Redefine efficiency
Cleansing your data should be a priority. Time invested in your data quality during this period will see exponentially improved effciencies when business picks up again.
Ben Briggs – Media Director
Just because you’ve always done things the same way for as long as you can remember, doesn’t mean it’s the right way of doing it. It’s a chance to take stock, re-evaluate, reset and innovate, and challenge your supply chain to do the same.
Integrated media flighting will no longer be enough. Clients and agencies will need to re-imagine campaign integration and re-design the system. Campaigns can no longer run just without thought; they need to be data lead, strategic, answer short term KPIs, but more than ever, feed into longer term strategies and business-driving metrics.
In the short-term marketers will need to switch to channels which can be tightly targeted to reduce wastage. This may mean data-matching their first party data with media owners such as AdSmart or using it to create a model for partially addressed mail, for example.
Brands will also need to consider how they want consumers to respond to them and how responses are managed. Some call centres that aren’t digitally enabled will need to shut due to restrictions around mass gatherings.
Tougher restrictions around social distancing will render footfall measurement tools like Rippl temporarily obsolete.
Does this mean that direct response is going to be replaced by brand response in the short term?
No.
Capturing marketing performance is going to become more crucial than ever. With a digital-first response, brands will need to ensure they have a website that is fit for purpose and the ability to track voucher code redemption.
Will we see the mass return of the PURL and the previously tested QR code?
Brands will need to ensure that all activity is trackable in some way, so attribution becomes absolutely critical and getting it right will help guide brands through this sea of uncertainty.
And finally, they also need to ensure all their comms carry consistent messaging in order for each channel to reinforce the others.
Neill Horie – Associate Director of Digtial Strategy
Efficiency or effectiveness?
The temptation right now will be to focus on efficiency over all else, which may be right for some businesses, but as everyone will likely be doing this, focusing on what you can do to stand out and be more effective may lead to greater ROI.
If everyone is focusing on the cheapest and least risky spends, the reward for doing a good campaign will suddenly be greater, particularly as stand-out may be greater. Some industries (e.g. delivery, video games, eGaming) may have the opposite problem which also prioritises effectiveness, with a whole host of new or higher value customers who may not be as used to or bought into the market and will want more hand- holding and better quality.
Reward loyalty
How brands act in these times can make or break their relationship with their customers; loyalty is a two-way street.
How can brands stay top of mind during the tough times and earn consumer loyalty which outlasts any crisis?
Holly Payet – Planning Manager
So much of the conversation around brand loyalty usually focuses on how to make customers become or remain loyal. But now the tables have turned; brands need to prioritise being loyal to their customers. That means showing up, being clear how they can help, and going above and beyond their usual product offering to help customers however they need it most.
There are many customers taking to social media to boost the profiles of local shops over national ones, and lists are being created of how well brands are responding to the crisis and looking after their staff. If the consumer memory proves to be a long one, brands will need to do well now to survive later.
Many reward schemes focus on discounts and VIP experiences. Brand Beauty Pie revolve around the idea that beauty can be an expensive industry, but by subscribing, members can receive heavy discounts on all their products. To combat the national reduced spending, and to give something back to their loyal customers, they sent out an email to not charge membership costs for the next two months as a thank you for continuing to shop with them.
O2 have long been masters of the loyalty scheme. O2 Priority not only benefits existing customers with a range of perks and early-access deals, but it also functions as an effective acquisition strategy, drawing people in who recognise they can get a similar phone contract anywhere, but can only get priority perks here. Last week, O2 reached out to their existing customers to let them know that they were making all NHS websites ‘zero-rated’, meaning any mobile data used on this site will not be taken from your contracted package. Not only does this prioritise customers needing health advice, but it ensures that they will receive correct information from a trusted source.
Homeware brand Homesense have taken a different approach to loyalty and sent an email to customers letting them know they wouldn’t be sending emails for a little while. Instead, they will be focusing their efforts on prioritising wellbeing of staff and customers, working with their network of charities to provide additional support, and donating vouchers and food to foodbanks. The tone of the email is conversational and caring and takes a different approach to loyalty; one that recognises customers have more pressing concerns and stepping away from the noise in the inbox.
To read the rest of What Matters Now? please download the full report here
