Amping Up Conversion
As a result of the recession and customer confidence, Famous Footwear sales had been falling for six straight months. Rather than waiting for a natural turnaround in the economy, the company wished to identify actionable opportunities for increasing stagnant sales while maintaining the company’s current differentiation strategy. To tackle the problem, we used a combination of four research methodologies, three quantitative and one qualitative, in ten stores across four regions. Ethnographic customer studies were conducted using video/audio analytics and surveys. Also, using a technologically sophisticated video/audio analytics system installed in each test stores. We captured and coded over 20,000 customer experiences and perform and in-depth analysis of over 3,000 customer-employee dialogue exchanges. Results produced nine strategies for increasing conversion which were then tested. Within a year, same store sales were up 15.5% and the conversion rate was up for the first time in nearly a decade.
Renewing the Customer Experience
Levolor, a leading manufacture of high-end window treatments, was concerned about how their products were being marketed in big box home improvement retail chains. Our goal was to diagnose the scope and scale of the problem and provide a set of recommendations for high impact changes within constrains imposed by the retail chains. The engagement was kicked off with client a workshop to fully understand the situation. A deep dive into web sites, blogs and additional secondary sources broadened the team’s knowledge of window treatment marketplace. Following our background work, a number of in-depth interviews were conducted with customer who had previously shopped for window treatment as well as with design professionals. Results surfaced a number of problems in the way products were shown in-store. Major among them was the customers needed to be certain that such a costly purchase would enhance the look and feel of their home. It was recommended that the marketer update their in-store demos and displays so that customers became more confident they were making a selection that fit the décor of their home.
Differentiating Frozen Meals
Lean Cuisine wished to improve their in-store merchandising at Target and other major grocery chains. To do so they developed a number merchandising and end-aisle alternatives designed to have maximum impact in driving customers to their products, and placed them in test stores. Customers were pre-recruited and asked to complete several tasks. Using mobile eye-tracking devices customer behavior was coded. Further, customers were shown a replay of their eye-tracking and asked to reflect on their thoughts and actions throughout the process. Working in collaboration with the design team, we identify several high-impact opportunities for differentiating Lean Cuisine products. Alternatives resulted in a synergy between product packaging and merchandising elements. The final solutions were achieved by drawing on the brand’s iconic packaging design which evoked healthy lifestyles and linking those to various in-store merchandising effort. As a result, the brand saw a noticeable lift in sales.
