Uncovering Shopper Insights with the Resources You Have

Chicago — There are effective shopper insight strategies for any size budget, according to Misty Duffy, director of shopper insights at Elizabeth Arden. And regardless of budget, the process for developing those strategies should remain the same: Find out what retailers need, develop the research that will pinpoint the results you seek, implement action based on the findings, and react to shoppers’ behavior after implementation.The size of the budget merely affects who will be doing what work, and to what extent, Duffy said during a Shopper Marketing Expo presentation in October 2013.No matter what your budget is, it’s important to check for free data on the Internet or in pitch emails from agencies. Duffy said she knows an agency is serious when it offers free information that it usually sells. “There are free sources that are legitimate.”Most marketing budgets do, in fact, allow for the hiring of a third party for research, she said. Companies just need to match their wants with their needs and their resources. Duffy outlined three levels of budgeting – less than $15,000; $15,000 to $50,000; and greater than $50,000 – and what marketers should expect/ask for from a third-party source.For the lowest level, companies begin by surveying their targets as generally as possible, based on what they know already about their product or consumer. Develop the survey questions internally, she advised, and use mobile surveys rather than computer-based questionnaires. When forming questions, make some of them open-ended as the answers to those can lead to insights previously not considered. But, she cautioned, don’t use leading questions.Duffy further advised to ask agencies for the raw data and then break it down using staff that is both analytic and creative, and able to turn the findings into actionable insights. “Please do not call your third party 20 million times with questions,” she cautioned. “If they’re doing something for under $15,000, don’t think they’re at your service.”At the next level of resources, however, companies can ask for more specific data – by age group or ethnicity, for example, or trip frequency. Survey questions should still be created internally, but agencies can add input and finalize. Duffy stressed including survey input from all of a company’s departments. “We’re all shoppers,” she said. At this level, companies can use computer surveys and expect recapped findings.The top budget level affords all of the above, Duffy said, but also more collaboration with the agency, very specific target groups, an agency study of the client, and action points – such as what activation would look like in-store and omnichannel – as well as reaction points. “If you can show your clients that what they’re about to invest is going to pay off, they’ll be much more likely to get approval internally,” she said. “Showing case studies where it worked is the key.”

Uncovering Shopper Insights with the Resources You Have

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Related Articles