How Digital Innovations Are Changing the Promotions Space
We’ve been seeing an ongoing shift in the promotion space from print to digital for years now, and believe that now is the opportunity for promotions investments to catch up. Digital enables a deeper level of understanding about the individual using the coupon compared to print, and these insights allow constant optimization to occur. This data is also critical when we encounter unexpected events, such as COVID-19.
In our recent webinar, “Revolutionizing Promotions Through Digital Innovation,” Quotient’s Promotions Commercial Lead, Paul Koop, and Product Marketing Manager, Maggie Cooper Kenner, discussed how digital promotions have grown while also exploring the new technologies that are shaping the current landscape.
During times of financial stress, shoppers want to save money. Eighty percent of shoppers reported that they’re looking harder for deals. The current pandemic accelerated the trend of digital promotions to massive levels, growing total digital paperless coupon activations by 21% year over year.
Watch the full webinar recording below to see the advantages that digital brings to the promotions space as well as how your brand can capitalize on these new opportunities.
Right Shopper, Right Time, Right Place
Throughout the webinar, Koop shared several polls—one of which asked webinar attendees how they preferred to shop for their groceries. The majority of respondents answered that they preferred to utilize a mix of in-store, delivery and curbside services. These results supported Koop’s point that the future of grocery shopping is hybrid. Consumers aren’t exclusively online. They like a mix of in-store shopping, too.
“The future is hybrid. We’re seeing consumers use eCommerce and also go in store, so your planning and your coupons need to be ready for that hybrid future. Digital coupons are integrated into both the digital and physical worlds to enable that seamless shopping experience.”
Advertisers can leverage digital promotion innovations in order to develop smart and effective campaigns. This starts with intelligent delivery—which drives efficient and effective conversions with consumers. Paper coupons are a one-size-fits-all strategy. In contrast, digital promotions are powered by data. They ensure that the right offer value is delivered to the right shopper at the right time and in the right place. And those right shoppers are the ones who are digitally engaged with promotions. They spend more, make more trips with larger baskets and shop more categories. To win, brands should engage with these shoppers to drive brand growth.
Digital promotions give advertisers access to deeper insights. This access to data beyond redemptions allows marketers to make better decisions. Digital enables brands to understand purchase intent and how engagement with digital promotions influences different buyer segments. Different factors like purchase cycles and campaign goals will determine how brands construct offers and differentiate offer values.
“Think of digital coupons and the data they provide as an ongoing and ever-growing pool of knowledge. That pool of knowledge will enable constant improvement and optimization towards your goals and objectives.”
Takeaways for Brands
Advertisers can create experiential promotions using top-notch creative and engaging placements as well as maximize efficiency through personalization by reaching shoppers with their preferred method of engagement.
Koop and Kenner closed out the session with some exciting new innovations in the digital promotions space, such as duration-based models that align campaign timelines with consumer purchase cycles and retailer merchandising to prevent coupon activation limits from disrupting consumer experiences; forecasting intelligence to enable better performance predictions; and how advertisers can use targeted media to increase visibility, scale and frequency of their digital promotions.
To better understand how you can use digital promotions to amplify your brand, check out the full webinar or get in touch at general@quotient.com.
Source: Quotient Internal Reporting (March – October 2020 vs. March – October 2019)
