Demos are an Illusion: Intended Offers, Intended Results

As David Berk puts it, “Coupons have the precision of a cluster bomb.” 

Fetch Group President, Product & Technology was recently joined by other senior leaders to discuss the limitations of traditional retail promotions. 

When a flyer or coupon is printed, it carries a one-size-fits-all message to whatever consumers it happens to be distributed to. Even with more targeted digital efforts, segmentation is traditionally drawn on demographic lines—an imprecise approach that casts too wide a net and leads to inefficiencies in spend. 

Distributing these standardized promotions doesn’t make sense because not everyone who receives them is going to be in the market for that product. No matter how much you discount hot dogs, a vegetarian isn’t going to buy them. This means that retailers—many of which are battling tightening marketing budgets to begin with—are spending money to market products to people who are never going to buy them. 

This is where a solution like Fetch, which leverages a user’s actual shopping data to build personalized offers, differentiates itself. 

This data-driven approach isn’t just more precise in who it can reach; it also allows for greater specificity in messaging and therefore greater specificity in the actions it can drive. Traditionally, coupons and discount offers can only broadly aim at people deciding between similar products—a discount on Laundry Detergent A could be enough to convince the shopper to buy it over Laundry Detergent B. But this only influences the switching behavior temporarily and fails to foster deeper engagement and extended brand loyalty. 

Let’s say a consumer is already loyal to a brand of laundry detergent. There’s no value in offering that consumer a deep discount on a product they’re already going to buy. With Fetch, a brand might seek to introduce the customer to another product in their portfolio, strengthening loyalty and lifetime value.

“We have the ability now to leverage data with precision to drive those types of behavior versus guess at it,” says Fetch Chief Revenue Officer Pat Burke. 

Are you ready to move beyond traditional promotions? Reach out to the Fetch team today to learn more about becoming a brand partner.

Selma Koita

Selma is a Director of Marketing at Fetch. She has a knack for brand strategy and finding brilliance in complex situations, which she has done for countless brands, both big and small, across a number of industries.