A new Digital Platform GPS (DP/GPS) developed by Brand Keys, the New York-based brand and customer loyalty and engagement consultancy (www.brandkeys.com) shows how to accurately link brand loyalty strategy with digital platforms – matching marketing strategy and web platforms in their categories – as well as identifying the product and service categories where consumers exhibited the highest – and lowest – levels of digital involvement.
The ten categories with the highest digital involvement were identified as:
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Online Retail, 2 to 97 hours
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Tablets, 5 to 94 hours
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Digital SLR Cameras, 1 to 90 hours
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Mutual Funds, 2 to 90 hours
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Social Networking, 1 to 87 hours
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OTC Pain Relievers, 1 to 85 hours
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Car Insurance, 2 to 84 hours
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Major League Sports, 3 to 83 hours
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Wireless, 1 to 76 hours
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Laptop Computers, 1 to 72 hours
The ten categories with the lowest digital involvement we found to be:
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Hair Color, 1 to 24 hours
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Hair Conditioners, 4 to 30 hours
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Gasoline, 2 to 27 hours
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Price Clubs, 2 to 34 hours
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Cosmetics (Luxury), 4 to 36 hours
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Airlines, 1 to 35 hours
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Facial Moisturizers, 2 to 40 hours
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Packaged Coffee, 1 to 40 hours
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Drug Stores, 1 to 42 hours
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Diapers, 3 to 48 hours
“As pervasive as digital media and digital loyalty outreach is today, surprisingly there has been no single-source that identified how various digital platforms engage with loyalty in specific categories,” said Amy Shea, Brand Key’s EVP global product development. “Brand Keys sorted the top 500 digital platforms by usage into 14 categories, which describe how people actually behave in the digital space." The 14 digital platforms included:
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Blogs
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Brand’s Website
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Browsing Portals (I.E. Yahoo)
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Classified
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Digital Magazines
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Digital Newspapers
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Email
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Gaming
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Mobile Apps
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Music
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Online Video
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Search
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Shopping Portals (Like Amazon) and
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Social Networks.
"CMOs recognize there is no one-size-fits-all approach to digital communication and loyalty-building but what’s really fascinating when we look at specific findings by category is we see how digital communication platforms are category-dependent, and exactly where digital intersects with the drivers of consumer behavior and loyalty,” noted Shea. “Armed with this knowledge, brands, for the first time, can communicate in digital space with an understanding of not only what strategy to use – but also what to do and what to say.
Digest Involvement by Platform
The study also measured self-reported category-specific ranges of digital involvement, the time consumers spend weekly on any or all of 14 digital platforms. Across the 83 categories usage ranged from a low of one hour to a high of 97 hours a week.
“There are amazing differences in digital dynamics when you look at digital involvement through a category loyalty lens,” said Shea. "Consumers with top 20% digital category involvement see the world differently. What they expect brands to deliver on those platforms is vastly different and knowing that can impact branding and messaging success. We’re calling those consumers in that top 20% of digital category involvement ‘Higitals.’ But the way digital marketing and adoption is going, when it comes to brand strategy, you might as well call them ‘the future,’” added Shea.
Methodology
The Brand Keys Digital Platform Engagement Index survey comprises 49,000 customer interviews, M/F, 18-65 years of age, drawn from the nine US Census regions. Respondents self-classified for category and brand participation in 83 categories with 598 brands, and reported time spent weekly on any or all of the set of 14 digital platforms. Results are generalizable at the 95% confidence level using a methodology that has been independently validated. The DPEI provides a unique perspective on digital usage, platforms, category, and brand, and offers marketers the following:
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Category-specific identification of ranges of Digital Involvement, i.e., time spent weekly on any/all of a set of digital platform archetypes (Social media networking, blogs, mobile apps, etc.).
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The ranking of each digital platform in each category, based on the percent-contribution the platforms make to engagement and loyalty, offering a hierarchy that can finally inform where to best allocate resources in the digital space;
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Exactly how those digital platforms connect with the emotional and rational drivers of consumer decision making in each category, allowing advertisers to customize content when using those digital platforms;
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How consumers with high-digital involvement see each category versus the general population to help steer brands into a digitally-pervasive future;
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Identification of electronic devices providing the “best” interaction with each of the digital platforms for each category.