Are you dropping the ball with your customer interactions? Unless you have the shopper in mind at every touchpoint, you could be missing out on valuable opportunities to improve customer satisfaction. 

What’s worse, if you don’t have control of your touchpoints then a misdirected advertisement, billing mistake or warranty message may turn customers off shopping with you in future.

Optimise every communication you have with the consumer to meaningfully connect at multiple points of the campaign lifecycle – not just before the point of purchase, but also doing purchase and after purchase. Here’s how Shping can help manage touchpoints to get a single customer view:

Customised touchpoints matter
The chance to truly connect with customers is what most marketers strive for. Engaging with consumers before the point of purchase is hugely effective in inspiring sales, but continuing to provide connection during and after purchase inspires lasting loyalty. Knowing what your customer already knows about your brands allows you to tell them something new each time they engage across different touchpoints.

Capitalise on the opportunity to connect with your customer at all points of the campaign lifecycle, and you’ll convert one-time shoppers into repeat customers.

Customised touchpoints are a brand’s chance to connect with customers at every stage of the campaign lifecycle, from start to finish. Shping removes the friction of delivering these custom messages with a seamless campaign workflow that can be completely man aged in the one platform.

During purchase, we can tailor push notifications based on geolocation. This is a great way to incentivise customers with a discount code or rewards offers. These rewards can be easily and seamlessly delivered directly to the consumer through the Shping app: no need for mailing list segmentation, complicated purchase tracking or unwieldy discount codes.

Plus we can deliver bespoke content based on the number of scans the users has previously made (taking into account past engagement and posted reviews) – if they are further along in their consideration stage, we can serve content on how the products can be used, for example in a recipe.

 

Following a purchase, you can use Shping to send them a range of ‘To-Do’s like signing up to your EDM or registering for a warranty. Consider using your To-Do’s to run customer engagement surveys and collect feedback: this is a great opportunity to facilitate a two-way discussion between your brand and the consumer.

Take control of your touchpoints
Your brand story unfolds over a range of customer touchpoints. Some of these – like mobile and web advertisements, EDM’s and physical products – you can control. Some – like online customer reviews and in-store experiences – you can’t.

You can, however, use Shping to reduce the chance of a bad customer experience.

Proactively minimise the likelihood of poor reviews by sending customers a notification encouraging feedback and photos of your product a few days after purchase. This lets customers share honest product feedback with you – rather than on a third-party forum or social platform – and helps you directly address any customer service issues as they arise.

You can also take control of in-store experiences by using the Shping app to directly connect with the customer at the point of purchase. This ensures unified messaging across all retailers and locations based on your pre-set messaging structure. It’s a far more elegant – and reliable – solution than having to negotiate with individual retailers on signage and point of sale logistics.

 

Keep your messaging relevant 

From videos to sponsored content, social media and native advertising, there are so many ways for a customer to experience your brand that it can be easy to lose track of them all. When this happens, it’s easy to make a misstep in your touchpoints that puts a customer off. From an incorrect reminders to an irrelevant EDM, these mistakes can discourage a customer from engaging with your brand again.

Avoid these mistakes and have your touchpoints tracked and managed through the one platform. Shping allows you to seamlessly tailor video content delivery, To-Do notifications, and follow-up reminders that you can set-and-forget. That way, you can focus on pinpointing your messaging and making sure every touchpoint contributes to a great customer journey.

Let us show you the power of Shping for your brand. Book a time for a free demonstration.

Book a time

 

In today’s digital-first world, content is king: consumers want immersive, multi-channel content instead of static banner advertisements.

In fact,  80% of traffic will be driven by video content in the next year, according to Cisco. When you also consider that 95% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service, it becomes clear that multimedia content is a necessity not just a nice-to-have for brands looking to reach consumers.

Deliver the content you’ve already created

Constantly creating content can be expensive and time-consuming. Instead of using your content once then moving it to the archive folder, leverage your existing assets to improve the customer experience. You’ll get more mileage from your content, and your customers will get more opportunities to learn about your products.

Shping lets you deliver the content you’ve already created – whether that’s videos, GIFs or images – directly to the consumer at different stages of their purchasing journey. For example, you can deliver a video content series to a customer each time they scan – each scan will deliver a new video as they learn more and more about your product.

Shping gives you the power to make the most of your existing assets to deliver different levels of messaging to customers at different stages in their shopping journey. That means you can directly target your customers with the relevant content you’ve got on-hand, and getting more return on investment from the content you’ve created.

Reward interactions

On top of letting you deliver personalised, targeted content to customers in-store, the Shping app also rewards customers for interacting with this content. We believe that if you reward customers for their time and engagement, they are far more likely to respond positively to your brand and products – and far more likely to understand your brand story – than if they had simply encountered a promotional poster in-store.

Rewarding your customers for their time shows that you care about their purchasing decisions and value their engagement: in fact, a recent study found that this sense of “wantedness” was a deciding factor in whether a consumer would purchase a product. In the study, the majority (79%) of shoppers said brands have to actually demonstrate that they care, understand and are committed to earning their business before they would consider purchasing their products. With Shping, brands can show customers they care by offering rewards, promotions and incentives for interacting with their content. Not only does Shping provide a platform to leverage your existing content, it also provides consumers with an incentive to interact with it.

Shping can help you make better brand decisions by leveraging your content at every stage of the customer journey. To learn more, book a demo with our team.

Book a time

We live in a content-first world: instead of being served generic advertisements, shoppers want brands that can communicate with them in unique, value-added and engaging ways.

Whether you’re leveraging old content or creating custom assets, targeting the consumer with relevant content at each stage of the purchasing journey keeps them engaged and coming back for more. In fact, a recent survey by Salsify found that 78% of consumer were more likely to buy with a more personally relevant product page which included a variety of content like images, video, text and reviews.

From telling your brand story in a fun and engaging way, to giving consumers the power to share their reviews and images of your product in action, content plays a vital role in influencing purchasing decisions. Here’s how different types of content can inspire consumers:

Product info

Shping gives shoppers the important product information they need to make better purchasing decisions when they need it most. Whether a customer is checking for potential allergens, or wants to know the origins of the product in their hands, Shping draws from the world’s largest consumer facing database to serve product information to consumers on-demand at the critical point before purchase.

 

Certification

As shoppers become more savvy, there is a greater push for brands to be certified against a range of industry standards: whether that’s gluten free or heart-safe for the health conscious, or organic, fair trade and cruelty free for the ethical shopper. The modern consumer cares about the impact of their purchasing decisions, and brands that can prove they are certified against relevant industry standards will have a leg up on their competition.

Video content

Video content is a key tool in your consumer marketing arsenal. Short, engaging videos are a great way to inform shoppers in a fun and immersive way.

Looking to leverage multiple videos to instruct and entertain your customers? Shping allows you to deliver different video content depending on how many times a customer has scanned and interacted with your product. That means you can keep ongoing touchpoints and engage consumers at each stage of the purchasing journey.

Reviews

Researching reviews is an important stage many shoppers go through when purchasing a new product. Recent research has found 66% of consumers trust a brand with many positive reviews.

But most of the time, finding relevant reviews takes dedicated research and filtering: that’s time most shoppers don’t have while on their regular grocery shop.

Here’s where Shping can help. With the scan of a barcode, Shping shows relevant product reviews so that consumers have the information they need at their fingertips and on-command.

 

Shping encourages users to add product reviews by rewarding each reviewer with our very own cryptocurrency: Shping Coins. Brands can take advantage of this and accumulate more reviews by offering extra Coins to consumers who review and rate their product.

User generated images

Seeing a product being used in real-world situations can often give consumers the confidence they need to complete the purchasing journey. Research found that 73% of consumers liked to see 3+ images when shopping for any product online. With Shping, shoppers can see pictures other users have uploaded of your product in action, along with DIY’s, tips and hacks for using it at home.

Targeting consumers with this relevant user-generated content before the critical point of purchase can mean the difference between your product staying on the shelves or making its way to the checkout.

See how Shping can enhance your brand for instore shoppers.

Book a time

In a digital-first world, connecting with your customers is about more than just having a provocative advertising campaign or the most eye-catching designs. The modern consumer has learned to instinctively tune out the noise of traditional advertising: from automatically skipping YouTube advertisements, to changing the station when a radio promotion comes on. Online marketing tactics like banner advertisements fare even worse: with 25% of desktop users using adblocking software, getting your hard-earned advertising spend to reach consumers is trickier than ever before.

 

Here’s where Shping can help. With the ability to connect directly to customers in-store and at that crucial moment before purchase, Shping lets you share relevant promotions, personalised offers and tell your brand story to shoppers that are actively engaging with your product. This is all done through the Shping app, which consumers access through their smartphones. Smartphones are now becoming a key tool for marketing to the consumer: 89% of people are likely to recommend a brand after a positive brand experience on mobile, and people today have twice as many interactions with brands on mobile than anywhere else, according to research from Google.

Connect where it matters most

To effectively reach the consumer, don’t make them come to you. Instead, meet them in the spaces they’re already occupying: their phones. Shoppers are already using their smartphones in-store to enhance the shopping experience: 40% are checking product prices with their phones, while 33% are looking up customer reviews in the aisles. With the Shping app offering this information and more with just the scan of a barcode, brands have the unique opportunity to target consumers at the crucial point before purchase, while they’re directly interacting with your product.

 

Shping uses this unique form of permissions marketing to make sure your brand messages are targeted and relevant to the consumer. These messages are delivered with each scan of your product’s barcode, which means they’re seen by shoppers who are already engaged and receptive to your product – they want to know more about its story, and any promotions or offers that are available. Take this opportunity to tell leverage your best content, tell your brand story, and captivate the shopper to inspire purchase.

Keep it personalised

More and more, consumers are becoming irritated and disengaged from advertising that’s irrelevant and disruptive to their purchasing journey. When you consider 48% of shoppers have actually left a brand’s website and purchased from a competitor because of a poorly personalised experience, the importance of relevant marketing messaging becomes clear. With Shping, you’ll know exactly which items are being scanned, and how many times they’ve been scanned. That means you have control over the messaging, promotions and rewards you can provide to the consumer at each stage of their purchasing journey.

READ MORE: Leverage your existing assets with Shping

This opens up the potential for a myriad of personalised content and offers to be delivered directly to the consumer while they’re actively engaging with your product. Having these personalised experiences can also be the key to converting one-time shoppers into brand loyalists: 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalised experiences, according to recent research conducted by Edelman.

Taking advantage of your consumer’s smartphones in-store is a great way to connect directly with shoppers who are already interested in your product. Providing a mobile-optimised purchasing journey not only helps the consumer make better buying decisions, it also helps you win repeat shoppers and loyal brand champions.

Shping can help you connect directly with the customer in-store. To learn more, book a time to receive a free demonstration on how Shping can help your brand.

Book a time

 

With recent announcements with brands it’s important to reflect on the conversations we’ve had with brands, to highlight some of the common challenges faced and how some brands are planning to combat these issues.

1. Enhance in-store product experiences

We know that over 90% of purchases are still happening in a brick and mortar environment yet we haven’t really seen in-store shopping experiences evolve like online purchasing experiences. To make things tougher for product brands they have little or no control over the in-store experience in most cases. Retailers are the gatekeepers and in some ways digitisation and the merging of online with in-store consumers experiences is reliant on each retailer’s digital transformation journey. Some retailers like Walmart have taken significant steps in recent years, but not many of these enhancements have helped brands provide better experiences for consumers with their products specifically. So how can you help differentiate your products in-store?

Product brands using our Shping app are delivering content to consumers in-store while they are looking at your products. These brands are getting an advantage over their competition in closing that sale, when the shopper is in final decision mode. Whether it be product images, in-situ photography, detailed descriptions, ingredients, nutritional information, videos, social placements, user reviews, certifications and user generated content from social, it’s all at their fingertips and accessed by a simple product scan. Don’t allow your product to be the scan that delivers no content.

2. Building a 1-1 audience with your consumers

One challenge that keeps getting highlighted is the ability for a product brand to build a 1-1 audience of consumers to be able to engage with. Retailers own point of purchase so they own all of the customer data. While having a social presence with relevant and fresh content is really important, growing that audience is becoming more expensive as you bid against competitors lining Google and Facebook’s pockets. With increasing levels of ad fraud (sometimes as high as 60%), who/what are you actually buying?

One of our clients has grown their database of customers by over 20% in 3 months using the Shping app. Everytime a consumer scans one of their products in-store, they become part of their in-app audience. Within the Shping app they are able to set up customised and personalised lifecycle marketing campaigns to target and communicate with them, building brand loyalty and referrals to their network.

3. User-generated content as social proof

Shoppers want to see user-generated content (UGC) that’s real and authentic. In a recent survey, 60% of consumers say content from their friends or family influences their purchase decisions, compared to just 24% who say they are influenced by content from celebrities. UGC was also found to be three times more authentic than brand-created content. When you factor in that 86% of consumers say authenticity is an important factor in deciding which brands they support, it’s clear that user-generated content is a key tool in any marketing arsenal. The good news is you don’t have to spend a fortune to create authentic UGC. Brands can encourage customers to leave reviews, upload photos or comments, and engage using social media campaigns at a fraction of the cost of an in-house advertising campaign.

On top of the current user generated content available in the Shping app, brands will soon be able to have user generated content from over a 100 social platforms worldwide flow seamlessly into each of their product pages in the Shping app. How will we do it you say? Well, it’s a little complicated and uses advanced AI to automate the process of acquiring the user generated content, but also selects the relevant content for that product, location and person. Our current brands are anxiously awaiting the go live date on this new feature and we know many more will love it too.

If you’re marketing and branding a product into retail stores and some of the above challenges sound familiar, then register for a demo to see how the Shping app can work for you.

Book a time

One month in to 2019, a common theme is appearing in all shopper marketing trends. Celebrity endorsements, catchy slogans or expensive advertising campaigns no longer have the appeal they once did. This year, winning over the consumer means taking them on a personalised, meaningful journey – whenever, and wherever they choose to shop.

 

1. Brands will sell in-store experiences, not just products.

 

Providing meaningful, value-added experiences in-store will be a way for brands to connect to the consumer on an emotional level, according to Hubspot. Pulling potential customers into experiences that surprise and delight them will leave much more of a lasting emotional imprint than simply buying a product off the shelf. Brands can leverage services like Shping to deliver content in-store that tells a compelling brand story: one consumers will remember and hopefully want to share with others.

 

2. Greater shopper personalisation

 

In an increasingly saturated retail market, the brands that can provide a personalised shopper experience are the ones that will flourish. A staggering 80% of consumers say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalised experiences, according to research by Edelman. Personalising your customer touchpoints is about more than just making the shopper feel special. It’s about providing them with the most relevant content, information, and purchasing suggestions, when and where they need it most. For example, personalisation not only lets you suggest a product the consumer might like: it also lets you serve them useful tips for using that product, or recipes they could use it in.

 

Read more: Improve your customer touchpoints

3. Shift towards health & wellbeing

With #fitspo and açai bowls dominating our Instagram feeds, it will come as no shock to you that consumers are looking to brands to help make healthy lifestyle decisions. A recent study found a majority of millennials spent money maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and another finding that 85% of shoppers were activity trying to improve their diet. Some apps out of Europe are using personal dietary profiles to help shoppers choose food and groceries based on this pre-loaded profile while another is testing the effects of DNA-personalised food choices. There’s no need to get DNA from consumers. Giving your consumers ample, easy-to-access information about a product to help with their wellness lifestyle goal is a huge start. This can be achieved simply through product info, ingredients and their sources, videos and certifications, and accessing this information via a smartphone would be the most desirable way to distribute this.

 

4. Looking for authenticity? Turn to user-generated content

Sorry, Britney: long gone are the days where a celebrity endorsement would send sales of soft drink skyrocketing. Shoppers today want user-generated content that’s authentic and relatable. In fact, 60% of consumers say content from their friends or family influences their purchase decisions, compared to just 24% who say they are influenced by content from celebrities. User-generated content is also three times more authentic than brand-created content, according to consumers. When you consider that 86% of consumers say authenticity is an important factor in deciding which brands they support, it’s clear that it pays to be real. Ironically, you don’t have to spend much to get authentic user-generated content. Encouraging your customers to leave reviews, upload photos of your product in action, and engage with your brand through social media campaigns are all valuable ways to get authentic content created for your brand, at a fraction of the cost of an in-house advertising campaign.

If you’re looking for a way to connect with and reward your customers directly, Book a demo to see how the Shping platform can work for your brand.  

Book a time

If you want loyal consumers, you need to build a transparent brand. 

That’s the takeaway from a comprehensive consumer study completed by Label Insight, a company that specializes in product data out of the US. The Label Insight Transparency ROI Study targeted more than 2,000 consumers about the impact transparency has on their trust in and loyalty to brands.

While the study focused on brands in the food industry, its key discoveries are relevant to any company that wishes to generate lifelong customers. Here are the five most relevant lessons about brand transparency the study can teach you.

1. Consumers want to know everything about a product

No longer can you slap a label on a product and expect it to fly off the shelves. Consumers want to know more than what’s in your products. They want detailed insights regarding where you sourced your materials, how the product was made, what values guided the production process, and any other information you can provide.

Consumers seek out this information in order to determine whether a company is trustworthy and 56 percent of those surveyed said that additional product information inspires more trust in a given brand. While investing in ethical systems and materials may require more costs upfront, it can have a massive payoff. According to the study, 73 percent of consumers say they’re willing to pay more for a product that promises total transparency. Meanwhile, 39 percent said they would switch to a new brand in the pursuit of product transparency.

2. Consumers want to know more about your brand

In recent years, the internet and social media have allowed brands to develop personalities, value systems, and relationships with other brands and consumers in ways never before seen. Consequently, this makes consumers more curious and they now expect to know more about the companies and brands they are purchasing products from.

In addition to being totally transparent about products, companies are increasingly expected to be transparent about their overarching value systems and the way they do business. Any information fed to customers about a brand should also be completely authentic to avoid any bad press in the future.

In exchange for authentic brand information, consumers are more likely to place their trust in a company and its products. The study found that almost 94 percent of all consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when it commits to full transparency in this way.

3. If your brand isn’t transparent, consumers will hunt for information elsewhere

If a company fails to provide consumers with all the information they desire about a product or brand it can backfire. Consumers will take matters into their own hands and hunt down information if companies aren’t so forthcoming with it.

As the study points out, this means that brands can easily lose control of the available information on their products as consumers turn to third-party sources to determine how products were made. Thus, by being completely transparent brands can retain control of their image and shape the narrative about their products.

4. Millennial mums are leading the consumer charge for transparent branding

The study found that mothers aged 18 to 34 emphasise brand transparency more than any other consumer demographic. They’re also the most willing to seek out product information online and pay more for products that are produced with transparency. A whopping 86 percent of millennial mums reported that they would pay more for a product with full transparency.

Given that this demographic represents upwards of $200 billion in spending power, it’s important to keep their preferences in mind when feeding information to consumers.

5. Brand transparency can produce lifelong consumers

These days, there’s an unprecedented number of brands competing for consumer attention. Determining which products are actually worth buying can be a daunting task. So when consumers find a brand they feel they can trust, they’re more likely to stick with that brand long term.

And what’s the best way to build consumer trust? Brand transparency. In fact, 56 percent of those surveyed said they would be loyal to a company for life if it provided complete transparency. Additionally, 81 percent said they would be willing to sample a brand’s entire range of products if they were comfortable with its degree of transparency.

Brand transparency isn’t just a nice thing to strive for. These days, it’s a business imperative. As trust in businesses falls to new lows, brands can differentiate themselves by committing to being open and honest with their customers. In so doing, they can build a community of dedicated consumers who will commit to their brand for a lifetime.

If you’re marketing a product into retail stores and some of the above challenges sound familiar, then register for a demo to see how the Shping app can work for you.

Book a time

The Benefits of Using Mobile in Your Shelf Placement Strategy

To remain competitive after a new product launch, brands can’t rely solely on repeat customers—they also need a healthy influx of new customers. An investment in mobile technology is typically required to keep the product fresh in consumers’ minds. Mobile app partnerships offer innovative ways to direct shoppers to particular products at-shelf, without paying retailer-commanded advertising fees. There is only so much shelf space and limited room for engaging displays. However, the in-store experience can be guided using mobile technology, as nearly 60% of shoppers look up product information and prices while using their mobile phones in stores.

In many ways, leveraging a mobile shopping app succeeds where others may fail:

• It’s new and exciting. The widespread public perception is that technology increasingly solves our day-to-day woes. They are willing to download a new app they see as beneficial to their shopping experience.
• It bridges the gap between worlds. Shoppers are able to access information about products virtually while still in the physical store. This creates the perfect moment to influence decision-making when it matters most, generating awareness and influencing in-the-moment impulse buys.
• It captures new converts. Through mobile technology, brands can interact with new prospects the moment they walk into a retail store. A mobile road map can direct shoppers to a physical location where the products are located, whether on the top shelf, at eye-level, or on the bottom shelf.
• It’s affordable. Why spend thousands of dollars on a high-tech in-store display, when you can provide similar video content and supplemental material via a consumer’s mobile phone? Scanning barcodes to access content is a process shoppers are comfortable with after several years of trial.

Brands looking to incorporate mobile technology in their shelf placement strategy should consider Shping

Shping Offers an Engaging Way to Build Brand Awareness
Brands looking to incorporate mobile technology in their shelf placement strategy should consider Shping. When Carmex launched a new lip balm flavour, the brand partnered with Shping to build awareness and drive trial and consideration. In store, Shping incentivised users to seek out the product, allowing them to see and feel and taste the difference. Then, through the Shping App , the brand highlighted differentiating product details and delivered a branded video while the product was in shoppers’ hands. By rewarding consumers and engaging them throughout the shopping journey, Shping increased trial and consideration and drove shoppers to purchase.

Contact us to learn more about how Shping is the perfect complement to your shelf placement strategy.

Book a time

Why incentivised advertising is the best approach for driving product awareness
Advertisers are always looking for effective ways to engage consumers, communicate their messages, and drive conversions. Mobile apps are the latest frontier, as they allow marketers the opportunity to stay in-touch with shoppers throughout the day—whether they’re at-home, running errands, on break at work, or researching a new product while waiting in line.

While bombarding prospects with several mobile ads is likely to irritate them, research has shown consumers are increasingly receptive to the idea of incentivised advertising. In fact, up to 80% of shoppers have said they would watch a mobile ad in exchange for rewards from their favourite brand. Rewarded video ad spending grew by 139% (triple that of other video ad formats) from 2017 to 2018, and was estimated to reach $7 billion by the end of 2019—clearly it’s a comfortable format for marketers, and a lucrative one.

What Is Incentivised Advertising?
Incentivised advertising rewards a person for opting in to view a video or advertisement. These ads can be utilised in a game format, on social media, or through a mobile shopping app. The best results stem from reward-based ads in entertainment, game, or shopping apps, where people tend to spend a lot of time, and when the rewards are perceived as generous.

With Shping, an innovative shopper rewards app, users receive “Shping Coins” (rewards) for taking several incentivised actions. Users can earn coins at-home or in-store for interacting with branded in-app content, connecting with the brand or for watching a branded video to completion. Users can also earn coins by scanning a specific product on a shelf, making a purchase, uploading a receipt and writing a product review. These coins are converted to the app users bank account instantly for them to spend on future purchases.

This type of rewards-based mobile advertising is permission-based, highly personalised/localised and interactive, which is why many people prefer it over more static format ads or push marketing.

Why Incentivised Advertising Is Best for Product Awareness
There are countless ways to familiarize consumers with a new product. You could utilise influencers to post on social media; advertise with Google; or hold special events, product demos, or giveaways. Though, increasingly, marketers are driving product awareness with rewarded ads for a number of reasons.

You reach a new audience who may be unfamiliar with your brand.
Some brands and retailers may have their own proprietary apps, yet, one of the benefits of partnering with a third-party mobile app like Shping is that you receive access to a new audience of prospective customers eager to engage with your brand, as Shping generally has a low audience-overlap with proprietary retail apps.

You reach a receptive audience that has opted in.
When people opt-in and know they are being rewarded for their attention, they are more receptive to the message. Millward Brown analysis shows that mobile ads outpace online ads in terms of brand awareness (+2.7%), ad awareness (+11.3%), message association (+8.1%), brand favourability (+1.9%), and purchase intent (+2.8%). Analysts speculated that the larger canvas available with mobile advertising yielded these gains over online banner ads.

You are more likely to create favourable product impressions.
The mobile app platform is a dynamic medium, unlike television or a static website. When people are “gaming” on their phones, they are engaged, focused, and experiencing feelings of fulfilment and achievement. In other words, viewers will be more receptive, engaged, and ready to take action.

You can monetize certain actions to reach your awareness goals.
When Carmex wanted to build awareness, increase in-store engagement, and motivate sales of its new watermelon flavour product, the company relied on incentivised advertising. Customers were rewarded for engaging with in-app native video and lookbook content within Shping. The goal of the video was to grow awareness of the new watermelon flavour product, explain its unique benefits, and encourage consumers to seek out the product in-store. After consumers were made aware of the product and could see it in action through the video, they were rewarded for walking into a participating store and engaging with the product.

As a result, Carmex sold out of the new product in Australia. By using Shpings innovative video platform, Carmex was able to reach consumers who were in the context of shopping: such as product discovery and trip planning, and then connect that engagement to behaviours down the funnel such as product engagements, and purchase conversion.

You achieve product awareness with positive ROI.
Nearly a third of marketers say that key performance indicators like view-ability rates and return on investment were the top reasons they preferred rewarded ads. One study found that rewarded ad viewers were four times more likely to make an in-app purchase. Some conversion rates were up to nine times higher after engaging with a reward ad. App users spent four times more money on their purchases after engaging with the incentivised ad and their number of shopping sessions increased by more than a third.

Offer Better Rewards for Ad Engagement with Shping
Marketing is no longer a one-sided conversation. Customers have shown they prefer interacting with brands to receive information about new products, as well as helpful promotions. They understand that the more engaged and active they are, the more personalised their service can be. Mobile phones are the natural platform for incentivised advertising, as they go virtually everywhere with consumers and allow for immediate gratification. With Shping, brands and retailers can provide the incentivised advertising consumers desire to get the results they want.

Book a time

How to drive awareness & education of a new product with mobile marketing

If you’ve invested considerable time, effort, and a considerable amount of money into the development of a new product, it’s understandable that you can’t wait to show it off. Just as you wouldn’t stop running with the marathon finish line in sight, you can’t simply halt marketing efforts and place your new product on the shelf, presuming consumers will discover it on their own.

In these competitive times, traditional marketing methods like floor displays, magazine ads, and online banners only go so far. You must position your message in front of your busy, distracted audience when it matters most. Mobile marketing will help you do just that!

In this article, you’ll learn how to build awareness & education of a new product with the latest mobile marketing tactics.

Why consider mobile marketing for product awareness and education?
If you’re on the fence about investing in mobile marketing efforts, consider these statistics:

Over 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new brand or product via mobile.
Thirty percent of mobile shoppers say video is the best method of discovering new products.
Ninety-six percent of people say they’ve watched a mobile video to learn more about a product.
Consumers spent 18 billion hours on mobile shopping apps in 2018.
Mobile shopping app use rose to 54% in 2017, compared to other shopping app categories.
Given the impact of mobile compared to other forms of advertising, there should be little hesitation in drumming up the necessary resources for an effective mobile marketing plan.

How to build awareness and drive education of a new product with mobile
Building awareness of new product’s benefits, features, and uses can be done in numerous ways:

1. Use mobile video.
Mobile video has the capability to reach shoppers when they are most likely to purchase—in the store, with the product (or a competing product!) in hand. Mobile shoppers are more likely to begin watching a video on a mobile device, finish watching the full video, and share the video with friends, compared to desktop shoppers.

Recently one of our customers Carmex lip balm launched a new watermelon flavour and was able to achieve 40% conversion of shoppers they reached in the Shping app that went on to watch the entire watermelon flavour launch video.

2. Create a lookbook.
A lookbook is a collection of photos of your product designed to inform and inspire, much like a magazine spread or catalog. Visual look-books have long been popular in promoting fashion brands, as they offer styling inspiration. Look-books can help you tell a story about your brand. We are now seeing chemist and grocery brands getting in on the act of positioning their brands with placement imagery instead of standard product photos. These moments of sustained engagement are priceless, resonating with audiences on an emotional level as they spend time actively flipping through your images.

3. Promote a bundled offer.
One easy way to encourage existing customers to go out on a limb and try something new is to include a product in a bundled offer. For example, you might package a top-selling product along with the new product in a trial size. Or you might promote your new launch with known products in a mobile marketing campaign, providing instruction on how they might work in tandem.

4. Attract new shoppers with social proof
You have a great product. You’ve developed a stellar website. Even your packaging looks sexy. But new clients these days are also looking for one more thing before making a commitment to spend money on you — what other people are saying about you or your product. People need to see that others also enjoy that product. It’s what we call social proof: the idea that buyers are influenced by the decisions and actions of others around them.

5. Run a competition
Contests are a unique way to drive brand awareness and product education without directly promoting yourself—they offer a fun and interactive way for people to engage with your brand. In other words, contest marketing is a less “sales-y” way to promote your organisation. Contests can drive lots of user-generated content and word-of-mouth advertising so your audience promotes your brand for you.

Where to Begin Your New Product’s Mobile Launch Campaign
If you have a mobile app of your own already, that may seem like the most logical place to advertise new products. However, it’s not the only opportunity. Maximise your efforts and reach untapped markets by making use of existing mobile architecture. Shopping apps are one of the fastest-growing categories of apps downloaded to smartphones. Why not become part of a consumer’s typical day by partnering with the apps they already use daily?

Maximise your efforts and reach untapped markets by making use of existing mobile architecture.

Shping brings all of these mobile marketing tactics together in one app. You can leverage videos, look-books, location-based marketing, competitions, social proof and promotions to build awareness of your new product. Then, reward shoppers for learning more about your products and trying your latest offering with coins they can convert to cash in their bank account. Whether you have your own rewards program in place or not, Shping will help you connect with a ready-made audience that is receptive to trying new products they may have never seen or heard of before.

Book a time