets, said more mall stores, like Gap and Aéropostale, offered buy-one-get-one-free sales. Others offered breaks on bundled merchandise, Mr. Morris said. He said that the teenage apparel chain Zumiez rolled out a “five for $85” promotion — three T-shirts and two pairs of jeans for $85.

“That deal started at $80 and it went to $85,” Mr. Morris said. “That tells you it worked. That tells you it is registering with the consumer.”

At Gymboree, customers could take 30 percent off whatever merchandise they managed to stuff into a Gymboree bag.

“The retailer is learning the native tongue of the new consumer,” Mr. Morris said. “It’s not only that you need to dangle value in the face of the consumer. It also tells you that the consumer is bored with the same old promotions. The smarter companies are going in and changing the marketing message.”

This made us think about the endless me-too promotions that are crossing our desk from direct marketers—Free Shipping! 20% Off! Buy One, Get One!—blah blah blah.

Direct marketers have a great ability to tailor their promotion to specific groups or even individuals. Far too few do anything with that power. So, since we are all going to be forced to promote this Holiday, why not use that promotion power to manage the customer life cycle?

How about getting some cross-category purchasing going by offering our apparel-only buyers, “Buy anything in our homewares section, and take 40% off first item”? How about offering our new customers a no-conditions $20 coupon for making their second purchase? How about acknowledging our best buyers and offering them concierge level treatment, lifetime unconditional returns and the like?  Wouldn’t we like to come out of this recession with more multiple buyers and fewer lost best customers? Since you’ll have to promote to stay aloft, try to do it creatively and strategically.

If you can start a work week with a reference to the first MTV video ever aired…well you just should.

Seems that a different kind of video is the new new thing - online video contests. Nate Elliott over at The Forrester Blog Interactive Marketing Professionals wrote a post outlining which marketers are using online video contests (more than 20% of interactive marketers!), why they’re using them, good examples of well-executed contests, and the pros and cons of doing them.

Last holiday season, we posted on the long-forgotten practice of allowing customers to pay for merchandise over time, taking it home when the last payment was made. For all of you born after 1985, this is called a “layaway” program.

Turns out it was successful for Kmart, and they’re planning on doing it again this year. Plus Sears is joining in. And, a new twist this year - last weekend, the retailers launched an online boutique called Christmas Lane at Kmart.com and Sears.com, so that shoppers can select items now and pay for them well before the holiday rolls around.

Because we obviously have a layaway fetish, you can be sure we’ll keep our readers updated on this retro-trend, which we think careful shoppers will take full advantage of this holiday season.

KFC wanted America to focus off the fryers and sample their new grilled chicken. An “Unthink KFC” TV campaign aired. Restaurant signage was hung. And then they brought in Oprah (aka the grand hen of promotion) to announce this finger-licking offer: Two free pieces of grilled chicken, two sides and a biscuit to anyone who downloaded a coupon within a two-day period. Emily Bryson York of Ad Age gives a chronology of how this offer spun out of control:

KFC’s offer sent the chain skyrocketing to the No. 1 topic on Twitter. By Wednesday, blogs began reporting “riots” at New York City KFCs. On Thursday, local news crews interviewed fuming customers getting turned away in other markets, including Chicago. Consumers complained about rude service, and media complained about a PR team that seemed asleep at the wheel. By Friday, the day after KFC pulled the promotion.

Big giveaways don’t always crash and burn. Denny’s announced a free Grand Slam breakfast promotion during the Super Bowl and came out big winners. Bryson York chatted with John Dillon, VP of marketing at Denny’s, about the right way to hold an orderly giveaway:

Communicate, communicate and then communicate some more: Denny’s executives toured the restaurant system, talking to franchisees and staff about the coming promotion. They also held town-hall meetings to share ideas.

Energize the staff. Happy front-of-the-house folks are a critical component to a positive guest experience. Denny’s goosed enthusiasm among wait staff with its first-ever Super Bowl ad.

Keep it simple. Make the offer clear and easy to understand. Hold it on one day and within a set timeframe. And make sure it supports an overarching brand strategy.

Pray for the best but prepare for the worst. “We did as much modeling as we could to plan through different scenarios,” Mr. Dillon said. “But at the end of the day, you don’t know what to expect.” Before the event, Denny’s shipped thousands of rain-check coupons to its restaurants, just in case.

Don’t hurry, or don’t do it. Denny’s planned its giveaway months in advance, and it took different forms throughout the process. But the planning paid off. “We heard of a couple of restaurants that ran out of syrup,” he said.

Giveaways are an excellent way to get buzz and foot traffic. Just be prepared for both.