cji report

www.delineo.com

Are your customers losing their way?

Sales Promotion Customer Journey Assessment

1 Executive Summary 2 Methodology 2.1

Introduction 2.1:1 Hypothesis 2.1:2 Evaluation 2.1:3 Research sample 2.1:4 Research goals

3 Key Research Findings 3.1

Research highlights 3.1:1 Awareness via sales promotion – stage 1, customer journey 3.1:2 Online marketing research – stage 2, customer journey 3.1:3 Sales promotion online brand connection – stage 3, customer journey 3.1:4 Purchase options available to the customer – stage 4, customer journey

3.2

Case study examples

4 Findings 4.1

How effective is the offline sales promotion?

4.2

How effective are the sales promotions using online marketing tools?

4.3

Does the sales promotion brand connect across offline and online media platforms?

4.4

How effective does the website display purchase options relating to the sales promotion and are there any incentives offered to the customer?

5 Summary 6 About Delineo

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For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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1 4

Executive Summary Online marketing is now the dominant form of marketing communication in terms of expenditure within the UK, having overtaken traditional broadcast advertising in 2009. The growth in online marketing is likely to continue its upward trend for years to come, fuelled by factors including the pressure on costs, ROI, accountability of online techniques and the communication preferences of people.

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In addition, the IPM* reports an overall £36bn was spent on sales promotion last year, driven in part by customers becoming more demanding and using the web to research their purchases. Furthermore, research suggests offline advertising drives two-thirds of online search queries**.

However, whilst online and digital marketing are increasingly important, it still accounts for less than 30% of marketing expenditure and people continue to be exposed to, and influenced by other communication media across multiple platforms. After all, people will continue to travel, shop, visit and congregate in physical environments, not just virtual environments.

In the large majority of cases, people working within agencies and marketing departments fall into different camps – those who understand digital marketing and those who don’t, those who understand traditional marketing and those who don’t. As a consequence, the customer journey across offline and online media is often plagued with inconsistencies, undermining a fundamental requirement of effective marketing communication.

Interestingly, research*** carried out in 2009 looked at marketing in the B2B markets, with digital communication methods remaining the most effective.

However, one-third of marketers were not using digital marketing channels in their B2B communications a great deal, if at all, due to lack of understanding.

Furthermore, a mere 16% of B2B marketers felt they were well informed regarding advances in digital marketing techniques, however, budget constraints and the understanding of digital integration with offline marketing were stated as the biggest challenges facing B2B marketers.

As a thought leader in the marketing field, Delineo commissioned research to examine the disconnect across offline and online sales promotion communication and the impact this has on a new style of customer journey. The research focuses on sales promotion activities related to B2B and B2C campaigns, identifying best and worst practice in the field of online and offline marketing communication integration, and assesses whether the customer journey is consistent, logical, intuitive and free flowing across the different media platforms.

Using a balanced scorecard consisting of 19 metrics, Delineo followed 50 customer sales promotions journeys across the IT/comms, retail, and travel/leisure sectors.

The study assessed each sales promotion in terms of customer proposition, search engine utilisation, brand connection across offline and online channels, and the purchase options available to the customer. Each brand was given a Customer Journey Index (CJI) score based on the performance across all metrics.

*Source: Institute of Promotional Marketing, formally Institute of Sales Promotion (£36bn includes other promotional activity) **Source: iProspect Offline Channel Influence on Online Search Behaviour Study ***Source: Gyro:HSR, Mavern Research - B2B Marketing Insight 2009 6

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2 8

Methodology Delineo commissioned this research to examine the disconnect across offline and online sales promotion, as the IPM reports an overall ÂŁ36bn was spent on sales promotion last year, driven in part by customers becoming more demanding and using the web to research their purchases.

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2.1

Introduction

The objective of this research is to identify best and worst practice in the field of offline and online sales promotion communication integration, assessing whether the customer journey is consistent, logical, intuitive and free flowing across the different media platforms.

2.1:1 Hypothesis Customer journeys across offline and online sales promotion are disjointed.

Customers are losing their way in the transition between offline and online media platforms (creating confusion and frustration), which may cause customers to look elsewhere for information.

2.1:2 Evaluation By using a balanced scorecard consisting of 19 metrics, Delineo followed 50 customer journeys of sales promotions across the IT/comms, retail and travel/leisure sectors.

Each sales promotion customer journey was rated (scale of 1-5, 1= poor performance, 5= excellent performance) in terms of customer awareness, search engine optimisation, brand connection across offline and online and the purchase options available to the customer. Each brand was given a Customer Journey Index (CJI) based on the performance across all metrics listed in figure 4 opposite.

The findings from this analysis are summarised within this report. Specific detailed results pertaining to a particular brand sales promotion will only be disclosed to the originating organisation.

Results in this report are expressed as a percentage of the total scorecard marks and weighted averages by market sector.

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Figure 1: Customer journey metrics and performance criteria GROUP

KEY METRICS – SCALE USED 1:5

Awareness via Sales Promotion

Clear single minded sales promotion proposition

Clear, easy to find online signposting to sales promotion

Sales promotion has a strong, clear brand proposition

Strong, clear sales promotion – compelled to find out more online or in-store

Online Marketing Research

Using company or brand name in the search terms – appears top of first page listing

Using generic search terms relating to the sales promotion – company or brand name appears first page listing

Sales promotion links to social media networks – Linkedin, FB and Twitter

The company or brand name links to the sales promotion via search engine results

Sales Promotion Online Brand Connection

Online brand design (logo, colours, font, characters) matches the offline sales promotion

Online tone of voice matches the offline sales promotion

Brand experience is consistent between the offline and online media platforms

Purchase Options Offline and Online

Clear online signposting to nonecommerce route relating to sales promotion

Clear online signposting to ecommerce route relating to sales promotion

Stated online reason to shop online – incentive offered if purchase product/ service online

Stated online reason to shop offline – incentive offered if purchase product/ service offline

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Easy to find signposting to store/call centre to find out more about the sales promotion

Takes advantage of potential customer’s online presence in order to communicate about the sales promotion

Clear online signposting to sales promotion

Potential customer can start engaging with the sales promotion online immediately

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2.1:3 Research sample Delineo followed 50 customer journeys of randomly selected sales promotions as listed below: Table 1: Sales promotions

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Company/Brand Name*

Sales Promotion

Absolute Windows & Conservatories

Front of house special – 2 bays and 1 flat window from only £1895

Aerlingus

Dublin/Cork from £24.99

Alexander windows

UPVC front or back doors for £395

Arighi Bianchi

Spring event – 25% of VI-SPRING beds

Bang & Olufsen

Free Beo5 remote control worth £530

Barratt Homes

Become a homeowner with £3,604 deposit

bmibaby

Every seat from Manchester is £10

Boots

Opticians (free second pair of glasses from £75)

British Gas

Goodbye estimated bills – save up to £150 p/y

Canadianaffair.com

Flights to Toronto £139, Vancouver £149

Cheshire Life

12 issues for the price of 10

Cleopatra

April offer - 10% discount

Clinique

Free treat with any foundation sample purchased

Countryside Properties

1 bedroom apartments from £59,690

Cupboard Love

Order now & we will pay your VAT

Design 2 Fit Kitchens

Free bedroom with every order in April

Fentons Solicitors LLP

Every client keeps 100% of their compensation, you pay nothing

Flybe.com

Flights from £35.99 one way from Manchester to Paris

Go Travel – MEN

Gran Canaria from only £229 pp

Grimshaws

Service & MOT for £99 incl VAT

HSBC

Mortgage to suit first time buyers – fee-free 90% mortgage

Jet2

City & sun getaways from £19.99

Junkshop

10% discount with postcard

LateRooms

Up to 70% off, 3 nights for the price of 2 nights

Lebara Mobile

£10 call credit when you top up with £20

Leonis

Lunch special £4.95, 2 course meal £7.95

Lovefilm.com

Two free cinema tickets to see a blockbuster film – when sign up for a 30 day free trial

Newmarket Travel – MEN

2-3 day breaks in London with different sightseeing options from £89

Company/Brand Name*

Sales Promotion

O2

Free Nokia X6

O'Neill's Decorating Centres

50% off many items

Onyx Group

Workplace recovery solutions for as little as £16 p/m

Pets at Home

Free puppy parties

Pizza Express

Create a pizza & win £5k

Premier Inn

Rooms from £29

Printerbase

Up to £75 cashback or free 3 year on-site warranty with Brother colour laser and LED printers

Ramada Jarvis

Three night breaks from just £99

Ready Steady Store

Storage free for one month

Red Letter Days

15% off

Robert Harding World Imagery

One Price – Same print cost regardless of size until 30th April

Sainsbury's

Better than 1/2 price on Milka chocolate bars

Simon Boyd Interiors

Up to 50% off RRP – curtain fabrics

T-Mobile

Free phone, 300 mins & unlimited internet for £20 p/m

Tesco

Buy one, get two free – Huggies pure wipes + double Tesco clubcard points

The Beaches Hotel

Summer offer– 2 adults, 2 children – 2nd child stays free

Timberland

30% off – friends and family event

Virgin Media

£11.50 p/m TV package

Vistaprint

500 premium business cards for £5 + fee card holder

Vodafone

Free HTC legend smartphone for £25 p/m for business customers

Winfields

Save up to 70% off RRP

Your Choice

Great spring offers, buy now & pay nothing for 12 months

*Listed in alphabetical order

2.1:4 Research goals The aim of the customer journey study is to: • Prove or disprove the stated research hypothesis (see page 10, 2.1:1) • Identify and evaluate good and bad practices in relation to the integration of offline and online communication • Provide examples of good and bad practice in relation to the integration of online and offline communication • Identify key market sectors with high CJI scores, therefore, have a consistent sales proposition between offline and online media platforms • Highlight key leading brands that have consistent, logical, intuitive and free flowing sales promotions across the different media platforms For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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3 14

Key Research Findings The following provides key findings from each stage of the customer journey.

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3.1

Research highlights

• IT/comms is the best performing sector with an average CJI score of 68%, followed by travel/leisure (67%) and retail at 56% • T-Mobile, Virgin Media, Ramada Jarvis and Premier Inn all have high CJI scores of ⱖ78% indicating a strong connection between the offline and online marketing communication. When examining the sales promotions provided by these brands, the customer journey across the different media platforms is consistent, uncomplicated and engaging, making it very easy for the customer to obtain more information in order to make an informed buying decision.

In most cases, these brands adopt good practice across the metrics, but what makes these brands stand out from the crowd, is the clear, single minded sales proposition which is communicated succinctly throughout the customer journey • Major brands performing poorly with a CJI score of ⱕ53% include Tesco, Countryside Properties, Timberland and Pets at Home as the customer journey for these sales promotions across offline and online was disconnected, confusing and frustrating which can lead customers to look elsewhere if information is not easily accessible • 60% of the brands included in the research achieved CJI scores of ⱖ60%, of which 46% scored ⱖ70% • Although some major brands achieved high CJI scores, all brands should look to improve their sales promotion communication integration (some more than others) to ensure a consistent, logical and intuitive customer journey across offline and online media platforms. Brands should evaluate how they are performing across all metrics and adopt a ‘best practice’ in all areas listed below: Figure 2: Best practice – Sales promotion communication model Offline sales promotion

Online sales promotion

✓ Clear, single minded sales proposition ✓ Stated incentive, compelling reason to look further ✓ Easy to find and clear online signposting ✓ Easy to find and clear signposting to store/call centre to find out more about the sales promotion

✓ Company or brand name easy to find via a search engine ✓ Sales promotion is easy to find using a generic search term ✓ Sales promotion has social media links so the customer can find it on their favourite networks ✓ The sales promotion is easily found as it appears in the search engine results

Sales promotion online brand connection ✓ Online brand design is consistent with the offline design ✓ Both offline and online tone of voice is consistent ✓ Brand experience is the same

Sales promotion purchase options ✓ Easy to find and clear signposting to nonecommerce and ecommerce routes ✓ Stated, clear incentive to shop online and/or offline ✓ Takes advantage of my online presence in order to communicate with me ✓ Easy to engage with the sales promotion immediately

Consistent, logical and intuitive customer journey – free flowing across offline and online media platforms 16

3.1:1 Awareness via sales promotion – stage 1, customer journey The first part of the customer journey assessment related to the customers overall awareness of the sales promotion. Here we assessed 5 key metrics: • Does the sales promotion have a clear, single minded sales proposition?

• Is there a stated incentive and compelling reason to look further?

• Does the sales promotion have clear, easy to find online signposting (i.e. to the website)?

• Does the sales promotion have clear, easy to find offline signposting (i.e. contact number to store/call centre)?

Table 2: Awareness via sales promotion scores* Clear single minded sales promotion proposition Market sector

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Clear, easy to find online signposting to sales promotion

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Sales promotion has a strong, clear brand proposition

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Strong, clear sales promotion – compelled to find out more online

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Easy to find signposting to store/call centre to find out more about the sales promotion Best CJI score

Overall best in class

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Retail

5.00

3.79

3.00

5.00

3.40

1.00

5.00

3.80

1.00

4.00

3.41

2.00

5.00

3.76

1.00

IT/comms

4.00

3.00

1.00

5.00

4.17

4.00

5.00

4.17

3.00

4.00

3.50

2.00

5.00

4.50

4.00

Travel/leisure

5.00

4.00

2.00

5.00

4.13

3.00

5.00

4.13

3.00

5.00

3.80

3.00

5.00

2.60

1.00

Ramada Jarvis (4.80)

*Mean scores by market sector

The average CJI score across all market sectors and metrics is 3.69 and the Ramada Jarvis’s sales promotion (3 night breaks from just £99) is considered ‘best in class’ with a CJI score of 4.80. Its score exceeds the market average as the sales promotion has a clear single minded proposition, it engages with the audience immediately and clearly displays call to action options to the customer.

The retail sector achieved the lowest CJI score of 3.60 with major brands such as Clinique (free treat with any foundation sample) and Sainsbury’s (better than 1⁄2 price on Milka chocolate) displaying poor practice. In comparison, the IT/comms sector achieved the highest CJI score of 3.90, with Vodafone (free HTC legend smartphone for £25 p/m for business customers) adopting best practice.

Overall, brands lost scores due to: • Confusing sales promotion proposition – mixed messages, thus leaving the customer unsure of what’s on offer • Lack of engagement with the audience – there is no compelling reason to research further • Call to action – contact information (i.e. website address, store/call centre contact number) is not clearly displayed (if at all), leaving the potential customer unsure of what to do next For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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3.1:2 Online marketing research – stage 2, customer journey Online research is now an integral part of the customer’s buying behaviour, therefore, it’s critical that a brand’s sales promotion is found via a search engine to allow the customer to research the product or service before making a purchase decision. As a result, 4 metrics were assessed to evaluate a brand’s sales promotion online searchability: • Using the company/brand name in the search terms, does it appear top of first page listing?

• Using generic search terms relating to the sales promotion (e.g. car insurance discounts), does the company/brand achieve a first page listing?

• Does the sales promotion link to social media networks?

• Does the company/brand name link to the sales promotion via search engine results?

Of the brands assessed, 49 (or 98%) appear top of page in the search engine results category (via Google, Bing, Yahoo) when using the company/brand name. However, the average CJI score for using a generic search term relating to a sales promotion is 3.40, suggesting that brands assume customers will use brand-based key words when researching online, rather than more generic key words.

Table 3: Online marketing research scores* Brand easy to find via search engine Market sector

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Sales promotion is easy to find using generic search terms

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Sales promotion has social media links

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Does the brand link to current sales promotions via search engine results Best CJI score

Overall best in class

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Retail

5.00

4.86

1.00

5.00

2.66

1.00

5.00

1.34

1.00

5.00

1.90

1.00

IT/comms

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

5.00

3.00

1.00

Travel/leisure

5.00

5.00

5.00

5.00

4.07

1.00

3.00

1.53

1.00

5.00

3.60

3.00

Red Letter Days, Ramada Jarvis (4.50)

*Mean scores by market sector

The IT/comms sector adopts best practice when conducting online searches via the company/brand name (i.e. top of page listing) and when using generic search terms (i.e. first page listing), as all brands scored 5.0. In contrast, the retail sector performed poorly relating to generic search terms, with a CJI score of 2.65, possibly driven by the level of competition for other key words in the industry.

The use of social media as a means to interact with customers/communities has dramatically increased over the last 2 years with 65% of companies in the UK using Facebook as part of their marketing strategy, while Twitter marketing has jumped from just 3% of companies in 2009 to over 49% this year.* 18

However, a recent social media study (sampled 100 companies) conducted by dotCommerce revealed that 26% of companies studied have a Twitter account while 24% market their brand using a Facebook page, although a very small proportion regularly update their accounts.

This research suggests that while companies have taken the plunge into social media marketing, they are not consistently maintaining their presence across all of its channels. These findings are reflected in the customer journey CJI scores in this report, as a mere 14% of brands used social media to communicate the sales promotions under investigation. These brands include Ramada Jarvis, Premier Inn and Clinique.

Furthermore, considering the potential market of customers accessing Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and internet blogs coupled with the lower costs (i.e. in comparison to traditional sales promotion marketing) associated with creating and maintaining these networks, brands are missing out on the opportunity to build communities around their product/service offers, therefore, potentially losing income in the process. As Forrester Research, Social Computing states:

‘Social computing is not a fad. Nor is it something that will pass you or your company. Gradually, social computing will impact almost every role, at every kind of company, in all parts of the world.’ The final metric assessed in this category evaluated whether a company and/or brand name linked to the relevant sales promotion via the search engine results.

Most brands fell short here, as the average CJI score across all market sectors is 2.54.

The search engine analysis revealed that a high proportion of company/brand names either linked to a broad range of promotions or do not link to the current promotions. Major brands adopting best practice (i.e. CJI score 5.0) include Ramada Jarvis, Premier Inn, Red Letter Days, Lebara Mobile and Boots Opticians, as their sales promotions featured in the search engine results.

Furthermore, sales promotions offered by Red Letter Days and Ramada Jarvis overall outperformed all brands achieving CJI scores of 4.50, clearly indicating strong online searchability.

*Source: Econsultancy/Guava UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, April 2009

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3.1:3 Sales promotion online brand connection – stage 3, customer journey Brand connection across offline and online media platforms is another critical aspect to ensure a free flowing and consistent customer journey. Integrating the sales promotion efforts can strengthen the brand experience as it helps the customer find what they need, when they need it. As a result 3 metrics were assessed: • Does the online brand design (i.e. logo, colours, font, characters) match the offline sales promotion?

• Does the online tone of voice match the offline sales promotion?

• Is the brand experience consistent between the offline and online media platforms?

Table 4: Sales promotion online brand connection scores* Online brand design matches the offline sales promotion Market sector

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Online tone of voice matches the offline sales promotion

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Brand experience is consistent between the offline and online media platforms Best CJI score

Overall best in class

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Retail

5.00

3.60

1.00

5.00

3.52

1.00

5.00

3.34

1.00

IT/comms

5.00

4.50

2.00

5.00

4.17

3.00

5.00

4.33

2.00

Travel/leisure

5.00

4.07

3.00

5.00

4.07

3.00

5.00

3.87

3.00

Boots Opticians, HSBC, Clinique, Virgin Media, Premier Inn, bmibaby, British Gas, Lebara Mobile (5.0)

*Mean scores by market sector

The average CJI score across all market sectors for this category is 3.60, with a handful of brands scoring 5.00, including Boots Opticians, HSBC, Clinique, Virgin Media, Premier Inn, bmibaby, British Gas and Lebara Mobile. Adopting ‘best practice’ for all 3 metrics in this category ensures a consistent customer brand journey across offline and online platforms.

The retail sector achieved the lowest marks in this area, with an average CJI score of 3.40, which falls below the industry average. Brands lost marks due to inconsistent messages and the overall look and feel of the sales promotion (i.e. inconsistent design, tone of voice, font) across both media platforms, thus diluting the brand connection and experience for the customer.

3.1:4 Purchase options available to the customer – stage 4, customer journey This is the final stage of the customer journey analysis and is the most critical, as once on a website the customer will either leave the website and search elsewhere, request more information, or make a purchase offline/online.

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Table 5: Purchase options available to the customer*

Market sector

Clear online signposting to non-ecommerce route

Clear online signposting to ecommerce route

Best CJI score

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Stated online reason to shop online – incentive offered

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Stated online reason to shop offline – incentive offered

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Takes advantage of potential customer’s online presence in order to communicate about the sales promotion Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Retail

5.00

2.07

1.00

5.00

1.69

1.00

4.00

1.20

1.00

4.00

1.48

1.00

5.00

3.31

1.00

IT/comms

5.00

2.50

1.00

5.00

3.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

3.00

1.33

1.00

5.00

4.17

3.00

Travel/leisure

4.00

2.33

1.00

4.00

3.13

1.00

4.00

1.60

1.00

5.00

1.27

1.00

5.00

3.67

1.00

Clear online signposting to sales promotion Market sector

Best CJI score

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Potential customer can start engaging with the sales promotion immediately Best CJI score

Overall best in class

Average Worst CJI CJI score score

Retail

5.00

2.41

1.00

5.00

2.21

1.00

IT/comms

5.00

3.17

1.00

5.00

2.83

1.00

Travel/leisure

5.00

3.60

1.00

5.00

3.47

1.00

Virgin Media T-mobile (3.57)

*Average scores by market sector

Surprisingly the average CJI score across all market sectors is 2.31, however, Virgin Media and T-Mobile exceeded the market average with a CJI score of 3.57.

Once on their website, Virgin Media and T-Mobile ensure their customers can find their sales promotions easily and can engage with the offers immediately.

Both brands take advantage of the customer’s online presence by requesting data to communicate with them about current and future sales promotions.

These brands achieved CJI scores of 5.0, with the average CJI score of 3.0 for these metrics.

Overall, brands performed poorly across all 7 metrics in this category, in particular metrics relating to stated reasons for shopping offline and online (CJI scores of 1.28 & 1.40). This can cause confusion as the customer is not clear on how to action the sales promotion.

Typically, brands do not provide incentives to customers to shop offline or online, with the exception of British Gas, Ramada Jarvis, bmibaby and Boots Opticians. Clear and concise purchasing options are featured on these offers to help incentivise customers to make a purchase via the ecommerce or nonecommerce route.

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3.2

Case study examples

T-Mobile is one of the leading brands adopting best practice across most CJI metrics, as highlighted below: Figure 3: Best case example Company/brand name: Industry sector: Sales promotion proposition:

T-Mobile IT/comms Freephone, 300 minutes & unlimited internet from £20 p/m Original sales promotion source: Print Ad CJI Score: 79% • Clear, single minded sales proposition with a compelling reason to find out more • Easy to find offline and online signposting – customer knows exactly where to go to find out more information • Strong brand proposition, based on strength of brand and sales promotion • Overall sales promotion provides enough information for the customer to make an informed decision to whether further research is required Offline sales promotion

• Using the sales promotion terms, Google provides a variety of search results. This is expected as the mobile phone market is highly competitive with brands, retail outlets and online stores listing different promotions • T-Mobile appears on the first page, ranked fifth • The brand also links to other sales promotions via the search engine results

Search engine research

Sales promotion online brand connection & purchase options

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• Data capture through registration and the purchasing funnel • Online brand design and tone of voice mirrors the print ad • Clear signposting to the sales promotion so the customer can engage immediately • Clear signposting to ecommerce and nonecommerce (bottom of page) routes • Consistent transition between offline and online media platforms • Social media links relating to the sales promotion are not displayed, however, majority of brands fall short in this area

28% of the brands included in the research achieved CJI scores of ⱕ50% indicating inconsistent, confusing and frustrating customer journeys.

Figure 4: Worst case example Company/brand name: Pets at Home Industry sector: Retail Sales promotion proposition: Free puppy parties Original sales promotion source: In-store flyer CJI Score: 49%

Offline sales promotion

• Front of flyer – clear, single minded sales proposition with a compelling reason to find out more (i.e. if you have a puppy) • Clear strong brand proposition • Images used appeal to puppy owners • No clear offline and online signposting to the sales promotion • 2 contact numbers listed on the reverse of the flyer relating to the veterinary surgery and grooming salon • No immediate ‘call to action’ if customer requires further information about the free puppy parties • Using the search terms reveals a variety of results relating to puppy parties, however, Pets at Home is not listed • The online shopping brand ‘Latest Gifts’ appears top page listing when using the search terms (i.e. puppy parties) • Social media is not used to promote its current sales promotion

Search engine research

Sales promotion online brand connection & purchase options

• Overall brand experience is the same, however, the sales promotion is not featured, therefore, customers are unable to engage with the sales promotion online • Store details can be found using the ‘store locator’ option • In order to obtain more information about the sales promotion, customers need to call their nearest store • The website encourages potential customers to sign up for pet care information, newsletters, etc, but does not take advantage of a customer’s interest relating to the sales promotion

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4 24

Findings The following analysis provides greater insight into each customer journey metric for the brands investigated.

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4.1

How effective is the offline sales promotion?

The first step of the analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of the offline sales promotion in terms of overall customer brand awareness. 5 metrics were assessed: • Does the sales promotion have a clearly defined sales proposition?

Or does it confuse the customer as to what is on offer due to the mixed messages displayed?

• The online signposting is clearly visible on the sales promotion allowing the customer to quickly go online to research the promotion further • Does the sales promotion engage with the customer so they are compelled to find out more? Are they excited by it?

• Brand strength – does the sales promotion have a clear brand proposition, or is it confusing to the customer?

• The offline signposting is clearly visible to the customer, so they can visit a nearby store and/or phone a call centre to research the sales promotion further Figure 5: Scorecard* for overall brand awareness via offline sales promotion across five key metrics Clear sales promotion proposition –

Easy to find online signposting –

Clear brand proposition –

3.76

3.74

3.92

Clear sales promotion, compelled to find out more –

Clear signposting to store/call centre –

0

1

3.54

3.50 2

3

4

5

*Overall mean score for all market sectors

On average, brands achieve higher scores for metrics relating to the strength of brand and a clear sales promotion proposition.

Although the industry average is ‘3.92’ and ‘3.76’ for these metrics, some major brands are considered best in class, scoring ‘5’ for both metrics including, Boots Opticians, Vistaprint, Premier Inn, Ramada Jarvis, Aerlingus, Jet2 and Timberland.

Bombarded with sales promotions on a daily basis, customers quite often ignore promotional materials, therefore, it’s important a sales promotion engages quickly with the customer by offering an incentive to create interest or desire.

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The retail sector adopts worst practice in this field with an average score of 3.40.

The sales promotions in this sector lack personality, provide little differentiation and offer underwhelming reasons to research further. In comparison, the travel/leisure sector adopts best practice with an average CJI score of 3.80.

Brands such as Ramada Jarvis and bmibaby exceed the industry average scoring 5.0.

The leisure/travel sector performs best in class for the clear single minded sales promotion proposition metric. In particular, brands such as Ramada Jarvis promoting ‘three night breaks from £99’, Premier Inn promoting its ‘rooms from £29’, or ‘city and sun getaways from £19.99’ promoted by Jet2, clearly engage with the customer by offering a compelling reason and incentive to look further offline/online.

Clearly displaying the website on the sales promotion is a critical call to action measure to ensure the customer is able to research the promotion further. The IT/comms sector adopts best practice in this area, with an average score of 4.17, in particular, the best performing brand in this sector is Vodafone, scoring 5.0.

Other major brands with a CJI of 5.0 for clear, easy to find online signposting include Jet2, Aerlingus, British Gas and Vistaprint.

The retail sector performed poorly in this area with an average CJI of 3.40, with several major brands scoring 1.0.

In addition to online signposting, sales promotions should clearly display a contact telephone number to call for more information, as some customers prefer to speak to a physical person versus researching the product/service online. However, of the brands investigated several assume all customer journeys are the same, as both purchasing options are not displayed on their sales promotions.

The overall average score is 3.50, with the IT/comms sector adopting best practice with a CJI score of 4.50. In comparison the travel/leisure sector has the lowest average CJI of 2.60. Several major brands in the travel/leisure sector do not display store/call centre contact numbers, which can lead to frustration for those who do not use the internet or may not be able to obtain access to the internet. This may lead customers to look elsewhere for product/service offers.

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4.2

How effective are the sales promotions using online marketing tools?

The objective of this exercise is to evaluate whether sales promotions are found easily when using specific (i.e. company/brand name) and generic search terms (e.g. cheap flights to Spain). Google was used for this analysis, as online research suggests 90% of online searches are via this search engine. Key metrics assessed include: • By using the brand name, the sales promotion appears top of page listing • By using generic search terms, for example ‘cheap flights to Spain’, the brand achieves a first page listing • Social media (Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube) is used to promote the sales promotion Figure 6: Scorecard* for sales promotion online searchability Company/brand name appears top of page listing –

4.92

Generic search terms appears of first page listing –

3.36

Links to social media networks – 1.36 Links to sales promotion via search engine results –

0

2.48

1

2

3

4

5

*Overall mean score for all market sectors

As expected, all brands are easily found when using company/brand names in Google search terms. However, several major brands fall short (including British Gas, Pets at Home, Go Travel, Timberland, Your Choice, Countryside Properties, Tesco and Sainsbury’s’), scoring ‘1’ when using generic search terms relating to their sales promotions.

The above brands assume the customer will search online by brand name only, rather than the sales promotion term (e.g. cheap flights to Spain). The ‘search term’ used by the customer may reveal competing brands sales offers and, therefore, could lead the customer searching elsewhere for product/service offers. The IT/comms sector adopts best practice here, as all brands achieved a CJI score of 5.0, thus exceeding the overall market average of 3.36.

From the social media analysis, the results indicate that 84% of brands do not have a social media strategy in place to support their sales promotions. The average CJI score is ‘1.36’, however, regional lifestyle magazine; ‘Cheshire Life’ adopts best practice here with a CJI score of 5.0 (2+ social media networks 28

feature its sales promotion of ‘12 issues for the price of 10’). Overall, these findings are not surprising as research conducted in this area highlights similar conclusions.

Research conducted by the consumer agency Skywrite and Vanson Bourne indicates that 2 out of 3 customers investigate products further upon a recommendation on a social media platform, and 1 in 4 went on to make a purchase. Therefore, companies need to harness the social media potential in order to promote their brand as well as current promotional offers.

In addition, according to the Digital Consultancy, Beyond, almost a quarter of consumers would prefer to receive information (e.g. offers/discounts, news, to gain better customer service) from a brand through Facebook rather than its website, indicating a need for a more integrated strategy from sales through to customer service.

Although several organisations have started to use social media in order to promote their brand name, the profiles do not include current sales promotions, do not target a particular online community and do not display regular live updates, therefore, it seems the profiles have been created without a real purpose.

Interestingly, a recent report from Digital Brand Expressions (DBE) and R2integrated (R2i) indicates that companies are diving into social media without a plan, as they remain unfamiliar with its practices and principles.

Furthermore, a majority of marketing professionals and company decision makers view social media as essential to their business; however, most of these professionals/decision makers have not made any money using it. The research compared the 35% of companies that reported increased revenue or profit using social media with the companies that did not report growth.

Those benefiting were: • • • •

About twice as likely to have a formal social media strategy Almost twice as likely to have a dedicated headcount for managing social media About twice as likely to rate themselves as “proficient” or “expert” Almost three times as likely to have read a book on social media

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Major brands attempting to use social media networks to engage with their online community to promote their sales promotions include Premier Inn, Ramada Jarvis, Red Letter Days, LateRooms and Clinique. Facebook or Linkedin are typically used, however, these brands are not using Twitter (which is the fastest growing network) to promote their offers.

Premier Inn Rooms from £29

Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Ramada Jarvis Breaks from £99

4.3

Does the sales promotion brand connect across offline and online media platforms?

Brand design (i.e. colours, hues, fonts, characters, images, text), tone of voice and brand experience are measured to establish whether the sales promotion is consistent and seamless across the media platforms.

Tight online/offline brand integration tells the customer they are on the correct site, lends credibility to the sales promotion offer and encourages further clicks down the purchasing funnel. Therefore, inconsistent brand integration can cause confusion, which may lead customers to look elsewhere for product/service offers.

Figure 7: Scorecard* for sales promotion online brand connection Consistent online brand design –

3.80

Consistent online tone of voice –

3.74

Consistent brand experience –

0

3.60

1

*Overall mean score for all market sectors

30

2

3

4

5

The overall CJI score for brand connection of the sales promotion across offline and online media platforms is 3.60. The IT/comms sector adopts best practice across all 3 metrics, with an average CJI score of 4.33. Virgin Media and Lebara Mobile are the best performing brands in this category, scoring 5.0 for all metrics, indicating strong, succinct and consistent brand connection across offline and online media platforms.

Worst case examples for all metrics can be found in the retail sector, with average CJI scores of 1.0. In most cases, local brands scored the lowest marks, due to the lack of continuity between both media platforms.

4.4

How effective does the website display purchase options relating to the sales promotion and are there any incentives offered to the customer?

Based on research conducted by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR), online shoppers spent £38bn in 2009, accounting for 10% of total retail sales in the UK. Moreover, the centre predicts online sales will hit £42.7bn by year-end, achieving a greater share of overall retail trade.

It is evident from CRR’s research that a high proportion of customers still prefer to shop in-store or via the telephone, although there is an upward trend to customers purchasing products/services online.

Taking into account the CRR’s research, customer buying behaviour and our need to research products/services online, it’s critical that a sales promotion featured on a company’s website adopts best practice.

To assess best practice in this category, 7 metrics were evaluated to ascertain whether brands communicate purchase options and incentives effectively, whether the customer can engage with the sales promotions immediately and the overall effectiveness of the data capture process: • Does the offer display clear online signposting to the sales promotion?

• Does the offer have clear online signposting to ecommerce and nonecommerce routes relating to the sales promotion – does it list contact numbers, store/office locations clearly?

• Is there a stated incentive to shop offline and/or online? Is it clear to the customer?

• Data capture – does the website take advantage of the customer’s presence in relation to the sales promotion?

• Can the customer engage with the sales promotion online immediately?

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Figure 8: Scorecard* for purchase options Clear online signposting to non-ecommerce route –

2.20

Clear signposting to ecommerce route –

2.28

Stated incentive to shop online – 1.28 Stated incentive to shop offline – 1.40 Data capture –

3.50

Clear signposting to sales promotion –

Engage immediately –

0

2.86

2.66

1

2

3

4

5

*Overall mean score for all market sectors

The average CJI scorecard across all market sectors is 2.30. This CJI score is surprisingly low, as this is the final stage of the customer journey before a potential purchase. Brands lost marks due to: • Contact information – unsure of how to find out more information about the offer, as the contact details are not displayed/or hard to find • Disjointed offers – sales promotion is not featured/or hard to find. This can lead to confusion as the sales promotion is not reflected online • Incentive – no clearly defined reason to shop online/offline – if brands are adopting an offline/online strategy, incentives should be offered to entice the customer to purchase via the desired route • Data capture – one way of building a contact database and community is to ask the customer to register their details/preferences online in order to communicate with them about current/future sales promotions Overall, brands do not clearly signpost their sales promotions ecommerce or non-ecommerce routes to the customer, which can be frustrating if looking to make a purchase and/or require more information. In addition, customers are expected to navigate around the website in order to engage with the sales promotion, and in some cases, the sales promotion is not featured on the website. Best case examples here include T-Mobile, Premier Inn and Go Travel, with major brands such as Pets at Home, Timberland, Vodafone and Tesco as worst case examples.

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A handful of brands provide an incentive to the customer to either shop offline or online. Clearly displayed incentives for the following brands’ sales promotions include:

Online strategy • bmibaby • British Gas • Flybe • Ramada Jarvis Offline in-store strategy: • Boots Opticians • Bang & Olufsen The majority of brands do not take advantage of the customer’s online presence in terms of capturing data relating to the sales promotions. However, capturing data is an art form, as most people are distrustful of handing over data to a website. If the data capture is done correctly it can improve the overall website’s ROI, however, it needs to be defined and targeted to achieve the overall aims of the business strategy. Brands adopting best practice (i.e. scoring ‘5’) for online data capture relating to the sales promotions include Virgin Media, T-Mobile, Lebara Mobile, Lovefilm.com, Go Travel, Premier Inn and Red Letter Days.

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5 34

Summary From the research, it is evident that brands need to significantly improve the customer journey process across offline and online sales promotion communication. While the research highlights some brands are excelling in some areas (for example online brand connection and offline sales promotion awareness), performance across all 19 metrics is inconsistent, and therefore, the customer journey is not free flowing, logical and integrated.

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A handful of brands are considered best in class across the CJI metrics, however, T-Mobile, Ramada Jarvis and Premier Inn are top of the game scoring ⱖ78 indicating a strong connection between offline and online marketing communication.

When viewing the sales promotions provided by these brands, the customer journey across the different media platforms is consistent, uncomplicated and engaging, making it very easy for the customer to obtain more information in order to make an informed buying decision. In most cases, these brands adopt good practice across the CJI metrics, but what makes these brands stand out from the crowd, is the clear, single minded sales proposition which is communicated succinctly throughout the customer journey.

Table 6 on the opposite page identifies the brands considered best in class for each CJI category.

Although T-Mobile, Ramada Jarvis and Premier Inn have high CJI scores, the research indicates that brands need to make a conscious decision to evaluate all sales promotion metrics to enhance the customer journey across offline and online platforms. Furthermore, the research highlights two specific areas where brands are consistently performing poorly: • Social media (overall CJI score 1.36). Improvement in this area (active, targeted social media strategy) will help to build an online community and fan base, thus providing a platform to highlight current promotions and increase brand recognition • Clearly displayed incentives to shop online or offline (overall CJI scores of 1.28, 1.4), thus pushing customers down a specific purchasing route From a market sector perspective, the findings reveal a wide range of CJI performance scores, with the IT/comms sector adopting best practice, and the retail sector with the worst performance scorecard. However, the retail sector has a difficult task in providing consistent, free flowing customer journeys, as retailers offer multiple product/service offers promotions to the customer.

With more and more customers using the web to research their purchases and £36bn* spent on sales promotions annually, there needs to be a significant shift in mindset to integrate traditional and digital marketing to ensure customers are not losing their way across offline and online media platforms, and sales promotion spend is not being wasted.

In addition, different customer groups clearly adopt different ways of researching and purchasing products and services, therefore, brands need to consider engaging with a customer about promotions offline and online, ensuring the customer journey at all times is consistent across both media platforms. *Source: Institute of Promotional Marketing, formally Institute of Sales Promotion (£36bn includes other promotional activity) 36

Table 6: Best in class by CJI category Customer journey category

Best in class overall

Sales promotion

Average CJI score overall

Awareness via sales promotion

Ramada Jarvis

Three nights break from just £99

4.80

Online marketing research

Ramada Jarvis

Three nights break from just £99

4.50

Red Letter days

15% off

Boots Opticians

Opticians (free second pair of glasses from £75)

HSBC

Mortgage to suit first time buyers – fee-free 90% mortgage

Clinique

Free treat with any foundation sample purchased

Virgin Media

£11.50 p/m TV package

Premier Inn

Rooms from £29

bmibaby

Every seat from Manchester is £10

British Gas

Goodbye estimated bills – save up to £150 p/y

Lebara Mobile

£10 call credit when you top up with £20

Virgin Media

£11.50 p/m TV package

T-Mobile

Free phone, 300 mins & unlimited internet fro £20 p/m

Sales promotion online brand connection

Purchase options offline & online

5.00

3.57

*The CJI categories account for 19 metrics. Mean CJI scores are shown

If you would like to know how your sales promotion performs across the customer journey metrics and whether your customers are losing their way please email us at web@delineo.com

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About Delineo Delineo is a full service marketing agency comprising strategic, analytical, left brain thinkers (who we call considerists) and intuitive, lateral, right brain users (we call them inspirationalists).

For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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Together we find the uncommon in the familiar to create genuine points of difference and achieve results that inspire. Delineo is the agency to talk to when you want to: • • • • •

Build brands for market differentiation and competitive advantage Increase sales of products and services Capitalise on existing and emerging channels to market Improve communication with stakeholders Use design for competitive advantage

Now in the top 8% of marketing agencies in the region according to both Crains and Business Link, Delineo is the agency to talk to when you want to make things happen, supported by our core values of: • • • • • •

Skills Passion Care Results Commitment Engage

Privileged to be the lead or roster agency for a number of leading UK brands, we've spent the last three decades delivering inspired results and supporting clients with a passionate, can-do approach. We work with clients in a variety of ways, to suit their particular needs and circumstances.

Our Work

Avnet - consumer quality comms campaign Campaign elements - digital, eDM, partner workshops 40

The Co-operative Travel - client testimonial ‘magazine has made a big impact on its audience’ Campaign elements - brand communication, internal comms

Timberland - new magazine delivered within 3 weeks Campaign elements - brand communication, sales promotion, internal comms

The Co-operative Travel - positive response to a dual message campaign Campaign elements - point of sale, advertising, DM, sales promotion For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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ASA - recruitment targets exceeded by significant margin Campaign elements - digital, DM, sales promotion

JP Juices - positive feedback to bold brand makeover Campaign elements - brand communication, digital 42

numĂŠro - client testimonial ‘profound work with results’ Campaign elements - brand communication, digital, DM, advertising

EcoWater - groundbreaking campaign attracting consumers to the benefits of soft water Campaign elements - digital, advertising, sales promotion For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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Castlefield - groundbreaking distinctive brand campaign Campaign elements - brand communication, digital, advertising

Coffee #1 - client testimonial ‘the return on investment is undeniable’ Campaign elements - brand communication, digital 44

Pannone - distinctive advertising campaign Campaign elements - advertising

The Co-operative Travel - topical summer campaign Campaign elements - advertising, point of sale, sales promotion For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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Manchester Jazz Festival - vibrant, innovative rebrand campaign Campaign elements - advertising, digital, DM, sales promotion, brand communication

The Co-operative Enterprise Hub - increased web traffic by over 200% Campaign elements - digital 46

Avnet - rebrand success for global IT distributor Campaign elements - brand communication, digital, eDM

GB Group - innovative campaign for new product launch Campaign elements - digital, advertising, eDM, exhibition, DM For your free customer journey assessment email web@delineo.com

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