Gray Dudek

One in five online shoppers would follow a brand on a social media site if it meant they were entitled to special deals on items such as groceries, a new report by Evolution Insights has revealed.

It was found that 65 per cent of food shoppers use social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, but would only follow a brand if they were given an incentive.

As a result, brands that use social media sites to promote themselves through ads or money-off deals tend to engage with consumers more, the report suggested.

James Johnson, lead analyst at the market research firm, said: “Special offers and shopper marketing is too often poorly targeted online”.

For online grocery shoppers, it’s more about relevance than aggressive discounting – a common complaint among shoppers is the lack of relevant offers and suggestions online.”

It was also revealed that 75 per cent of online buyers start their shop by going straight to their favourites or by typing keywords into a search engine.

More Brits could start looking online for discount vouchers as inflation has reached a six-month high.

The Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday (December 14th) that inflation reached 3.3 per cent in November due to an increase in food and clothing prices.

(via @IAB)

So, is it just noise now that we all ‘filter’ out of our inbox when it drops in?

Or do we all feel it’s still useful and relevant?

Well, eConsultancys latest piece of research tells us that us advertising folk need to keep using email marketing as a way of engaging with consumers as more than a third of people (38 per cent) do not use a social networking site such as Facebook.

The survey, entitled “How We Shop in 2010: Habits and Motivations of UK Consumers”, also found that only 6% of internet users had asked for recommendations on a social media site which seriously surprised me – clearly the bit they don’t include within this is the ‘passive’ endorsement people relevant via components such as eBay Feedback scores and the like.

More than a third of consumers (36 per cent) said that receiving an email had prompted them to make an online purchase and 27 per cent stated that an email had encouraged them to make an offline investment.

Linus Gregoriadis, Econsultancy’s UK research director, said:

“Despite the rise of social media, the role of the email channel is secure. Email is extremely effective as long as companies are targeted and relevant when communicating with consumers.”

Furthermore, 61% of consumers preferred to receive advertising messages via email compared to 28 per cent who said post and five per cent who stated social networking sites.

So, as it goes ‘food for thought’. Email will always have a place within the mix be that for transaction confirmation, up-sell, loyalty building, etc. The trick is to decide (via research) which of the areas it can help us.

To play it off against Social Networks (as an example) seems a little odd to me personally as it’s like saying “well I put it on TV because TV is better than Outdoor.”

Surely it all comes down to the objective and therefore what are you trying to achieve versus leading by channel and then force fitting (and then complaining when it doesn’t fit!)

(stat’s courtesy of IAB)