Forget “Use My List”, “Use My Code” is the term of the century

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How many of you have opened up your inbox to be sent emails from stores you’ve purchased from before? I would guess this number is close to all of you reading this (similar to myself), which lead me to this post.

I recently opened my inbox to an email from The Iconic. Not only on the basis that I’m a regular shopper there, but because the headline grabbed my attention:

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$20 off for me, $20 off for you – what a win! But what’s this successful-amazing-money-saving type of marketing called?

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Referral marketing.

Shopify explain it as a tool to incentivise word-of-mouth for a store that a consumer uses, with a referral that both the advocate and the friend can gain.

A recent article by Forbes additionally contend that in a typical month, 2/3 shoppers between the ages of 21 to 32 use referral codes shared by a friend.

When logging onto The Iconic, I couldn’t see the promotion running for public use – an example of rewarding me for my continuous shopping addiction and as Forbes again contend, building on my relationship with the retailer. By pointing out I shop with them frequently, I’m more likely to have a positive experience and tell others about it – which I did.

However this is only one promotional email that I receive from many which usually end up in my spam folder. From a digital marketing perspective in this regard, companies need to be wary of not crossing the line of too many emails becoming clutter and therefore considered spam by their consumers. It’s a fine line to balance and companies should invest into finding the perfect balance between promoting their deals as well as be respectful of the consumer.

Have you used a referral program before in any sort to get a discount? Do you think it’s a smart move?

“Save me the sales spiel, the truth is on my phone!”

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A salesperson’s job is to help customers in-store find the product they need and provide information that may be vital to their purchase decision. However, salespeople’s roles are more-so being reduced in this capacity due to the retail shift.

“But what is this retail shift?”

Great question reader!
The retail shift is about the usage of mobile devices in retail research, whether for online or your average brick-and-mortar stores. This research includes anything from product specifications, differing prices at various retailers, images of the product or even reviews from other consumers.

Forbes explain that retailers are more involved with how their consumers buy, not just where. When delving into the how aspect of purchase decisions, discoveries about customers researching even low consideration categories is rising. People are now interested in researching things like grocery prices before heading into the store to make sure they’re getting the best deal possible.

To further explain the significance of the retail shift, The Robo Economy created this infographic below displaying some interesting, key statistics including that of 82% of smartphone users researching on their phone before purchasing in store.

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However, let’s focus on if the digital marketing implications for a moment. Companies are definitely using this to their advantage with compatible mobile websites becoming the norm, but how do we balance consumers using their phones just for research for their typical brick-and-mortar purchases? You could view the retail shift as dangerous almost because if companies have an easy, streamlined, mobile-friendly website why wouldn’t the consumers just order from there as opposed to venturing to a physical store? It could easily transform from research for shopping in-store to the fall of the in-store all in the same.

Let me know below: do you think this is the way of the future or are smartphones becoming too embedded in our lives?

 

Can’t afford everything in your online shopping cart? Here’s how to save some cash!

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Ah, online shopping. The modern and digital ideal that has captivated the hearts of both young and old shoppers, making it WAY too easy to spend more than you originally planned. What began as an innocent search to find one jumper has since become a mission to create a whole new Winter wardrobe, and in just a few repetitive clicks of that ominous link saying ‘Add to cart‘, that’s now your reality.

We’re all guilty of adding items to cart, seeing the total cost and closing that tab down… but what if you could save money on that online cart?

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Source: Mail Chimp

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I present the almighty and powerful PROMO CODE. Let’s share some insight into why this is successful and why marketers should use it!

Big Commerce define a promo code as a combination of letters and numbers, created by online retailers that influence us to shop on their site and receive discounts, free gifts or free shipping. This is available to all customers, and helps the customer and the brand respectively save money and gain revenue.

Gaining access to promotional codes varies with some available on the retailer’s sites while others encourage a sign up to their newsletter to access the promo code – a very smart move. Adding an email address to get a 15% coupon? Yes please.

But why should marketers create promo codes?

A Medium Corporation shows that it allows marketers to track and measure personal attributes of their shoppers while also uncovering where shoppers get their promo codes (including email or even influencer marketing like my post last week!) to enhance a future digital marketing campaign.

These infographics from Invesp below demonstrate how effective it can be.

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The coupons we previously received in the mail or in magazines has reinvigorated our love of a bargain. But how do we as consumers begin to search through the flood of promotional emails for the ones that really matter? In the current digital marketing world, clutter becomes an issue. Signing up to newsletters for the discount codes sounds great at the time and companies would gain success from it, but over time newsletters lose value and get marked as spam. Do promo codes translate to brand loyalty or are they more-so just giving consumers cheaper products?

How many of you search for promo codes before finalising a purchase? Do you engage with signing up for newsletters to get a promo code or do you skip the step and pay the full price?

Let me know below!

Your guide to understanding Influencer Marketing and it’s success

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When social media was created, it had a main intention of keeping people connected to others they knew. It then became a place for users to stay updated with their favourite, conventional celebrities like TV-stars and singers. From there, grew a new ideal of the contemporary celebrity – an everyday user like you and I with content viewed and liked by a large following. Instagram’s rise of popularity coined these contemporary celebrities as ‘Insta-famous’ or influencers, and with this came the successful rise of brand deals and sponsored posts.

Influencers, as defined above, are everyday individuals who are seen to be more authentic and genuine in comparison to larger, more conventional celebrities like Ariana Grande or Liam Hemsworth. Kelly Ehlers, a Forbes Agency Council journalist, addresses that followers connect more with influencers who partake in normal day-to-day activities and that influencer marketing is more effective than your traditional marketing avenues due to true engagement and word-of-mouth.

Jadé Tuncdoruk (@jadetunchy) is a young Australian Instagram model and an influencer with a following of over 300k. She often engages with brands to create sponsored posts in a way that is unique to her content, involving light-hearted captions and fun-loving photos often showing her daily activities while styling herself and her content for her Instagram feed.

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As genuine as it may be, the reality is that influencers like Jadé can make up to $1000 for each Instagram post affiliated with a brand. The above posts too from Jadé have an average of 10,000 likes all up – talk about exposure! Not only are influencers making financial gain, the companies are as well with MarketingProfs statistically demonstrating that sponsored posts from influencers can generate 11x the ROI of traditional means, with 30% of followers likely to purchase or engage in a product this way.

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Source: MarketingProfs

Source: MarketingProfs

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But what are the digital marketing implications of this?
Influencer marketing is saturating most social media outlets, so much so that consumers are more immune to seeing the sponsored content. Many would just scroll past and not think about it again. I personally believe it won’t last the test of time as influencers can lose their following at any time and consumers can ignore the sponsored products.

What are your thoughts and opinions on this? Do you believe that influencer content is genuine or are we so used to seeing it on our feeds that we just don’t care? Leave a comment below!