The Persuadables℠;  the consumer segment with the highest ROAI.

Essentially, it’s a narrowing of your target from a broad-based approach to those consumers who already have a likelihood of choosing your brand.  And because they already have a predisposition towards your brand, they are more responsive to advertising, easier to move and ultimately return a higher ROAI.  Identifying those consumers and then what message will pull them towards your brand is the key.

The concept is relatively straight forward – of course, like most other things, the devil is in the details.

Fortunately, MSW has been doing this since the early 1960’s. The idea grew out of our early work on Brand Loyalty and is actually related to the old debate of which is a more efficient way to increase sales; a strategy of penetration (increasing your user base) or a strategy of increased usage (getting those who already use to use more).  The answer in most cases is increased usage.  Getting non-users, who express no interest in future use, to choose your brand is the least efficient strategy (they don’t use it, are not interested in using it and aren’t likely to be convinced, and if you can convince them it’s going to cost a lot).  The next least efficient strategy is getting loyal users to increase their usage (they already use it, how much more can they buy).  The most efficient way to target is in the middle; to get repertoire users (those who rotate through your brand and other brands) and non-users who are “attracted” to increase their use of your brand over others (increased loyalty or increased share of requirements) or buy for the first time.  It’s this last group that some people are now calling the “Movable Middle”, but what we refer to as the “Persuadables℠”.

The genesis of the thinking was that…  The nucleus of a brand’s franchise are the consumers who are loyal to it – but every brand also has a proportion of consumers who are “Persuadable”.

 And in order to bring about favorable sales results, the advertiser must accomplish two main objectives: 

1)  ATTRACT new buyers

2)  RETAIN possible defectors

Now, identifying who to ATTRACT and RETAIN is one thing – activating them is another.  Some people refer to this group as the “Movable Middle”; identify them using a traditional type of segmentation analysis, heavy on demographics, and then use that segmentation to target media buys.

While identifying and targeting is a good start, it doesn’t provide the most effective framework because it leaves out the most important piece.

At MSW, we do it different and better.  Our framework for a truly actionable and effective process is four-steps:

Yes, we identify and enable targeting of media buys, but we also inform our clients “HOW” to Persuade (or Move) this target – what messaging will have a positive impact on sales.

Including the “HOW” comes from our heritage in advertising and communications research –research centered on “HOW” to persuade these “Persuadables” to buy or buy more of your brand.

How we do it; Step 1, Identify Persuadables℠.

We have two techniques that we use in combination to identify the Persaudables℠.

• We don’t define the Persaudables℠ as others do, as consumers with a 20-80% probability of choosing your brand, as the result of purchase interest question. Purchase Interest, by itself,  is actually one of the least accurate ways of predicting brand choice.  MSW’s CC Brand Preference is the most proven and sales validated measure available to predict brand choice.
• We combine our proven and sales validated CC Brand Preference™ and our Brand Franchise Analysis™ to more accurately identify and segment consumers relationship with, and likelihood to purchase your brand.

How we do it; Step 2, Identify HOW to Persuade Them.

• Then we use our Persuasion Driver Analysis™ to inform HOW to move the Persaudables℠.

How we do it; Step 3, Test Messaging.

• Testing messaging and communications to ensure ad impact on future sales volume and market share.Messaging and Creative is the one thing that has the most impact on both short-term sales lift and long-term brand equity.
• MSW’s suite of advertising assessment and creative guidance tools used to test messaging and ensure impact on Persuadables.

How we do it; Step 4, Target Media.

• And finally, targeting the Persaudables℠ using the segmentation analysis completes the process. While MSW Research is not a media buyer, we do provide our clients’ buyers with segments, definitions, targeting and everything they need to effectively execute and buy.

Some final thoughts…

• Roughly 1/2 of category users are Persuadables℠
• 2/3rds of new penetration comes from Persuadables℠
• Only 1/3 of new penetration comes from all other segments
• Persuadables℠ are twice as important as all other segments; as they deliver 2/3rds of new penetration

 

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In What MSW Research Products/Services is this Persuadables℠ Segmentation Analysis available?

We offer the Persuadables℠ Segmentation Analysis throughout the communication development process.

1. It is available in early stage Foundation & Purpose research as part of our Brandscape℠ product which is a category and brand equity analysis that deconstructs equity into base pillars for marketing planning. It is the first step in our communications development process that includes rational and emotional measurement that’s hard-linked within our brand equity improvement paradigm.

We build the Persuadables℠ Segmentation Analysis into Brandscape as an integrated analysis to understand your brand’s position relative to direct and indirect competitors, as well as your place with regard to mission, vision, core values, niche markets, strengths and weaknesses.

Identify the strongest brand claims/benefits to find those which are worthy of building communications around.

Determine if you have the opportunity to leverage and/or increase existing brand equity by extending or spinning-off your brand.

Explore the interaction between a brand and it’s customers over the duration of the relationship.

Understand your customers’ state of mind, complete experience and interaction with every brand touch point they encounter from awareness and need generation to usage and loyalty.

2. It is available in Screening & Development research as part of all our Early-Stage Message Screening (Sifter™) and Copy Testing (TouchPoint™) products.

Again, we build the Persuadables℠ Segmentation Analysis into these products as a fully integrated analysis to bolster the actionability of the outputs – insuring in-market impact.

3. And finally Persuadables℠ Segmentation Analysis is built into our tracking services as a fully integrated analysis to; a) confirm that historical communications strategies are on target and performing as predicted and, b) be viewed as a leading indicator to guide future decision making with regard to messaging and targeting. 

​Contact us today to discuss identifying and activating your Persuadables℠ with one our senior executives.

Today, the Advertising Research Foundation announced that the paper “Effectiveness and Efficiency of TV’s Brand-Building Power: A Historical Review — Why the Persuasion Rating Point (PRP) Is a More Accurate Metric than the GRP” has been voted Best Practitioner Paper 2021 by the JAR Editorial Board.  Along with co-authors Frank Findley of MASB, David Stewart of Loyola Marymount University and Kelly Johnson of Disney, we at MSW Research were very honored to have our work recognized with this prestigious award.

The paper was published in the December 2020 issue of the Journal of Advertising Research.  It addresses the questions of whether television advertising is as effective as in the past and if so, how it compares with other media-platform alternatives.

The major conclusions of the study include the following:

• On a single, quality exposure basis the television ad format is as effective now as it was in the 1980s (based on copy-testing for 30-second television ads collected within the United States for typical categories with brands advertising throughout the years 1980 to 2014 using a consistent methodology, MSW Research’s CCPersuasion^TM measure).

• The rate of delivery of an ad’s selling power per GRP has slowed, requiring approximately 25% more GRPs to deliver the same brand-building power in market as it did in the 1980s.  This implies that television-channel proliferation, time-shifting technology, and simultaneous digital-media consumption (multi-screen behavior) are having an impact on the advertising viewing experience.

 

• This decline is mitigated, however, by a 45 percent increase in the number of households in the United States over the same time period.  Each rating point now represents many more households. So even though fewer households are now effectively reached by a given spending level on a percentage basis, this is not true on an absolute number of households basis.

 

• Despite a potential increase in distracted viewing, television advertising still maintains an effective frequency profile that is comparable to other media channels including digital.  All examined media types – including television – can be effective within the range of average frequencies typically deployed for them.

 

Every media platform has its own strengths and challenges. Although the interruptive nature of television advertising may make it more susceptible to divided attention with other media, it also provides television with one of the most immersive visual and audio experiences.

Television remains an effective media platform, and television advertising should continue to be used to maintain and grow market share. By focusing attention on the development stage, brands can improve advertisement quality to such a degree as to more than compensate for the decline in the rate of ad selling power delivery per gross rating point.

Trafficking gross rating points behind advertisements on the basis of their persuasive strength allows for the diminishing returns dictated by wearout to be managed while maximizing sales power delivered in market.  This means actively managing both quantity and quality of the advertising media plan, which can be achieved through focusing on Persuasion Rating Points (GRPs weighted by a measure of persuasion), rather than GRPs alone.

Contact us for a full reprint of the article.

Introduction

There once was a day when the equity and health of brands were stable.  Brand teams could expect that the fundamental performance of the category and the competitive set changed little on a short-term basis.  Category reviews and brand tracking research reinforced this perspective as the numbers typically saw limited, significant change on even an annual basis.

Those days are gone.  The so-called ‘new normal’ is an environment of continuous disruption.

Global pandemics, elimination of cookies for performance measurement, massive fragmentation of media, rapid growth in DTC brands, wide-spread product access with corresponding expansion of consumer choices, and real-time content generation are among just a few of the many factors now disrupting market categories and creating continuous uncertainty for brands.

This growth in uncertainty means brand growth is at risk.  MSW exists to address this need.

 

Basic Research

MSW has found that brand metrics must be more sensitive than ever and be collected more reliably than ever to capture the insights into market changes.  But the need does not stop there.  Brand metrics must have a tight enough validity to actual brand performance as time becomes an opportunity cost that brand teams cannot afford.  No time for examining ‘ghost’ findings. No time to scrap marketing plans for complete do-overs.  Any marketing research must support a fast turnaround and exploration of many potential ideas with a rigorous understanding of market context.

Working with hundreds of brands across many categories, we have found that all brands share one thing in common.  Branding requires continuous, meticulous attention across the entire go-to-market process.  MSW clients have worked with us as partners to establish an approach to deliver to this need within the ‘new normal’, disruptive environment.

 

MSW’s Predictive Brand Growth Framework™

MSW’s Predictive Brand Growth Framework™ is a process of connected, proven and sales-validated metrics and in-depth diagnostic measures that delivers a balanced approach to insights and aligns with each stage of your brand development cycle.

Utilizing MSW’s Patented, independently certified, sales-validated measures of CCPreference™, CCPersuasion™ and Customer Acquisition Forecast™, it is the most accurate, proven and independently validated approach to identifying short-term sales and long-term equity for your brand.

STEP 1 – Foundation & Purpose

The first step in MSW’s Predictive Brand Growth Framework™ is Foundation & Purpose, which establishes the building blocks for brand growth; a complete understanding of the customer, category, brand, how they interact and strategic direction that will yield the highest brand growth. Learn more about this solution set.

STEP 2 – Targeting & Positioning

We support targeting and positioning with a process for classifying customers by their behavior, needs, wants, and desires and narrowing in on the those that represent the highest brand growth potential.  Then we identify actionable, brand messaging elements to achieve that potential. Learn more about this solution set.

STEP 3 – Screening & Development

Our approach to screening and development is The ONLY advertising development system that predicts the likelihood and magnitude of ad impact on future sales volume and market share.  We evaluate advertising from early-stage concept to fully finished executions of ALL touch points. Our methodology captures the “lifts” in brand preference from exposure to advertising or other brand communication.  This patented methodology has been validated to actual business results more than any other advertising measurement in the industry.  Learn more about this solution set.

STEP 4 – Modeling & Forecasting

To make all this actionable, we have built more than 50 years of experience into our patented Outlook®; an agile platform that enables scenario based learning and iterative what-if analysis to determine optimum customer acquisition, ad flighting, channel selection and media allocation. Learn more about this solution set.

STEP 5 – Tracking & Feedback

Once in-market, a suite of customizable tracking capabilities enables brands to measure advertising performance through brand equity tracking, made unique by our use of MSW’s Brand Preference as the one primary aggregate measure that is proven and validated to match in-market brand share.  Other KPI’s collected triangulate to this single trusted measure and lend to the reliability and insights.  These techniques capture advertising and environmental impact on brand preference and other KPIs while also identifying drivers of and barriers to preference changes across the competitive set.   And our unique and proven “TRIGGER ANALYTICS” technique powers an early warning system and separates true shifts from random noise.  Learn more about this solution set.

Contact us today to discuss it with one our senior executives.

Or visit our website to learn more.