by Viktor Eichmann, Co-Founder and Managing Director at adlicious
The e-commerce boom in Germany continues unabated, yet stationary retail is still responsible for almost 90 percent of all retail sales. So why not try to combine the benefits of a personalized customer journey, as we know them from online shopping, with high-turnover stationary retail? Dynamic drive-to-store ads are an effective way to do this.
Linking online marketing and brick-and-mortar retail
Customers look locally, get advice and finally buy online — that's the cliché. The so-called ROPO effect (Research Online - Purchase Offline) proves that it usually works the other way around. According to this, up to 92 percent of all stationary purchases are researched online in advance — a buyer potential that retailers should use. Drive-to-store ads offer an effective way to extend the digital customer journey to brick-and-mortar retail while creating a personalized user experience.
Personalization across the entire customer journey
Nowadays, personalization, one of the favorite buzzwords of marketing departments, is much more than just addressing your name in a newsletter — and it has to be. Platforms such as Netflix or Spotify have fundamentally changed usage habits with their personalized recommendations. An individual experience is not only “nice-to-have,” but absolutely necessary and yet is criminally neglected. According to a recent Rakuten marketing survey among marketers, personalized content is only used in 43 percent of all campaigns. Almost half of Germans deliberately reveal appropriate data in order to receive personalized advertising. Even from an economic point of view, there is every reason for personalization. This not only avoids unnecessary wastage, but according to the global study “Winning in the Age of Personalization,” almost three quarters of all customers are also more likely to buy well-known products. As a result of personalized advertising, almost as many are more interested in previously unknown products. Dynamic prospecting is a good way to achieve this desired personalization. Prospecting is a targeting method that targets new customers based on their buying interests. In order to know your interests and to minimize unnecessary wastage, you need appropriate user data. Since it involves reaching out to previously unknown customers, you cannot draw on your own data, but must use information from marketers, aggregators or platforms with a large number of users such as Google, Amazon or Facebook. Dynamic prospecting finally combines targeted targeting with dynamic product integration, tailored to the interests and preferences of the respective user, thus creating a personalized experience. For example, a sporting goods manufacturer can play appropriate rackets or tennis shoes for tennis lovers and at the same time offer an amateur golfer the right products for their sport. One way to use dynamic prospecting and at the same time combine it with high-turnover stationary retail offers so-called “drive-to-store” ads, which are offered both standardized by Google and individually tailored by specialized agencies such as adlicious.
Set-Up: Free from third-party cookies
The basis of “drive-to-store” ads is the buying interest of potential customers in certain products or services. This buying interest is derived from user data purchased from platforms such as Google or Amazon. The target groups are manually created from this data and divided into different categories, e.g. “woman - 25 to 35 - interested in fitness” or “man - 40 to 50 - tennis lover”. This data is combined with a suitably designed display banner with dynamic elements. Through these elements, the banner obtains various information, such as images, product names, descriptions or prices, from a data feed in real time. The respective data feed is provided, maintained and regularly re-integrated into the banner by the advertiser so that price changes or out-of-stock messages can be quickly adopted. In this way, campaigns always remain “up to date” and can be easily integrated into “Always On” concepts. An ad server with recommendation engine links the created target group categories with the advertiser's product catalog. The customer is thus presented with three products that match their interests. Which products are displayed exactly is influenced by rules for the recommendation engine. For example, it could be the best-selling products, up-and-coming trending products or focus products from current campaigns in the required categories. In addition to the product information, a card is also dynamically integrated. Both Google Maps, Open Maps or comparable products can be used. This shows the customer the way to the nearest store where the products can be purchased. These can be the advertiser's own stores or stores from retail partners. Performance and branding effects are achieved by running the “drive-to-store” ads several times along the entire customer journey. Another special feature of dynamic prospecting is that no use of third-party cookies is required for implementation, as first-party user data from platforms such as Amazon or Google is used. Especially in view of the current developments surrounding the upcoming “cookie calypse”, this is a significant argument for using “drive-to-store” ads.
Measuring the success of drive-to-store campaigns
While conversions are easy and easy to track digitally, measuring the success of offline campaigns is naturally much more difficult. However, there are several options for “drive-to-store” campaigns. On the one hand, through related advertising impact studies. These are randomly displayed to users who have seen the “drive-to-store” ads in advance. In this way, a survey can be used to determine whether they have visited the advertised store. To determine the generated advertising impact, the surveys are also sent to a control group of users who have not come into contact with the advertising. The uplift compared to the control group is thus scientifically determined in the form of an advertising impact study. Classic voucher codes can also be used to measure success. These are displayed, personalized or generally valid, within the drive-to-store ads and can then be redeemed in the respective store. In this way, concrete conversions can also be measured at stationary locations.
conclusion
Despite the booming online trade for years, stores are still the number one revenue driver. However, hardly any marketing campaign creates appropriate links. “Drive-to-store” ads provide a remedy here and combine the advantages of a personalized customer journey with high-turnover stationary retail.
This post first appeared on ADZINE.
With our platform you can easily book online advertising, even without being an advertising expert!
