Activating Consumer Insights? – Look for the Shopper Insight Twin!

What happens when you have a super cool consumer insight, but don’t consider the shopper? Or if you think about the shopper but don’t think about the consumer? A high chance of failure or at best, average. Why? Because we need to win with both consumers and shoppers to be successful. Activating a consumer insight needs more than just a powerful consumer insight! In this post I want to share a great case study of an activity that has both consumer insight and shopper insight at its heart.

What happens when we only consider the consumer insight when activating?

Imagine if you have a consumer insight: that is you’ve uncovered an understanding of consumers that we didn’t have before, and we know how to use that understanding to drive new consumption. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Just get that activated in the market and we are away!

Or not. What if we’ve just unlocked consumption, but we haven’t unlocked purchase too? What happens if we’ve nailed exactly how to get people to use more, but we haven’t considered how to get them to buy more? In simple terms, we’ve created demand without supply, because if something doesn’t get bought, how on earth will it get consumed? And that means that we’re not only not maximizing the opportunity, we’re also wasting our marketing investment. Because marketing spend only delivers a return when a shopper actually buys!

Activating consumer insights often needs us to find the shopper insight ‘twin’

Which is why when we develop insights for or with clients in our workshops and training programs, we look for both a consumer and a shopper insight. And a great place for finding insights is to ask some big questions. ‘Why’ is a super question for finding insights, but my favorite question by far is ‘why not’.

The most powerful question in marketing is the key to using shopper insights to activate a consumer insight

‘Why not’ is so powerful. Think about it. We’ve got a super brand. People like it. But they don’t use it. Or don’t use it enough. Why not? ‘Why not’ addresses the biggest question in marketing. And if we can answer it, then we have a fantastic growth opportunity.

But we have to search for a consumer ‘why not’ and a shopper ‘why not’ if we are to be sure to be successful. This is the concept of the shopper insight ‘twin’.

Consumer and Shopper ‘Why Not’ activation in action

Check out this example. Schwarz make dried herbs and spices and wanted to grow their business. So how do you go about that?

Consumer ‘Why Not’

Data showed that younger people weren’t using herbs and spices as much as older people. Why not? There were many reasons (some don’t want to cook, some don’t have time for herbs and spices) but for one segment there was a really interesting ‘why not’. These people wanted to use herbs & spices in their cooking, but didn’t know how!

Well that is a really cool consumer insight isn’t it? And so actionable. All we need to do is show them how to use the product and we are in!

What would you do? I bet I know what you are thinking! A big digital campaign coupled with recipe cards in store. Show the consumer how to use the product and bingo!

Shopper ‘Why Not’ Twin

Fortunately for Schwarz, that wasn’t what they did. Or rather, that wasn’t all that they did. If that were all they had done, it would have failed.

Because while digital recipes and recipe cards address the consumer barrier, they don’t really address the shopper barrier. The shopper ‘why not’ twin insight!

Take a look at the shelf pictured at the top of this article. How friendly is it? Is it engaging? Easy to shop? Not to a young, inexperienced home-chef it isn’t. The shelf is intimidating! That is a shopper barrier, right there!

But there’s more. How much do these herbs and spices cost? Each one can cost several dollars. And for a recipe, the wannabe chef might need three or four or five. That’s a lot of cash (before they’ve even bought any of the other ingredients).

Consumer insights are not the same as shopper insights

Think about it from the shopper’s point of view. I’m about to cook a meal that I’ve never cooked before. It could be a complete disaster, which could be embarrassing and inconvenient, but its also now looking like potentially it could be an expensive disaster.

Its enough to make any aspiring chef run to the readymade sauce aisle or pick up a frozen pizza!

So how do we overcome all of these barriers? How do you inspire the wannabe chef and overcome the consumption barrier, as well as reduce the shopper risk in terms of investment, and help the shopper cut through the complexity of the shelf?

Activating with consumer and shopper “why nots” in mind

But take a look at the execution here. “Inspiration kits”. Little packs with small quantities of the spices. For about a dollar. On the back of each blister pack, a series of recipes.

• Recipes to help overcome the consumer barrier
• A sample pack to help overcome the price barrier
• A center shelf call-out to cut through the complexity and make it easy for a shopper to know what to buy.

Is it complicated? Not at all. Is it clever? Absolutely.

 

The holy trinity of shopper marketing

There is a simple blend here of availability (a unique pack, together with disruptive displays to drive visibility), communication (great messaging throughout) and offer (trial pack). The trinity of availability, communication and offer are the core elements of effective in-store marketing – nearly always more powerful than just communication or offer on its own. Building a cohesive shopper marketing mix is much more likely to deliver the desired change in shopping behavior.

Bring consumer and shopper ‘why not’ thinking to your business now

We use this case study in our consumer and shopper insights training programs to help demonstrate how effective consumer and shopper insights can be together. If all we do is address either the consumer or the shopper, the risk of failure is high. But if we ensure we clearly understand the consumer AND shopper ‘why not’ and make sure our solution addresses both of them, we increase the chances of success considerably.

If you want help uncovering consumer or shopper insights for your business, or you’d like us to train your team to do it themselves, check out our programs or get in touch now.

 

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