Shoppers do not walk into the store as a blank slate. Rather, they carry with them a complex codex of feelings, experiences, preferences and objectives. This mental model is built through a blend of past experiences, brands they trust, and the full context of their needstate at the moment. For CPGs, shopper marketing provides an opportunity to ask a deeper question, beyond “will they buy my product?”, and instead “how can my product fit into their mental model, and how can we nudge them towards a decision that aligns with their intent and our business objectives?” This is where smarter displays and stronger brand marketing can influence decisions at the point of sale.
Behavioral science gives us a framework to understand and influence the path to purchase, and VideoMining provides the empirical lens to observe, interpret, and optimize the moments that matter into conversion opportunities. Ready to get started? Here are some quick wins that can accelerate your journey towards smarter shopper marketing that connects, inspires, and converts in the moments that matter.
Shoppers bring a pre-determined structure with them —what brands they expect to see for a certain need, how they expect products to be priced, what packaging should look like, what solutions a product will supply, and what constitutes a good value. By keeping a steady pulse on shopper’s baseline behavior - you’ll have a blueprint to disrupt the standard shopping journey with shopper marketing techniques that are built to succeed and supported by better brand marketing decisions. This starts with a clear understanding of baseline behavior and interactions with your brand/category. What role does your category play in the typical shopper journey? How do shoppers inherently navigate and mentally organize the category compositions? Look at observable behavior – like how shoppers browse, where their gaze lands, which cues trigger exploration and consideration – to reveal the mental model in action and establish a baseline of behavior.
2. Explore How to Work with (or Disrupt) the Mental Model
Whether your tactics should support or disrupt shoppers’ mental model depends entirely on the intent of your campaign – is it to remove barriers to purchase and increase confidence in their usual decision? Is it to disrupt shopper expectations and introduce a new solution to a problem they haven’t yet identified? These questions should be answered, and special consideration should be given to baseline behavior so you can pinpoint the precise technique to win in-store.
For example: occasion-based messaging, placement, and in-store displays can align with the existing model and reiterate shopper expectations. Think grouping products by usage occasion or perfect food pairings – when these match the shopper’s mental model, it can become a quick no-brainer purchase addition. Alternatively, novel cues and unexpected placements can help break habitual browsing patterns and spark curiosity.
3. When You Win Curiosity and Engagement, Don’t Waste It
A show-stopping secondary display might attract attention. What you do with that attention requires foresight and an impenetrable strategy to convert that attention into a positive purchase decision. Remember to look closely at which specific visual cues and promotional language attract attention and drive conversions for your category and brand. Furthermore, don’t forget that the assortment featured on your display can also make or break the moment of truth. Designing display assortments that attract attention and focus that attention into a conversion takes careful planning, testing, and outcome tracking.
4. Benchmark, Explore, and Test Your Way to Smarter Displays and Shopper Marketing
VideoMining’s channel-wide Behavior Tracker™ program makes it easy for CPGs to keep a pulse of display attributes that make the sale, giving you visibility into millions of shopper trips to offer concrete proof of what stops shoppers in their tracks and what fades into the background.
Free Guide:
Discover the metrics that matter for shopper marketing and display performance tracking with our one-page checklist!