1) Addressing customers across different shopping and marketing channels used to be easier but is now more complex as consumers obtain information from various sources.
2) EXPO helps companies crowdsource customer shopping experiences and opinions to create messaging that can reach consumers on mobile searches, brand websites, social ads, in retail stores, and through word-of-mouth sharing.
3) A comScore study found that both professionally produced and user-generated videos can influence customers' product preferences but that user videos may hold viewers' interest longer due to their unedited style.
5. Source: US only; comScore, Pew
1 in 4 consumers
post about you or
to you
6.
7. Consumers persuaded by
Professional video
comScore April 2012 study comparing “Lift in Share” sourced by professionally scripted video and user product review. 2.7% overlap in respondents
persuaded by each video.
Consumers persuaded by
User video
2.7% Overlap
8. comScore April 2012 study comparing “Lift in Share” sourced by professionally scripted video and user product review. 2.7% overlap in respondents
persuaded by each video.
Consumers persuaded by
Professional video
Consumers persuaded by
User video
User-Gen Reviews
Competitive Comparison
Product Quality
Product Convenience
New Feature Information
Professional Video
Emotional Elements
Brand Differences
Superiority Claims
As you heard from Macy’s social can make an impact on your business. What I’d like to address with my time is getting social help with some of your most pressing digital needs….specifically content that helps with the explosion of shopper marketing needs.
What’s the explosion? Impacting at point of purchase used to be simple. 17 years ago P&G coined “First Moment of Truth” which was where you could make a retail impact on a shopper. It was meant to be in-store, right when you first see the product. That was 17 years ago, which also happened to be the year when a little bookseller started selling online, with the crazy name Amazon.com
17 years later, Google had to notch back a number to introduce the “Zero moment of truth” to describe the new impact on consumers at retail. The explosion of reaching the ‘click to buy’ moment is dizzying. You can do it from youtube, from an ad, even from facebook – things we hadn’t even thought of when FMOT was the troubling spot. Google tracked 3,000 paths to purchase…not one was the same. The new ‘point of purchase’ is everywhere, and only increasing as mobile begins its domination.
So now shopper Marketing has become a term that can now mean every consumer touchpoint offline or online. Google says “80% of success in the ZMOT is just showing up.” But how can you create enough relevant content to show up everywhere when the average shopper is looking at 8 different sources?
EXPO believes that activating consumers can help you solve your content needs. They can create a great amount of content cost effectively and persuasively. In fact, 1 in four are doing it already, we call them the Brand Connected Consumer. These are consumers who are filling the web with conversations around your brands. They want to connect with brands, they want to be part of the conversation. 70-80% of them believe you see what they’ve posted and that you value what they say.
Harnessing that power and all that activity to help create persuasive content takes time and trust, but doing so can unlock a tremendous amount of value that your competitors don’t have. Just like everything else you do, creating content with consumers takes a great deal of investment to make it helpful and useful. So, why is this content worth the investment?
Why put the time into consumer generated content? In tests with comScore, we found that people who were impacted to purchase products by professional videos were a complete separate consumer than those moved to purchase products from consumer videos. In fact there was only a 2.7% overlap between the two types of consumers. By not creating content in the consumer voice, your professional messaging doesn’t impact everyone open to your product. Your messages, when they find the right consumer, might not be the right message.
Why do the two medias appeal so differently?> There are two main differences in consumer gen vs. professional content. We uncovered with comScore that everyday consumers naturally addressed persuasive points that were completely different from the strengths of TV commercials or other digital advertising. Where TV commercials won people over on emotion and brand strength, everyday consumers hit other highly persuasive elements, such as product features, lifestyle stories, and competitive comparisons.
The second major difference from professional is the authenticity of the message created by real consumers. On a more apples to apples comparison we tested longer form professional how-to against an unedited user-generated how-to for the same product. The authenticity, and the ability for consumers to know what’s important led to an unedited how to by a consumer to outstrip the interest level from a scripted, edited, professionally produced how to.
So how do you fill your digital shelf with this content? The great thing is that consumer content can be very flexible to fit the right shelf. Let’s start with the ZMOT at the online retailer product page. As you know each and every pixel is precious to them, and their testing is rigorous. In the hopes of the right content, to the right person at the right time, being able to create a choice helps consumers find the person most like them. In presenting user-gen content at the retail page, Quidsi elected to show as many as 9 thumbnails to be available on their product pages. We find that in a comparison, users will choose user video 2:1 over professional video when given a choice. Quidsi is taking advantage of the fact that video viewers are 64% more likely to purchase, and wants to give them a broad range of choices to personalize their experirence.
In addition, having many voices can help support messaging that is important to the brand. We are working with a major retailer to create a information-centric ‘superpinion’ for publishing on product pages. In this case the retailer has chosen to limit the video experience to a single hi-impact, highly informative video. Here is an example of what we have put together. Not love it love it love itSpecifcially focusing on high impact demonstration, before after, in room usage. That’s another digital shelf usage that social content can provide.
Expanding the concept off the retailer, manufacturers are making ‘digital shelves’ everywhere they can in the ZMOT. Their brand website is the #2 place to start researching after a search engine. 60% will go to a manufacturer site during their research. Having product content can drive to sale to retailers, or DTC, by simply adding functionality on persuasive content.
And although you might not buy anything now from Facebook, it has recently surpassed google as the #1 place people spend time online. Again, when they’re on your content, turning it into a retail shelf can only be a help. In fact, EXPO has seen higher click to buy activity on Facebook than on manufacturer sites.
Hopefully, I’ve shown you that it is possible to crowdsource for impactful, persuasive commerce content. In addition, having the breadth and depth that consumers provides can help you turn multiple points of presence into digital shelves.
We’ve been in NY for 7 yearsWe work with the most innovative companies, including P&G for 5 years supporting over 20 brands, LG Electronics, Kimberly Clark and J&J, including retailers like you saw hereWe work directly with brands and their agencies, and put together a team to customize success for every campaign or product line.I’ll be here today, and I’d love to talk with you more about crowdsourcing or anything else.