The Fetch Effect: 3 Brand Activations That Show the Power of the Fetch Platform

The cookieless future is already here. Google’s looming phaseout of third-party tracking is currently scheduled for July 2023, but platform changes from both iOS and Google to bolster digital privacy protections are already having a major impact. Tech giants like Meta and Snap saw shares plummet last year after ad-tracking changes led to decreased revenue, and companies that ran ads on the platforms are suffering higher customer acquisition costs. Now more than ever, brands have been hammered with the mandate of amassing first-party consumer data. 

First-party data has always been important, but these changes to the digital landscape have instilled a sense of urgency for brands to institute robust data-gathering efforts. Brands that have been ahead of the curve in these efforts are now sitting on stores of actionable data.

The strength of data rests in how it’s put to work. Data activation is the confluence of strategy, clear goals and KPIs, and the ability to use the data to drive those desired outcomes or learnings. In this article, we’ll look at the importance of data activation strategy as exemplified by three real-world success stories.

How Fetch Rewards Brings Data Activation to Life

Fetch Rewards has revolutionized the consumer-rewards landscape, drawing 15 million monthly active users who have snapped more than 2 billion receipts to date. Offering a fun, engaging, value-packed experience that keeps users coming back multiple times per week, Fetch has more daily active users than Starbucks and DoorDash. This level of engagement has translated to more than $120 billion in annualized retail sales, making the Fetch platform equivalent to the nation’s fifth-largest retailer. The most inclusive rewards program ever created, Fetch captures the full scope of a consumer’s purchasing behavior by rewarding consumers for submitting any receipt, from any kind of transaction — including cash purchases.

This level of engagement also translates to mountains of actionable data. The purchasing habits and consumer insights that can be gleaned from this trove of transaction data is extremely valuable to brands and retailers across the board. But it’s the application of Fetch Rewards’ best-in-class activation strategy that drives focused, measurable results for brand partners.

Data activation at this scale allows brands to sharpen their tools across their entire media and promotional landscape; to quickly understand what new products are working and with whom; to hone in on price elasticity by retail channels; or to uncover new promotional strategies. When you have 14 million households scanning over 90% of their receipts, you can get really good at understanding how to propel your business. And that’s what we call “the Fetch Effect.”

Increasing Average Weekly Sales for Popsicle®

To support the launch of a better-for-you frozen treat, Unilever looked to leverage Fetch’s active user base and verified purchase data in a nine-week activation period surrounding the release of their new Fruit Twisters product.

Fetch’s activation strategy meant creating unique offers for dynamic audience segments based on consumer purchase behavior. These offers, coupled with a Fetch-led marketing awareness campaign, were intended to not only promote the product launch, but to drive conversions as well.

The results exceeded all expectations: During the first week of the program’s third wave, new product sales surpassed overall brand sales. Fetch’s omnichannel marketing and targeting efforts found the right customers at the right time to convert. Average weekly sales rose by 1,016% over the pre-promo period, the brand saw a 43% increase in trial rate. And through a combination of email, push, and mobile inbox notifications, Fetch drove 9.7 million value-add impressions.

After the promo period ended, the Fetch team continued to learn, iterate, and apply findings – focusing equally on diagnosing what didn’t work just as much as what did work with the activation. Popsicle gained valuable insights and is now ready to double down with Fetch, using the platform to attack the national market even more effectively. 

Driving Trip Frequency at a Major QSR

Product awareness and launch campaigns are useful activation tactics, but Fetch has also proven adept at driving other key metrics. To this end, a national fast-casual restaurant chain approached Fetch to run a five-month campaign targeting new customers with the goal of increasing trip frequency and check size without relying on deep discounting.

To achieve these KPIs, Fetch used customer-level purchase history insights from both inside and outside of the restaurant partner and offered customers dynamic, high-value bonuses when they hit certain spend thresholds.

What made this campaign so successful was that not only was Fetch able to achieve the stated goals during the campaign—the restaurant partner saw a 30% increase in check size and a $4.70 additional spend per customer—but these trends continued after the campaign ended. In the two months post-campaign, the restaurant continued to see an 18% increase in spend per customer as well as a 25% lift in trip frequency. 

When an activation can impact customer behavior even after a promotional period ends, that’s a truly remarkable success story.

Impacting Buying Behavior for a Major CPG Brand

Another hallmark of a successful activation lies in the granularity of the data set Fetch is able to pull from. One multi-billion dollar CPG food brand approached Fetch to help them defend their market share against rising competitor brands, specifically at Walmart stores.

Fetch pulled from a set of more than 22 million users based on verified purchase data and experimented with offers to convert competitive brand buyers, increase the buy rate of current brand buyers as well as bring in new category buyers. 

By the end of the campaign, the brand saw a 79% increase in share of wallet at Walmart stores, and 18% increase in spend per trip, 23K new buyers, and a 16% unit lift during the six-week promo period. These successes unlocked future plans for Fetch activations to help protect their base and increase share, but also informed how they can better compete in their national spend.

By entering an activation with a clear goal, no matter how focused or granular, Fetch is able to tap into unprecedented levels of data to develop strategies to meet those goals. When properly executed, these goals can be impactful in the short term, but can have lasting effects on buyer behavior which can be truly transformational for brands.