Posts Tagged ‘study’

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Looking for the ROI of Social? It’s $1.50

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

For every $1 spent, social marketing returns an average of $1.50. That’s what we found after analyzing results from all the Market Mix Modeling (MMM) studies conducted on BzzAgent social marketing campaigns for several of the world’s leading CPG companies.

(Here’s the press release on the study)

The MMM studies were conducted on 21 campaigns by top measurement firms including Nielsen, Genpact and Foresight ROI between 2009 and 2011. We’d love to be able to discuss the companies involved, but as you can imagine, they hold their ROI cards pretty close to the vest. They are valued clients and we respect that. We can say that they are all large CPG companies, including 3 of the top 10, with products sold at retail nationally.

An average ROI of $1.50 for social marketing is great validation about the financial impact social can make on a business. In some cases, the studies have shown that the ROI has been as effective as anything in the brand’s marketing mix. It’s important to look at ROI in the big picture. We know that ROI analysis practices can differ in every company.  So a lower ROI may still represent a very successful campaign when evaluated in the context of the overall marketing plan.  The great thing is that sophisticated analysis like MMM enables you to do that.

If you are not familiar with MMM, it’s considered the gold standard in media measurement. Some of the biggest marketers in the world use it to quantify the drivers of business performance across all marketing channels and activities.  It is a comprehensive process led by specialty measurement firms and it is usually conducted once a year.

What does this all mean? Two things:

1. Social ROI Can Be Measured Accurately.  Social marketing can be measured using the same sophisticated analysis used on all other media investments. Marketers don’t need to make up new metrics or rely on inexact assessments of influence and engagement to evaluate business impact.  Social can be measured apples-to-apples with other media in the marketing mix.

2. Social is an Effective Sales Channel.  We’ve always known that social media has a tremendous influence on our purchase decisions, but its actual business impact has been unclear.  When social marketing is focused on product attributes, with the right targeting, cultivation and measurement practices, it can be a highly effective sales channel for brands.

Social media is used many different ways in an organization. Each department has their own communication goals, so their metrics of success should reflect that.  If you are in marketing and looking to support the sales effort of the company, then social media can be an effective tool for driving sales.  With the right practices, it can be managed and measured the same way you evaluate marketing investments in every other media format.   As we’ve seen from this data, often its social media that comes out on top.

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[Infographic] The Long-Term Impact of Brand Advocates

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Social marketing is great at getting advocates excited about a product so they’ll want to share their opinions and recommendations with many others. The lifts they generate in product opinion, likelihood to recommend and purchase intent will make any brand manager smile, but how long does the love last? What’s the long term impact of these brand advocates?

It’s the question everyone involved in marketing wants to know. If we knew the long-term benefits on an investment in advocacy marketing, it would be easier to justify expanding programs to include more of the loyalty enriching activities used in the offline world.

To answer this question, BzzAgent studied brand advocates participating in programs for several consumer products over the course of a year. We found that brand advocates remain amazingly enthusiastic about the product. After a full year,  94% of the lift in product opinion, 91% of the lift in likelihood to recommend and 88% of the lift in purchase intent was maintained. That’s remarkable stamina for any marketing campaign.  Here’s a summary of what we saw:

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Photos and Videos Generate the Most Engagement

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Marketers are always looking for the best ways to get people involved in the conversation on Facebook.  If you ever wondered if a post, a video or a photo were more likely to get people engaged, check out this new study from digital marketing firm Web Liquid.

Web Liquid studied over 1500 interactions on Facebook pages of 16 brands to benchmark rates of engagement for each type of post. The brands they evaluated ranged from CPG companies to sports leagues with fans ranging from a few thousand to over a million.

They found that posts with photos had the strongest engagement rate at 0.37%.  This is higher than posts with videos (0.31%), text only posts (0.27%) and links (0.15%).

This is good advice if you are encouraging your customers to post their experiences with your brand.  A post with a detailed review is great, but a photo of the product in use or a video demonstration of it is even better.   This is what gets us so excited about our new iPhone app.  The BzzAgent user experience is tightly integrated with the iPhone’s camera so it’s easy to capture the “eyes of the consumer” at the moment it happens.  This is compelling content, and as this study proves, there’s nothing better at sparking conversation and engagement.

If you haven’t grabbed the app yet, you can get it here.  Try it out and let us know what you think.

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Shopping Behavior Across Generations

Monday, October 31st, 2011

It’s a known fact that women control most of the purchasing decisions in and out of the home. With this information, brands specifically market to these women, hoping their product will stay top-of-mind when shopping in the aisles in stores. However, not all women are the same. Older generations are getting more involved in social media (my mother and grandmother included) and marketers now have a great opportunity to reach out to these women in different ways, not just collectively as women with Facebook accounts. Mintel reports that 66% of 35-44s can be expected to be using social media, along with 60% of 45-54s, 48% of 55-64s, and  35% of seniors 65+.

Different generations are driven by different factors and behaviors.

In a Nielsen study consisting of daughters (average age of 30), Mothers (average age of 47), and Grandmothers (average age of 67), daughters are the most stressed. They are the most impulsive shoppers of all the generations and also the most likely to try new products. Daughters are the most price-sensitive, and they seek out promotions and deals across stores and through various media channels. Daughters are most likely to hunt for deals through social media and to look for reviews and advice prior to purchasing.  They are most tech-savvy of the different generations and an early adopter of new technology. When it comes to ads on social media, this age group is most likely to click. She is influenced by all media channels.

Mothers feel mid-level stress because even though their incomes are higher, they still worry about their finances. In fact, according to Mintel 62% of moms 45+ are spending more time this year looking around for coupons and deals than they were last year. They are heavy internet users and also text and email just as much as their daughters (maybe just a little bit slower). Mothers make more planned shopping trips, and are most focused on buying products with good value. As their daughters are most influenced by all types of media, mothers are most influenced by TV.

Grandmothers are the biggest planners and habitual shoppers. They are still learning the ropes with new technology, but catching up as they use email and social media more and more.

Despite the differences between generations, commonalities still remain linking them all together when it comes to purchase behavior.

While price is an important influencer for purchase decisions across all generations, the number one driver for brand loyalty is quality, even over price and convenience. Price and value attract an initial purchase decision, but the majority of women equate loyalty with quality.

The majority of women, regardless of age, state that a friend or family member’s recommendation is the most trusting advertising source. Following word-of-mouth, women will turn to editorial content and opinions online before making a purchase. Marketers should connect with these women to make them feel like valued customers and to gain trust in order to create loyalists and brand advocates for their brand. Women want to feel connected and involved with the brands they choose on a daily basis.

Brands should try to earn trust as early as possible with women, especially as daughters become mothers and mothers become grandmothers. Since women are most loyal with the brands they trust, daughters will likely continue to purchase their favorite brands for themselves and then for their families, when they become the household purchasers.

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dunnhumby Study Proves Offline Sales Impact of Digital Media

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Our friends at dunnhumby released the findings of a great study today. They prove the importance of digital media promotions to in-store purchases of CPG companies.

Working with Comscore, dunnhumby linked a permission-based panel of a million internet users to their anonymous loyalty card in-store purchase data. This was done so no identifiable personal data was disclosed. They compared the in-store purchases of households exposed to online promotions to those not exposed to it. The results show how important digital media is to CPG marketing:

Exposure to digital media promotions lifts in-store sales 21%

Households exposed to online promotions for the products bought a median of 21% more CPG products in retail stores. 5 of every 6 campaigns measured generated a sales lift, and 40% of them had a lift that exceeded 30%.

Targeting consumers based on buying data lifts in-store sales 42%

The sales lift doubled when targeting based on in-store purchase data was added to the mix. A new Microsoft tool called CPG Online Effect provided targeting algorithms based on anonymous dunnhumby buying data and Comscore web browsing data.

“Based on these results, the power of purchase-based ad targeting is clear. By delivering a relevant and persuasive message to the appropriate consumer segment, brand buying at retail stores can be increased substantially. It’s clear that the level of accuracy in reaching a brand’s consumer target that is possible with the Internet can drive ROI several times higher than what can be obtained using traditional media channels.”  Guy Fulgoni, CEO, Comscore

This study is based on exposure to online ads.  BzzAgent is now using this same in-store purchase data to target something even more influential – active brand advocates.  Combining loyalty card purchase history with social media savvy customers may be the biggest growth opportunity for marketers today. These “Social Shoppers” have a deep connection to your brand and they rely heavily on social  media to discuss products and recommendations with a big audience of followers.  Download our latest ebook “From Loyalty to Advocacy: Driving Sales with Social Shoppers“ to drive sales results like these using the most persuasive voices around your brand.

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Brand Advocates Clean Up

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

This is part of BzzAgent’s “Voice of the Advocate” series where we summarize the latest trends in a product category and review how to get brand advocates talking about them.

Home cleaning products are staples of daytime television. You can’t get through a single commercial break without seeing ads for products that clean your soiled clothes, grimy bathtubs and filthy floors. From Ajax to Windex and from Lysol 4-in-1 to 2000 Flushes, there are products to clean everything… and we all have some of them in the house.

Did you know these products are also among the most discussed among brand advocates? Social marketing programs have been successfully deployed to drive millions of dollars of measurable sales for these products.

Let’s have a closer look. Here are 3 trends from Mintel on the category matched to opinions from over 5,000 BzzAgent brand advocates who use these home cleaning products.

Trend #1 DIY

Overall new product launches have been soft in the past year, but the home cleaning category is strong due to the economy. The recession has caused many to cut back on professional maid and cleaning services which has led consumers to take on cleaning themselves. Use of professional services for those with $100k+ incomes dropped from 19% to 7%.

Both men and women take on cleaning in the home, but let’s not kid ourselves. Women are the primary cleaners. 56% of women report being the main cleaner in the household, compared to 32% of men. A big problem for marketers is that many of these women believe store brands perform just as well as the costlier name brands.

What Our Advocates Think:

  • They are hands-on when it comes to cleaning products. A significant majority of those taking our survey were women and 84% of them buy these products at least monthly. 75% of the time the purchase is made at a discount department store like Wal-Mart or Target where they are likely purchased with other products for the home.
  • These are savvy cleaners. These products are very self-explanatory and people know how to use them so home product demonstration parties and access to “how to” content from the brand have limited appeal. The focus is entirely on the product and how it makes their job at home easier.
  • They are eager to sample products they haven’t used before. 95% of them are very interested in trying new cleaning products and sharing coupons with their friends and followers.

BzzAgent advocates are heavy users of home cleaning products. A BzzCampaign puts the product experience into the hands of these consumers so they can see the results in their own home – showing them what they are missing with the economy store brand they’ve been using. The precision of targeting is also a key advantage. Reaching a specific segment of women using these products frequently at home ensures your message is personal, relevant and highly effective.

Trend #2 Green Theme

Products with green and natural claims made up 54% of the recent new product launches. But there is a disconnect happening with consumers, as only 25% use green cleaners regularly and as many as 40% have never tried them. The biggest barriers to adoption are the higher costs and doubts about product effectiveness. Not surprisingly, 18-34 year olds are most likes to go green while those 55 and up are least likely.

What Our Advocates Think:

  • “Green” may be the hot marketing theme, but our advocates don’t feel it’s very talkable. “Green” falls far down the list of topics after other product attributes. It’s likely that there hasn’t been enough education from marketers on why they should care.
  • Other product attributes they care more about include new scents and formulas. 7 in 10 are very interested in talking about these topics – especially the 55+ audience.

If you are marketing with a strong “green” message, make sure you focus on the most receptive audience and spend the time to explain why this is important. Address the concerns around the high cost perception directly. If your green product works just as well as the leading competitors, make sure to ask advocates to demonstrate this through video demonstrations or written product reviews. BzzAgent create a BzzGuides for every campaign to provide product facts and education on the key benefits so your key messages come through clearly.

Trend #3: Convenience

Many consumers report feeling a sense of accomplishment when cleaning, and 75% have a clear cleaning routine – usually in the morning. Since the day starts early, time-saving and ease of use are valued by a wide range of consumers. A third of launches featured this claim with products that have resealable packaging, ergonomic bottles and on-the-go variations. These features are so valued that many consumers are willing to pay more for these benefits.

What Our Advocates Think:

  • Innovation is important. Advocates are always looking for what’s new. A new product launch in the category is a big deal, and for 84% advocates report being very interested in discussing it.
  • BzzAgent advocates are very social and they love to share what give them a sense of accomplishment. 92% are very interested in writing detailed reviews of cleaning products online and 78% want to post reviews on e-commerce sites like Amazon. They also value the opinions of the friends and followers. 83% will help spread the word by commenting and sharing great reviews posted by others around them.
  • Advocates are interested in getting more involved with the brands they trust. 7 in 10 are very interested in participating in contests or sweepstakes surrounding cleaning products.

There aren’t a lot of products that give consumers a feeling of personal accomplishment. Home cleaning products can do that and advocates want to talk about how they feel. BzzAgent gets users of your products to tell their personal stories in their own words so others can see why your new features, enhancements and product launches save time and give people pride about living in a cleaner home.

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Did Social Media Kill Impulse Buying?

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

Yahoo says it did. A new study released with Universal McCann finds that consumers are now less impulsive in their shopping because they are taking the time to check for consumer reviews before committing to a purchase.

According to the study, social media and mobile have made the path to purchase a game. Finding deals is “cool” and consumers are collaborating with each other in a game to find and share the best ones. The study found that 49% of consumers freely give advices to others to help them make better decisions. This is a lot of what we saw in our advocate study last month.

Social helped the internet surpass print and television to be the most trusted information source for information about products and services.

Does that mean impulse shopping is dead? It is for marketers. Consumers aren’t jumping at ad messages anymore. We need a sanity check with other consumers.

But what if the message is presented from a friend or online follower? Does the source of the message make a difference?

Take a look at Groupon – they’ve become the ultimate social impulse buying machine.  There’s even an emerging aftermarket for deals that people no longer want.  Now a new Groupon service, called Groupon Now, is teasing the impulse urge even more with deals that are only valid at that time at a particular location.   We see the power of consumer-generated impulse (CGI?, nah already been taken) here at BzzAgent.  It’s not unusual for BzzCampaign-promoted products to run out of stock at retailers or to get people lining up outside a store for a deal.

Whether impulse buying is dead or not, one thing is certain. The brands with strong consumer discussion and vocal advocates will be the ones that get people jumping for checkout line.

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[Infographic] The Actions, Motivations and Influence of Brand Advocates

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Brand advocates are one of a brand’s most important resources.  They lead frequent discussions about products and their actions persuade the opinions and purchase decision of many others.  To help marketers understand who these people are, what they do, and why they do it, we conducted an in-depth study with Dr. Kathleen Ferris-Costa at the University of Rhode Island, College of Business Administration.

The study provided a wealth of great data on advocate behaviors, interests and motivations.  We found that brand advocates are 83% more likely to share information about a product than typical web users, and 50% more likely to influence a purchase.  Advocates enjoy solving problems and helping others make better purchase decisions.  They are 75% more likely to share a great product experience and three times more likely to share product opinions with someone they don’t know.

These stats, and many others in this study, show that advocates act and think very differently from typical web users – they are a different breed of consumer.

The findings from this study make up the first “Field Guide to Brand Advocates”.   Check out the infographic below and download the complete study at http://u.bzz.com/FieldGuide.

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Twitter’s 50/.05 Rule

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Everyone knows about the 80/20 rule, but did you know that it doesn’t apply to Twitter? Not even close.  We’ve always know that a few dedicated users generate much of the discussion, but new research from Yahoo finds that 50% of the tweets are created by just .05% of users.  A very small group of people are creating the content that drives discussion and shapes perceptions of all Twitter users.

The Yahoo study uncovered some other facts about Twitter that we haven’t seen before.

  • They found a significant homophily with the categories of users. People like to follow others like them. Celebrities typically follow celebrities, media follows other media, bloggers follow other bloggers, etc.
  • Posts from different types of people have very different lifespans. Posts originating from the media users have very short lifespans while posts from bloggers live the longest. A blogger’s post is more likely to be retweeted months and even years after its introduction.
  • The topic matters too. Posts linking to videos, music and product reviews on Amazon have lifespans that are “effectively unbounded and can seemingly be rediscovered by Twitter users indefinitely without losing relevance”.

The data on celebrity Twitter users is interesting considering that some companies are paying celebs to Tweet about their products.  If this is something you are considering, Yahoo found that celebrities have among the largest followings on Twitter but their posts are the shortest-lived and the least likely to be retweeted by others. That doesn’t sound like influence to me.

Recent reports state that there are 175 million registered Twitter users. 90% follow less than 50 others and only 1.5 million follow more than 500 others. We see a lot of that at BzzAgent. Charting follower counts of Twitter users looks like a reverse bell curve.  Most people either have many thousands of followers or a small group of close friends. There are far fewer in the middle.

Does this mean that a marketer doesn’t need to take Twitter seriously?  Not at all. In fact, comScore says that Twitter users spend a lot of money online. They outspend general web users by as much as 64%.

The key is to work with the right people. Even if you are not connected to that top 0.05%, you can find those with an expertise and significant influence in your topic area. Tools like Klout and PeerIndex can help you narrow down the audience. They’ll give you those with a voice and a large following in your marketplace, but don’t stop there.

Once you find them, what do you do with them? You’ll want to introduce them to a program designed to expose them to your product and all the information they’ll want to share with others. This is an ongoing process that builds momentum with new activities promotions and offers… and it monitors their contributions (remember the FTC is watching). Then you can measure their influence in terms of sales generated and not just their potential for action.

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Your Facebook Page is Not Enough

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

If you want to use social media to influence product sales, it’s not what you put on your Facebook page, it’s what consumers put on theirs.

That’s the takeaway from a recent GroupM and comScore study about the consumer path to purchase. They studied the web activities of online shoppers 90 days before a purchase and found that just 1% of purchasers engaged with the brand’s Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages before the sale.  But that doesn’t mean that social isn’t influential, its just the wrong social media. People are looking for each other.  16% of purchasers were involved with user-review content posted on social media sites about the company.

Marketers need to look beyond their own branded social media pages and focus on starting conversations all across the web where their customers live and play. Reviews from friends and other users of the product are the strongest influence on sales, and that purchase decision may happen long before they consider your brand, let alone take the time to visit your Facebook page. Consumers know where their friends talk about products and the message has to come from their own Facebook pages and communities.

Paid search ads have long been the marketer’s tool for driving ROI online, but this study also shows that search really needs social to be effective.  People who buy online are almost as likely to use a combination of search and social resources (48%) as they are to just use search (51%) prior to the sale  In fact, when consumers were exposed to both brand-specific search results and social media, search response rates increased by 94%. What search marketer wouldn’t like to see a performance boost like that? For two media formats that are so tightly intertwined, isn’t it funny that in most companies search and social live in completely different departments?

If that wasn’t enough, ForeSee indexed a variety of media sources based on their ability to influence an online purchase. As you can see below, the top 3 sources are all reviews from consumers or close friends.  Messages from the company Facebook page are down at #7. Interestingly, search engines are at the bottom of the list.

Source: ForSee “Social Media Marketing, Do Retail Results Justify Investment?”

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