Posts by Alter Agents
How to Craft the Perfect Personalization Campaign for Shopper Promiscuity
Use this formula to personalize your marketing and keep shoppers coming back. One morning I did what I do on many weekday mornings: I opened up the Starbucks app on my phone and put in my regular order, a venti cold brew. The app knows me, or at least knows who I am as a…
Read MoreConsumer Insights as Alignment with Customer Needs
We often think of our customer’s relationship to our product category in isolation, removing crucial outside influences that may shape purchasing behavior. Consumer preferences are a bit more complicated. As retailers, marketers, and brand managers, we often think of our customer’s relationship to our product category in isolation, removing crucial outside influences that may shape…
Read MoreGearing Up for Year’s Most ‘Anxious’ Holiday
Supermarkets are well positioned to make the most of Valentine’s Day. Some say you can’t put a price tag on love, but each year the National Retail Federation (NRF) does an annual study to do just that, and last year love cost the U.S. $19.7B with year-over-year growth. This makes love the second biggest U.S.…
Read MoreIf the Questions Don’t Matter to Your Customers, the Insights Won’t Matter to Your Business
…the Insights Won’t Matter to Your Business If the short survey is still asking consumers questions that don’t matter to them, then the answers will still be distorted by our respondents’ boredom. What can we do as researchers to improve the situation? Many of us in market research, especially those in methodologist and data science…
Read MorePutting Shoppers First in Your Research
Market research can benefit from thinking in terms of brand alignment rather than brand loyalty argues Alter Agents’ Mike Dickerson. With a vast amount of information at their fingertips, consumers are now willing to switch brand allegiance in unprecedented ways. Shoppers have come to expect new and better in all categories, and they are willing to follow through…
Read MoreThe Decline of Black Friday is a Victory for Consumer Focus
“As the pull of Black Friday as a shopping event fades, it gives us as marketers an opportunity to reflect on what holiday shopping means to consumers.” It’s that time of year again: no, not Thanksgiving, Black Friday! The annual shopping-bonanza that produces both $5 TV deals and local news stories about over-eager customers trampling…
Read MoreLoyalty Marketing Gets Personal: 4 Tips for Retaining Customers
“Loyalty marketing needs to be personalized because, at its core, you are asking for a deeper relationship with your customer” Smart businesses know that it costs less to retain existing customers than it does to acquire new ones. That’s why so many brands are focused on loyalty marketing — campaigns designed specifically to bring in…
Read MoreSwipe and Save: Relevancy Rules With Loyalty Programs
New insights to help grocers incentivize today’s shoppers. Back in the day, supermarket loyalty programs consisted of your local grocer tearing off a row of “you lick” stamps based on your purchase amount to fill a grid sheet. Each filled sheet provided discounts on certain items on your next shopping trip. Remember licking those nasty…
Read MoreNew Research Study: Consumer Preferences for Incentives and Rewards
First round of released findings reveal a fine line between personalization and privacy. FISHKILL, N.Y., Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Virtual Incentives has released the first round of data from a new research study on consumer perceptions and preferences surrounding incentives. The study, formally called “Incentive Research Paper” also explored how the incentive itself impacts brand perceptions, while studying…
Read MoreFormulaic to Fluid: Navigating the Digital Native Revolution
Webinar presented by Alter Agents Randy Hofbauer – Senior Editor – Retail Leader Eric Plantenberg – Chief Strategy Officer – Humm Kombucha Phil Dance – Partner and Co-Founder – Alter Agents
Read MoreWhat’s on the Menu for Back to School Lunches?
A look at the latest trends. As August races on, kids are heading back to school and all the shopping and schedule adjustments that come with it. As parents readjust to hectic mornings filled with sleepy kids, scrambling to find missing homework and racing out the door, most stories focus on shopping trends for back to…
Read MoreCurated Consumption: Your Brand Means Something
Your brand means something. Are you the one deciding what? Luxury brands have always understood the value of social signaling to consumers. While some shoppers want to pay for high-quality goods, the prominent labels and badges of luxury products serve another purpose, broadcasting the wealth and status of the owner. From jewelry to clothing to…
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