Archive for the ‘Mobile Marketing’ Category

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The Hyper-Connected Consumer

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

By Doug Stephens

I had a chance recently to speak with Lori Schafer and Bernie Brennan, authors of the book Branded! How Retailers Engage Consumers with Social Media and Mobility.  The book provides a great case by case viewpoint of what brands are doing to connect with consumers on digital platforms and where they’re finding the greatest success.

I was interested to get their perspectives on how these technologies are altering the relationship between consumers and retailers, how they foresee this developing moving forward and the role of corporate leadership in paving the way to a new marketing philosophy.

Let me know what do you think?  Are social and mobile really changing the way brands and consumers engage?  Who’s doing it right?  What should we expect to see retailers implementing by this time next year?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9Sy1EVkX4[/youtube]

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Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Marketing, social media, Store Experience, Technology

Death of the Focus Group: Research Meets Mobility

Saturday, February 5th, 2011

By Doug Stephens

I sat on a panel discussion this week that explored how social and mobile media is changing the way customer feedback is collected, analyzed and acted upon by retailers. One specific question asked how mobile devices can be used in a retail environment to facilitate better customer feedback or improve responsiveness to complaints. Within the context of this discussion, the idea was to comment on how mobile is being used as a customer service channel but it occurred to me that there’s a much more important data track.  One  that provides a completely new and revolutionary opportunity for marketers.

Say versus Do

First, one has to appreciate the historic problem with consumer research and the challenge it’s always posed for retail marketers.  Consumer research often attempts to predict future consumer behavior but the reality is that consumers very often say things that don’t correspond at all to what they eventually do in store.  In fact, there’s often a gaping disconnect between a consumer’s needs as articulated in focus groups and the basket of stuff that gets taken home from the store.  If the two matched up even the least bit closely, marketing would be a cinch but they often don’t and with good reason – consumers rarely have a clue why they do what they do in stores!  And in other cases, focus group participants simply don’t tell the truth, which probably doesn’t come as any great shock.

Data, data everywhere…

One thing is for sure, the problem with consumer and shopper research isn’t born out of a lack of data.  We’ve got  a plethora of information on both ends of the shopping spectrum, loads of focus groups, surveys and intercepts to gauge needs on the front end and a steady flow of point of sale data to analyze purchases on the back end.  What have been missing are the critical insights in the middle – what shoppers actually do in the store!  This has largely been the realm of anecdotal data and lab-based studies, both of which are often highly inaccurate.

Every move you make

That’s where I believe mobile apps, near field communication, location based services and other intelligent retail technologies are poised to revolutionize our approach to consumer and shopper research.  For the first time ever, researchers will be able to connect the expressed needs of consumers with their actual, physical path to purchase.  Questions like where they go in the store and where don’t they go, where they stop and what they race right by will finally be precisely answerable.  We’ll have visibility into the specific events that trigger a customer to abandon their visit or buy more than usual.  We’ll see more clearly what occurrences precede a complaint.  We’ll even have the potential to see where they’ve come from and where they go after leaving the store.  And what’s critical is that marketers can view this kind of information in aggregate according to what thousands of consumers do, not simply within a narrow and controlled study group.

But understanding the consumer’s physical path is only one of the new streams of data.  The other and more important stream will reveal what they actually engaged and interacted with in the space.  Which in-store marketing messages did they connect with and for how long, which coupons did they download, which products did they scan but put back without buying?  Marketers will see where consumers required more or less information to make a decision and perhaps even when they compared prices with competitors before deciding.  Even insights on how different ages, sexes and races move through a given retail environment are entirely possible.

Finally marketers can validate the reams of data they currently collect with credible information on the consumer’s actual in-store behavior.  This presents a whole new world of opportunity to give retail consumers what they want – potentially without ever once asking them.  It’s also chance to better understand the gap between what consumers say and what they do.

In fact, it’s entirely possible that this new ability to validate in-store consumer behavior will render front and back end consumer surveys a thing of the past.

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Posted in Advertising, Behavioral Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Marketing, social media, Store Experience, Technology, The Future, Trends

The Customer in Control: Mobile Self-Check Out

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

One of the hottest topics at the 2011 National Retail Federation Conference was that consumers are increasingly using brick and mortar stores as mere showrooms to view products before buying online.  Furthermore, in a growing percentage of cases, these online purchases are being made right from the aisle of the physical store.

In this segment we highlight AisleBuyer, a new mobile application that not only gives customers the power of mobile scanning, browsing and self-checkout but also allows retailers a degree of control over the shopping experience, working to keep the consumer and the sale in the store.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVEMSzcS8mg[/youtube]

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Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Customer Service, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Marketing, social media, Store Experience, Technology, The Future, Trends

Why Apple Will Dominate Location Based Marketing

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

At this point any headline touting Apple dominance is almost a declaration of the obvious but when it comes to location based marketing, the reasons for such a bold statement may not be readily evident.

This week Apple announced it will be launching  its own check-in service that integrates with existing in-store customer service applications.  Specifically, apps like Concierge and iQueue, that keep track of customers who are waiting for appointments and Scout ,  that allows Store Managers to set up specific, close- proximity,  in-store check-in points such as the Genius bar, the iPod display table etc.

So, how does this amount to the early signs of location based marketing services domination?  Because Apple has an advantage that no other player in the market has; it owns all the required components to design the ultimate LBMS experience.  Apple owns the hardware, the applications and above all, they own the retail stores.  They intimately understand and control each of these distinct systems and therefore have the ability to seamlessly integrate across all of them.  The same is clearly not true of HTC, Blackberry, Foursquare, Gowalla or even Facebook – although I have no doubt that a Facebook phone and retail store are almost inevitable.

In essence what this trifecta of control affords Apple is the ability to turn the customer’s wait time into an  interactive and enjoyable experience, delivering relevant and contextual content, based on customer preferences and purchase history as well as physical location within the store.   All this while operating a more efficient and organized in-store service structure.  They have clearly laid the foundation for a location-based experience, the likes of which we’ve not yet seen.

But the proverbial elephant under the table is this; if Apple can perfect the experience in an Apple store, they can theoretically assist other like-minded businesses deliver the same level of experience in any location…anywhere.

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Posted in Marketing, Mobile Marketing, social media, Store Experience, Technology, The Future, Trends

Mobile Apps: “We Don’t Need No Stinking Badges”

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

By Doug Stephens

If marketing research has taught us anything at all, it’s that consumers despise being manipulated – at least knowingly manipulated.  As humans we prefer not to be cajoled into working for unclear results or rewards.  So, why then have so many retailers defaulted to employing mobile applications that essentially treat consumers like fun loving Golden Retrievers?

Mobile app Shopkick for example, puts consumers on virtual steeple chase through the store, completing various tasks in order to earn “kick-bucks”, points redeemable for discounts and merchandise.  Tasks may include scanning products, visiting the fitting room or looking at a particular in-store sign.

Geo-social pioneer, Foursquare, which started more as a social game than a shopping app, has been massaged by several retailers into a pseudo rewards program, offering special discounts for location-based “check-ins”.   The GAP, for example, recently offered Foursquare users 25% off, just for checking in to their local GAP store.

Similarly, new entrant SCVNGR prompts users to go places and complete location-specific challenges and in turn earn rewards.

The Games People Play

So why has gaming become the entry point for so many of these shopping apps?

For one thing, games are easy to build.  Establishing a do this get that convention is pretty simple from a programming standpoint.  At least it’s a lot simpler than developing loads of content.

Secondly, games are a fairly non-threatening means of inducing people to trial something.  If it’s just a game, who gets hurt right?  And given that the eventual market value for mobile applications depends largely on their number of regular users, the path of least resistance is the best path to follow.  And that path is often gaming.

But with the rush to gaming conventions, one has to wonder how long it will be before consumers begin to experience game-fatigue.  How many goose chases can we go on before the charm wears off?  How many places can we become the Mayor of before we get bored?

Tell me something I don’t know

What we’ve known for a long time is that what consumers really crave is control over the shopping experience and with it, the information required to make informed and satisfying buying decisions.

So, rather than badges, bucks or mayoral office, the real value of mobile proximity marketing would seem to lie in delivering relevant, timely and contextual information.   The kind of information that can snap us out of the catatonic state a wall of indiscernible product can induce.  The kind of information that can rocket us toward an informed buying decision.

Given the digital nature of just about everything, it would seem simple enough to deliver worthwhile information to shoppers where they need it most –the store floor-  but retail has been surprisingly slow in catching up to the shopper.

Some mobile apps have done a good job of trying to add value for consumers.  ShopSavvy for example, offers the ability to scan products and quickly pull down information and pricing on identical products within the user’s proximity.  Best Buy has been pretty boldly experimenting with QR codes – rich 2D codes that when scanned, link the user to relevant information and media. Point Inside has focused on mapping retail environments making simple things like finding the cereal aisle a lot less time consuming.

Friends with Benefits

We also know from research that people trust their friends and even strangers more than companies. In fact, According to a recent Nielsen study, 90% of Consumers trust friend reviews compared to only 24% that trust text ads delivered to their mobile phone.

The End Game

In the short term, games will continue to serve as a catalyst for consumer interest in mobile shopping apps.  The long term key however, lies in delivering relevant, timely and contextual product and service information with a tie to the user’s social network for opinions and advice.  If done properly, retailers should be creating mobile applications that become indispensible shopping assistants that their customers can’t imagine being without…apps that hold real value.

Ultimately a remarkable shopping experience shouldn’t be something consumers have to play for but rather something they’d be willing to pay for.

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Posted in Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Store Experience, Technology, Trends

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