I wanted to share an experience I had with a clothing retailer over the weekend, and some of the marketing lessons we can come away with. The story begins last week, when I received a coupon in the mail, worth 10 dollars, should any purchases I made between two dates was greater than 50 dollars. I was quite surprised to receive this coupon in the first place as I have not shopped at this brand for at least a couple of years. Nonetheless, on Sunday, I visited this major clothing retailers nearest outlet. To be honest with you, perhaps my summer attire could use a refresher. After browsing the store’s aisles, I selected several summer items (about 5 pieces), paid at the register and returned home.
Once home, I tried on my new purchases, touting my wears before the mirror. After making sure that everything was perfect, I took a look at the receipt. At the bottom of the receipt, was a link to a survey as well as a unique code. Perhaps it was the excitement from the savings or just going out shopping at a retail store after a while, but I didn’t recall anyone mentioning the survey at the cash registry. The link to the survey didn’t really stand out either – it was printed in the same font and there was no real call to action. Just a really long number and a link below with a prompt “Take Our Survey”.
As a marketing professional, I rarely come across a piece of media which I do not try and deconstruct, try to understand the intricacies of the campaign, and analyze what I would do differently if I were in charge of this campaign; in this case, getting customers to take a survey. I went back to the same store later that day and made another purchase. This time, I purchased one item. I picked up the item, went to the register, paid, received my receipt and left. Once more, none of the store’s staff mentioned the survey, that was once again poorly displayed on the receipt.
Given that this clothing retail brand really wanted to hear my opinion, I thought I would give it to them. I sat down at my computer later in the evening, and visited the survey link, entering the code which reminded me of my childhood and those 20 character long video game codes we had to enter with the D-pad. I timed myself taking the survey properly; by properly, I mean I sat down and read every question, thought about the question, before choosing one of the options on a Likert scale.
The survey took more than 10 minutes to complete; it took 12 minutes and 42 seconds to be exact. It included several standard questions, aside from demographics, ranging from the cleanness of the store to how helpful I found the staff and whether I found all the products I was looking for. Fair enough. One thing I was not asked was if I used a discount code or any promotional offer – which I would assume would be very helpful for the marketing manager running the 10 dollars off purchases greater than the campaign. But that’s not what the biggest mistake of the campaign was. The biggest mistake of the campaign was taking the survey offered no incentive. At the end of the survey, I was simply directed to a thank you page with a link to the retailer’s website. No discount code – no chance at winning a prize – nothing at all.
So, what did we learn today? Well, we learned that good marketing can be bad marketing at the same time. I can’t say I am too bothered about the retailer’s staff not mentioning the survey link to customers (twice) after making a purchase, but if I were in charge of this campaign, these are the three mistakes I would definitely avoid.
Respect People’s Time
Perhaps it is the extra long code that got me here but did the survey code really have to be 20 digits long? That is more than one million combinations. I understand that this retailer operates nationwide, but a sample size of potentially one million responses seems somewhat excessive to me. The survey itself was a little long too. According to SurveyGizmo, survey’s longer than ten minutes are likely to result in significant abandonment rates. If you expect honest responses from a good number of respondents, a survey in the range of 4-7 minutes would have worked better in this situation.
Offer Incentives
Whenever you want to get people to do something for you, the best way to nudge them in the right direction is to offer incentives. Speaking for myself, taking this clothing retailers survey led to an important marketing lesson; as in what to avoid. Offering customers an incentive to take your survey is a good way to boost participation and keep them engaged all the way until the end. You have no shortage of options – you can offer an additional discount on future purchases, or enter their name in a draw to win store prizes. Either way, people are more likely to provide you with honest feedback when they are offered something of value in return.
Be Selective
Maybe some of you will say I am being too picky here but it is important to be selective. For one, I made two purchases that day. One small purchase (I purchased one very inexpensive item), and one larger purchase made up of 5 items. I also used a discount coupon for one purchase, which was sent to my household, and one purchase without any code. I received a survey code for both purchases. The surveys were identical. Perhaps the survey could be given to customers who used a discount coupon or code similar to me, or customers who purchased more than one items. In my opinion, any good survey needs to be selective with its sample and the same could have applied here.
All in all, I was quite happy with my experiences with this clothing retailer. It was very nice of them to send me a discount coupon in the mail, and it certainly played a big role in taking me to their store and making purchases. But as a marketer, I feel it is necessary to always seek improvement and there are definitely some areas where this campaign could have gone better.
That’s enough for me. Now it’s over to you. What marketing campaign mistakes have you noticed? What would you do better? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
