The amount of money American companies spent annually on market research has rapidly increased over the past decade, from $7 billion in 2010 to $50 billion in 2020. Despite all that spending, turning data into results remains a constant challenge.
“Clearly we are spending enough to understand our shoppers and their behaviors,” Ibotta Vice President of Research and Insights Dave Schaff said during a September 14 presentation at the Path to Purchase Institute’s Shopper Insights & Measurement Forum. “Why is it so hard to impact shopper behavior? I would submit that it’s because our shoppers are constantly changing. The retail environment is more dynamic than ever before.”
In 2020, 75% of shoppers tried a new brand, product or way of shopping. Most did all of the above. Yet conventional shopper surveys aren’t capturing that activity because 45% of stated purchase behavior is inaccurate.
A recent study highlighted that 48% of shoppers who bought vitamins & supplements in the past three months did not recall that they had made a purchase. Even more shockingly, 61% of those surveyed were actually heavy to medium purchasers of the category.
“Incorrect sample leads to suboptimal insights and targeting,” Schaff said. “We need to start with sample based on 100% verified purchase data. This in turn leads to significantly higher quality insights that generate greater impact in-store.”
Schaff also spoke about the need to leverage refreshable target segments. Traditional target segmentation has a five to seven year shelf life, with the value declining over time. Advertising to these types of consumer targets loses connectivity with the shopper since they are based on creating proxies via a typing tool. In this way, targeted media becomes less effective and inaccurate, leading to a lower ROI. Organizations need to be able to optimize segments in real time as shopping behaviors change.
In describing Ibotta Insights’ approach, Schaff stated, “We start with millions of shopping records. We then overlay demographic, psychographic and attitudinal data from verified buyers to create robust segment profiles. However, most importantly, we maintain direct consumer connection from the very beginning of the segmentation all the way through targeting.”
This enables a segmentation solution based on what shoppers actually do, rather than that they say they do. Another key result is robust segments that can be easily updated as purchase patterns and data evolve. Perhaps most innovative is the fact each individual in the segmentation has a targetable ID that can be delivered to a brand’s media partner. This ensures clients are reaching the right audience, which makes all the difference in impacting shopper behavior.
Ibotta created an audience of more than 30 million targetable IDs across two target segments and transferred it to Wholesome’s media agency. Leveraging the IDs for digital media, the brand saw a 38% YoY rise in household penetration, with light buyers increasing their purchases by 31% and trial among non-users growing by 250%.
The segmentation profiles have been used throughout the entire path to purchase, informing messaging, packaging innovation, and in-store activity. The segments have also since been refreshed based on new purchasing data, leading to a shift in targeting strategy.
“If we really want to influence shoppers, we need to start with verified purchases and be able to adapt to shifting consumer behavior,” Schaff said. “If there’s one thing that’s guaranteed in this market, it’s that change is inevitable. To truly impact consumer behavior, we must learn to recognize change and adapt with it”.
Click here to watch the full presentation and learn more about how Ibotta Insights can help you better understand your shoppers.
