Shoptology CEO: Dig Deeper for Insights about Human Behavior and Engagement

For Shoptology CEO Charlie Anderson, improving the levels of customer engagement and the overall customer experience comes from digging deeper, and asking different questions to elicit insightful responses.

“Shopper marketing been around less than 15 years and has been thought of as package design, POS, and retail,” Anderson told Loyalty 360. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve been diving in with property tools and fresh insights and created opportunities that wouldn’t have been there before. We’re asking different questions and getting different responses. It’s really about digging deeper for insights about human behavior and engagement.”

Anderson pointed to the Gillette Mach 3 razor as an example.

“When Gillette came out with the Mach 3 razor, we were looking at testosterone advertising with fighter jets, explosions, a tough guy idea. When you dug under the surface, you found that 60% of those purchases were being made by women for men.”

Last month Project WorldWide announced plans to acquire Mercury 11, a social media and marketing technology agency with retail and shopper marketing focus. Mercury 11 will be integrated with Project: WorldWide’s Shoptology, the rapidly growing shopper engagement agency. When the deal closes, the merged entity will be called Shoptology and will be led by Anderson, one of the industry’s leading shopper marketing executives.

Anderson said the biggest shift in shopper marketing he sees is already happening.

“We already see it coming to life with Amazon with user ratings and product reviews,” he said. “Product ratings are becoming pretty relevant. Shoppers having smartphones means they pretty much all the time can easily access that information whether they’re online or in a brick-and-mortar store. This will play a more significant role and be more readily accessible.”

Depending on the type of brand and level of involvement, shopper marketing can shorten the purchase cycle by seeing product reviews and seeing total inventory, Anderson said.

Regarding social media, Anderson said it’s interesting to watch the leaders and the followers.

“Brands like Tide and Campbell’s Soup sit back and watch and let other brands test dangerous waters, but when someone steps out there and does something very progressive you see followers,” Anderson said.

Anderson cited the splash OREO made at Super Bowl XLVII in February in New Orleans. During the infamous Super Bowl blackout, ad agency 360i immediately tweeted a simple picture of an Oreo standing in a spotlight, surrounded by darkness, with the text: “You can still dunk in the dark." Everyone raved about it, shining a global spotlight on real-time social media marketing.

“OREO really stepped out there at the Super Bowl,” Anderson said. “You wouldn’t have thought of OREO as a progressive social media brand. After that, the company shifted 10% of its budget to social media. The OREO example has led to trying to always have teams out together so they can respond like that in 30 seconds. Now six months later, you’re seeing a lot of those things from major packaged goods companies.”

Anderson said Facebook can become the “center of the universe” for driving engagement for local retailers.

“People on Facebook talk about local events, the weather outside, and brands can create contests,” Anderson said. “That portal never existed until a few years ago.”

Most retailers use Facebook to create pull to their brick-and-mortar environments, Anderson said.

“I see more innovation in how you can create social commerce on Facebook,” he said. “Facebook is being used in a variety of ways for brand trial and engagement.”

Anderson noted an innovative customer engagement method being used by a Brazilian shoe retailer that may someday make its way to the U.S.

“There is a Brazilian shoe retailer where if a customer comes within a certain proximity of one of its stores, they’ll send you a text that starts at 100 and counts down. The faster you get to that store, the larger your savings. It’s amazing it’s not mainstream. What we’ve found is when it becomes mainstream, it becomes invisible because it becomes expected.”

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