Right now, more than ever, you need to change your approach to engaging with shoppers and encouraging them to buy. The recent Covid situation has changed stores and shoppers, and so we need to do things differently. But more than that, competition is about to get really tough. So we need to change, and we need to up our game. So here is one thing you can do NOW to both change AND improve the way you engage with shoppers in online and offline stores.
Why do we need to change the way we engage with shoppers?
Shopping behavior has been changing for a while now. Shoppers have been switching channels, using more channels, making smaller, more frequent shops. And Covid19 has created yet more upheaval in shopping behavior. Many shoppers have switched channels again, with online shopping being a significant beneficiary. And in physical stores, shoppers often are less likely to browse, more likely to plan, and want to limit the time they spend in a store. Engaging with shoppers is getting harder.
More than that, many of the tools that we typically use aren’t available to us. Retailers around the world have culled sampling, events and activations. Promotions have been reduced as retailers have focused on maintaining on-shelf availability. The typical shopper engagement toolkit is stripped bare. We need to think differently.
Why do we need to improve the way we engage with shoppers?
As already stated, shoppers are less willing to engage in stores, so it stands to reason that we need to up our game. But beyond that, we need to get better. Many organizations have cut spend, concerned about the inevitable post-Covid economic downturn. Shopper marketers will need to make their dollars work a lot harder! And of course the downturn itself is going to make things hard: shoppers will become much more price and value sensitive. The temptation to turn to price and promotion will be tempting, but the smart shopper marketer knows that promotions are dangerous if over-used. Shopper marketers need to change their game and up their game if they are to win the post-Covid shopper!
This is a good thing
Before we go any further, let’s be clear. Shopper marketers and trade marketers being forced to rethink their approaches to shopper engagement is a good thing! Why? Simply put, the chances that what you have been doing in the past being the ‘best’ way of engaging with shoppers is small. Our historic plans were based on historic data, experience, and often, ‘what we did last time’. You know it. I know it. Much of our plan is based on what we’ve done in the past. And that is not a good reason to do it again. We run activities out of habit. I see launch plans from across the world and too often the approach is generic. We do the same thing again and again. Now is a great opportunity to challenge the way we work in stores, and to consider if there are alternative ways, better ways, of spending our time and money.
How to build better shopper engagement
Before I tell you the answer. Let me tell you what isn’t. The answer isn’t to invest in hi-tech solutions. It isn’t to go digital. It isn’t to pile in promotions. The answer isn’t any specific type of activity at all. The answer, is to come up with better objectives first.
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I know. Objectives are boring. We want to play with that cool in-store tech! I know the feeling. I’ve been there. But. Objectives are the most powerful thing you can do when planning activity. Objectives tell us what we want to achieve, and therefore do three really powerful things.
- Objective help us select the appropriate tactics. Without an objective it is impossible to effectively rate one tactic over another
- Objectives help us predict whether an activity will deliver an acceptable return on investment
- Objectives give us something to evaluate the activity against. Without an objective, how do we know that we have been successful?
The most powerful objective in shopper marketing
Objectives are important, but which objectives? Most managers set some form of sales objective for their activity. That’s great, it’s a good start (in fact, we recommend at least three types of objective for any marketing activity, including a commercial objective). But a sales objective might help us measure predict and measure the return on investment, but it doesn’t really help us focus on the best tactics. Lots of things can increase sales. If we want a more focused, powerful, shopper engaging activity, we need a SHOPPER objective. Specifically, we need a Shopper Behavior Objective (SBO).
The key to better shopper engagement – Shopper Behavior Objectives
Shopper behavior objectives are straight forward. They describe the change in behavior of the target shopper that we desire. It is built from the following components:
The Target Shopper: Who are we targeting? The more specific we can be about this, the more focused and powerful our shopper marketing program will be.
What is the current behavior of the target shopper? What do they do right now? Where do they shop? Where do they research, what do they buy? Why? The more detail we can apply here, the better. The more we know about what the target shopper does now, the more likely we are to be able to ‘get into their heads’ and engage them on that purchase journey.
What will the future behavior be? What do we want these shoppers to do now? Buy our brand instead of the competitor? Buy fresh instead of frozen? Buy two packs instead of one?
Clarity on each of these areas leads to a clear, focused objective which sits alongside any commercial objectives. But the SBO helps us think through our marketing mix much more effectively. Now we can brainstorm all the potential tactics we could use, and evaluate each tactic, or combination of tactics against its ability to change the behavior of these specific shoppers.
Create better shopper engagement now
So before you get sucked into doing more promotions. Before you get tempted by that wonderful in-store technology, or online engagement platform, do yourself a favor. Go back and rethink your objectives. Build Shopper Behavior Objectives. Then consider ALL the options you have to achieve them.
Creating Shopper Behavior Objectives is a straightforward process but it can be a little tricky at first. If you and your team would like some help in working through this process, we can definitely do that. We can work on your brand and create powerful shopper behavior objectives and improve the shopper marketing mix in just a few hours! Get in touch now and we can work out how best to help your team really engage with shoppers.