If we’re friends (hello, friend!), then you know how dorky I get about behavioral science – the reason why and how people do things. In marketing, it’s discovered when people click a link or when they decide to turn a promotion into a transaction.
As much as I love our blogging clients, I really love getting new research clients.
A couple of weeks ago, I got to dig into a year’s worth of Facebook Insights analysis for a magazine that has over 450,000 Facebook fans. They wanted us to look at their page (and their analytics) to find out when and why their comments dropped off, why “likes” might be slowing down, and which posts performed best.
Not to be crude, but I was like a pig in youknowwhat. Best eight hours of geeking out I had all week.
The Test: To Coupon, Text, or Discount?
Recently, we decided to run a really quick, simple test about social media promotions. My experience with Twitter promotions is that most people don’t redeem them, and/or the promotion isn’t good enough to share because the user doesn’t think they’ll use it.
My “intuition” (if that can even exist in marketing) told me that mobile promotions might be a bust, because it’s awkward to show your phone at the table with friends, and it’s even more awkward to say “you told me on Twitter that I could save 10% if I say that I read about the discount on Twitter.” There’s a lot of lame going on there.
Also, the purpose of this post isn’t to promote our clients, but that’s why I like Swipely‘s loyalty system – you swipe your card at a merchant you like, and if they’re a Swipely merchant, then you get the discount through your card. No coupons or anything.
154 Respondents Say Yes to Re-Tweets and Coupons
To make sure we only had people in the survey that were useful, we asked 2,642 of them if they had a Twitter account that they used at least once a day. Out of this number, 10.4%, or 154, were able to respond to the following question: If a chef/restaurant Tweeted an offer, which one would you be more likely to actually go to the restaurant and redeem?
I wanted to focus on one that they would redeem, not necessarily one that they’d be happy to get.
The majority, 32.3%, went for the “re-tweet for a $5” coupon promotion. Not only is it the easiest for them to complete, it’s also a coupon – one they can print out and discreetly slip in with their credit card.
To be honest, the reason why I don’t rely on “marketing intuition” is because, personally, I would have guessed that texting for a free app would have ranked higher on the list. A free app has the highest value of any promotion in the survey (unless your meals are typically more than $100).
Then again, this survey was completed by moderate to heavy Twitter users, so they’re naturally going for the easy re-tweet option. They’re obviously not as embarrassed to coupon as I am, so they don’t mind “mentioning a Tweet” either!
In regards to the demographics here, the survey-takers were 54% female, with the majority between the ages of 18 and 34.
Where the data gets a bit more interesting is in the income. In this case, income does correlate to almost every answer (except our top answer, which was beloved by all). We didn’t get anyone to respond who made more than $99,000 per year.
The most popular answer is fine with people in all income brackets.
Those with the highest income (likely to have checks over $100) would rather save 10% when they mention the Tweet.
Those in the upper middle class tier are happy to Tweet back at a company so that they can print out a coupon (and, like me, slip it into the check folder).
Those on the low end of the income spectrum know a deal when they see one, and they chose the free appetizer, which has the highest perceived value.
Heading back to the most wealthy tier, those who make $75K-$99K per year don’t mind texting for a deal.
These results can tell you a lot about your customers. If you cater to high-end guests, then you’re perfectly safe offering a 10% off verbal coupon or asking them to text for a coupon. If your guests are on a budget, realize that they know value and a good reward when they see it.
Are you surprised by these results at all? Any that you thought would have performed better? Let’s chat in the comments. Want us to dig into your analytics and pull out promotions that will get more customers, likes, comments, and shares? Get in touch!
