Now is the time to scrap your shopper marketing plans, then rebuild them from scratch. The Coronavirus disruption put us in a whole different situation than when we started the year. The marketing that you had planned for this year may no longer be appropriate. The good news is that there are new opportunities that require a different strategy. Shopper purchasing habits were drastically altered with big spikes and demand, stockpiling, out of stocks and outlet shifting. These effects have created a lot of brand switching, leaving your brand with new buyers as well as some lost buyers. So, what do you do now?

Your opportunity is to retain these new buyers and to regain your lost buyers. Your marketing will be more productive in this situation, especially equity-building ads. You know that it takes much less marketing effort to retain your customers or to win them back than it does to acquire new customers. Equity-building ads also work better than price incentives for customer retention in most CPG categories.

Here are three tips to help you retain your customers with
the least amount of marketing effort.

1

Use behavioral targeting to reach your new customers and lost customers with messages that give them reasons to purchase your brand again. For new customers it can be as simple as reminding them of what your brand stands for to reinforce your brand equity and build affinity for your brand or communicate additional usage occasions. Retail media networks work well for this use because they have excellent targeting data and retailers also benefit from the retention of category buyers.

For customers you lost to a competitive brand, target them with usage occasion messages. These customers can be retained, though may not be loyal because they purchase regularly in the category but switch brands. Your opportunity for these shoppers is to increase category purchase frequency. Give them ideas for additional usage occasions to either increase their purchasing in the category or win the next occasion.

You will have to pay higher ad rates (cost per 1000) to reach these targets, so ensure the conversion rate is sufficiently high enough to cover the additional costs of the marketing reach.

2

Focus on the tactics that work best for customer retention and give you the best results for your investment for your brand at each of your customers. The tactics that work best vary for each category and at each retailer. Below are some return on investment industry averages.

3

Integrate your marketing well across the path to purchase.  We have found shopper marketing programs work best when they include both a message and an incentive as well as reach shoppers both at home and in the store.  While advertising is more efficient than discounts for customer retention, some shoppers need a discount, even a small one, to get their attention. Use pre-store ads and coupons to get your product on their shopping list.  Then, in the store, remind them of your brand’s benefits.

So, maybe it’s a benefit that you got some programs scrapped from the pandemic disruption, because now you can use more effective strategies for this new situation. If your supply chain has caught up with the demand changes, then it’s a good time to get out in front of this and grow even faster. The demand for your category has changed and all the brand switching that has occurred has created new marketing opportunities. Now is the time to change your marketing strategies for this new environment, give you a competitive advantage and meet your shoppers’ needs.

Foresight ROI is the leader in shopper marketing measurement, decision support, and software solutions for CPG companies and retailers. To learn more about our measurement, software or industry ROI benchmark solutions, contact us at: contact@ForesightROI.com