Category: Industries

Airbnb’s Financial Dip: Will June Mark the Rebound?

Posted on by Drop

Our Q1 Spending Report that we shared earlier this year showed that overall spend was down in every sector except for travel compared to last year. The basket size in the travel sector increased 4% whereas the transaction volume was relatively flat showcasing the inflation of travel prices. The rising travel costs are concerning consumers and highlighting the importance for travel organizations to strategize price points and provide additional value where possible. Airbnb experienced a financial dip due to these recent economic uncertainties and strong competition, but could June be the month to bounce back? Read on to find out!

Spending in the travel sector has increased compared to last year, but more so due to inflated prices rather than vacation volume as travelers are concerned about rising costs. 

Drop’s card linked offers platform enables us to capture real-time consumer insights through surveys like our most recent one on the travel accommodation space. Of the market research survey respondents, 68% are concerned about the rising travel costs impacting their ability to take leisure trips. Inflated travel prices are the top reason contributing to the ease of travel among US vacationers (75% of respondents) and lingering health and safety concerns are also still playing a role post pandemic (30% of respondents). Staycations and localized traveling have become a more popular option in recent times (46% of respondents) providing low and transparent prices which are at least moderately important for 69% and 86% of survey respondents respectively. Demand for low prices and localized traveling should be a market well suited to travel organizations like Airbnb, but a recent financial dip could be due to strong competitors who are able to provide better value.

Concern About the Rising Travel Costs Bar Graph.

With the increased importance of price points and loyalty programs, Airbnb has strong competitors which are enticing alternatives for travelers. 

When asked about alternatives to Airbnb, the stand out option is VRBO for 74% of survey respondents. The company operates in a similar fashion to Airbnb but typically offers lower prices for the same accommodation and has superior customer service. VRBO experienced a similar financial dip to Airbnb recently but is set to launch its loyalty program ‘One Key’ in early July, hoping to provide even more value to their travelers in exchange for reliable commitment. After VRBO, traditional hotels are the most preferred alternative for 55% of respondents. This is primarily due to the features unique to a hotel experience like amenities and services but also the loyalty programs and rewards points that many hotels offer. With price points and loyalty programs continuing as top priorities to travelers, VRBO and many hotels look to be in a better position compared to Airbnb. 

Most Preferred Airbnb Alternatives - VRBO, Traditional Hotels, HomeAway, and Couchsurfing.

Despite economic uncertainties and strong competition, Airbnb looks to be bouncing back in June with its highest stock price since early February. 

The Airbnb stock price fell 21% from May 9th – 12th and this financial dip is reflected in the survey results as only 9% of the survey respondents are likely to invest in Airbnb’s stock. The economic uncertainties are affecting many organizations in the travel sector, and 56% of the respondents believe Airbnb is being at least moderately affected during this ease of US travel. It also doesn’t look to be getting any easier for Airbnb, as 44% of the respondents are likely to use hotels more frequently in the future instead. The odds look to be against Airbnb at this moment in time with the economic uncertainties and strong competitors in the industry, but despite all of this Airbnb could be bouncing back this month as their stock price is the highest it has been since early February. Focussing on their homier feel, evolving where possible, and optimizing their price points will be imperative to keep this momentum going. 

Airbnb Stock Price 2023.

Looking for similar consumer insights or competitive analysis into a different industry? Fill out the form below or reach out to sales@joindrop.com to leverage our card linked offers platform.

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    Netflix’s Password Crackdown: A Temporary Dip or Long-Term Consequence?

    Posted on by Drop

    Our previous streaming service blog focused on the negative impact that Netflix’s Q1 2023 password-sharing crackdown would have on subscriber sentiment (check it out here!). Since then, we’ve been monitoring our Longitudinal Survey to measure the impact of Netflix’s password crackdown as well as other events in the streaming service industry. Our Longitudinal Survey allows us to gather consumer insights and track sentiment in the streaming service industry over time with respect to company health, content evaluation, current usage, future trends, and many other metrics. Has Netflix weathered the password crackdown storm? Read on to find out!

    Brand logos for Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock.

    Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing created a dip in subscriber sentiment, but this already looks to have subsided in recent months with the majority of metrics bouncing back. 

    All health metrics included in Drop’s Longitudinal Survey experienced a 6% decrease for Netflix in February compared to January. Netflix’s NPS score took a larger hit dropping from 18% down to 7% placing the streaming service significantly lower than its top competitors Disney+ (18%) and HBO Max (17%) at that time. This February lull for Netflix is most likely a result of the password-sharing crackdown but in recent months all health metrics have begun to bounce back. Increases of at least 2% can be observed across the board for the health metrics but they are still inferior to the results recorded before the crackdown. Considering the huge impact of this crackdown, Netflix should be more than satisfied to see consumer sentiment already bouncing back. However, with the Longitudinal Survey respondents being US based this negative sentiment is just secondhand for now, and could be significantly worse when the crackdown is fully completed across all of North America by the end of July 2023. 

    Line graph displaying Netflix health metrics month over month.
    Net Promoter Score – likelihood to recommend on a scale of 0-10. Score is calculated as Promoters’ share (scores 9-10) subtract Detractors’ share (scores 0-6). Overall Satisfaction, Price, Customer Service, and Intent to Continue Paying are all asked on a 5 point satisfaction scale. The graph is displaying the share of responses that were Very Satisfied or Satisfied (top 2 box) for Netflix.

    Netflix would have been hoping that its superior original and personalized content would help to offset any password crackdown negativity, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. 

    The Longitudinal Survey content metrics experienced a similar drop off to the health metrics for Netflix, approximately 6% across the board. Unlike the health metrics, however, the content metrics have not bounced back in the subsequent months and some have even decreased further. This is particularly surprising considering the password crackdown allows Netflix to obtain more accurate subscriber information which would allow the streaming giant to produce even more original and personalized content. It is possible that these benefits to the crackdown are not impacting US subscribers yet and new Netflix content isn’t delivering like it used to. Either way, this is a concerning trend for Netflix, as top-quality content is the key differentiator among streaming giants. Strong competitors like Max (previously HBO Max) are starting to pull Netflix down to the rest of the pack as Max topped the May Longitudinal Survey satisfaction results for content library and original content. Succession season 4 being the popular choice. 

    Line graph displaying Netflix content satisfaction metrics month over month.
    Content Library, Original Content, and Personalization / Recommendations are all asked on a 5 point satisfaction scale. The graph is displaying the share of responses that were Very Satisfied or Satisfied (top 2 box) for Netflix.

    Netflix isn’t the only streaming service to experience a lull in recent months with many other services also navigating negative sentiment due to content removal. 

    Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are spending significantly less time at home and therefore have less need for streaming services. Some of the streaming giants are therefore being more strategic with the content on their platforms, removing material that requires residual payments or licensing fees. Removing content is not a new trend but in the past couple months Disney+ and Max have been large culprits which is reflected in the Longitudinal Survey data. Satisfaction with the content library dropped 5% for Disney+ in May and 6% for Max in April which correlates with the timing of their content removal. Other lulls can be observed over the past 6 months for different streaming services highlighting again the importance of content, and in some cases subscriber up roars have prompted providers to retract content removals. 

    Line graph displaying content library overall satisfaction for organizations in the streaming service industry.
    The graph is displaying the share of responses that were Very Satisfied or Satisfied (top 2 box) for the streaming services included in the Longitudinal Survey.

    Events in the streaming service industry have created negative subscriber sentiment but the Longitudinal Survey data has shown that streaming giants are able to bounce back. The Netflix password-sharing crackdown caused immediate dips in both the health and content metrics. This was to be expected but the surprising part is that the health metrics have started to bounce back whereas the content metrics have remained lower, even decreasing in some cases. Netflix’s hopes to leverage accurate subscriber preferences for more original and personalized content doesn’t look to have countered the impact of their password crackdown so far. The removal of content from other strong streaming platforms (Disney+ and Max) also is not sitting well with subscribers and will be a trend we continue to monitor with our Longitudinal Survey. 

    Stay tuned to see future trends in the streaming service industry as we leverage our Longitudinal Market Research Survey and other data resources! If you are interested in conducting longitudinal research in an industry of your choice, connect with sales@joindrop.com.

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      Price Elasticity and the Resurgence of QSRs in the Food Service Industry

      Posted on by Drop

      Leveraging data from Drop’s 2023 Q1 Spending Report and a recent card-linked member survey, we have been able to uncover some interesting consumer insights into where diners are purchasing their food and the importance of price. Overall 2023 consumer spending is down and fast to moderate-speed restaurants look to be the preferred choice, but price increases or the appropriate discount could be enough to sway consumer behavior. 

      Total spend in Grocery stores and Restaurants decreased compared to last year, but QSR restaurants look to be the prevailing popular choice.

      Total spend at Grocery stores and Restaurants decreased 7% and 3% respectively compared to last year. The spend decrease was primarily due to fewer transactions for both, but the basket size at Restaurants increased slightly (+1%) whereas Grocery decreased slightly (-2%). The marginal price increases at most restaurants are likely creating a weaker drop-off in total spend. Top restaurants among Drop members in early 2023 are fast to moderate-speed restaurants rather than sit-down venues. As we approach a potential recession, QSR restaurants will likely become a popular choice again as we saw with the Great Recession.

      Bar graph displaying Restaurant Sector Total Spend Share (Top 5). The data was collected by Drop's card-linked marketing platform.

      Comparing all industries, Food Delivery is the most sensitive to price increases and Grocery is the least.

      For Food Delivery 40% of survey respondents would be willing to pay a <5% (lowest answer option) price increase before being deterred from purchasing, whereas for the majority of other industries, consumers are willing to pay a 5-9% increase. Grocery is the industry where respondents are least sensitive to price increases, 62% are willing to pay a 10%+ increase which is significantly higher than any other industry. Groceries are a product that consumers cannot go without and therefore are willing to pay significant price increases if required. Food Delivery is not a necessity and is already at a fairly expensive price point, so marginal increases are enough to sway consumers into changing their shopping habits.

      Maximum Price Increase Before Deterred to Purchase Vertical Stacked Column Graph. The data was collected by Drop's card-linked marketing platform.

      With spending habits decreasing in 2023, low-price discounts are enough to entice consumers to purchase from a brand. 

      For every industry except Technology, most respondents (on average 36%) would be enticed by a 10-19% price decrease (lowest answer option). The lower discounts were more prominent for Grocery, Toiletry, Restaurant, and Personal Care brands (an average 40% of respondents). For Food Delivery, Entertainment, Travel, Clothing, and Technology, a 10-19% discount was still the most popular (an average 32% of respondents) but a higher share of respondents would also require a greater discount at 30%+ (average 37% of respondents). 

      Minimum Price Decrease Before Enticed to Purchase Vertical Stacked Column Graph.

      Companies in the Food Delivery industry look to have a challenge on their hands as consumers can only endure low price increases and require the highest discounts. For Grocery, on the other hand, consumers are willing to endure higher price increases and require low enticing discounts. This creates a perfect opportunity to leverage customer loyalty programs, consumers preferring to eat at home, and couponing which are popular approaches to combat the rising living costs.

      In an industry where price sensitivity varies across consumer behaviors, our card-linked marketing solutions enable you to entice customers effectively. With Drop’s Card Linked Offers, you will be better equipped to combat the challenges faced by the Food Delivery industry while capitalizing on the enduring demand for Grocery products. 

      Ready to seize the opportunity and maximize your business’s potential in the food service industry? Discover how Drop’s Card Linked Offers can help you navigate the dynamics of price elasticity and consumer preferences.

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        How QSRs Can Adapt to Survive a Recession

        Posted on by Drop

        The Great Recession posed challenges for many industries including Quick-Serve Restaurants (QSRs) as consumer confidence and spending declined. However, some QSR chains were able to survive and even thrive by adapting to changing market conditions.

        How did QSRs survive the Great Recession?

        QSR chains like McDonald’s and Chipotle adapted to the changing market conditions to survive the economic downturn. McDonald’s saw an increase in sales due to its affordable menu options and value promotions. Meanwhile, Chipotle’s focus on healthy and fresh food options helped them to fare relatively well.

        McDonald’s + Chipotle Image

        The QSR industry was not immune to the Great Recession, but restaurants that could innovate efficiently were better equipped to survive and even thrive during this period.

        Consumer insights from Drop transactional data.

        Drop Transactional Data from 2022 and early 2023 reveals that QSR spend has been relatively consistent but started to decline in early 2023, similar to the Great Recession. Fast Casual spend follows a similar trend but being at a higher price point also experienced an earlier drop off in June of 2022. These trends are no surprise as economists are predicting Q1 of 2023 as potentially the beginning of another recession.

        QSR Industry Spend April 2022 - February 2023
        The Index approach uses the spend of base month (April, 2022) as the benchmark to showcase the changes of spend from each following month in comparison to the base month. This illustrates the trend in a simplistic manner, and enables the comparison of different categories under the same scale. For example, index 1.00 means the spend of a certain month is the same as the spend from April, 2022 and 2.00 means the spend of the certain month doubled the spend from April, 2022. 
        Fast Food: McDonalds, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Subway, KFC, Popeyes, Burger King. 
        Fast Casual: Chipotle, Five Guys, Qdoba, Panera Bread.

        Despite seeing a decrease in overall QSR spend, the average basket size has been consistent and even increased by approximately $1 for Fast Food restaurants. The marginal increase can be attributed to inflation and brands increasing their prices in the past 6 months. 

        The average frequency of purchases for Fast Food has also remained stable, except for a subtle dip in early 2023. This could be attributed to New Year’s resolutions to reduce fast food consumption. For example, the Fast Casual category continues to be very stable as brands like Chipotle are positioned as a healthier option.

        QSR Average Basket Size April 2022 - February 2023
        QSR Average Purchase Frequency April 2022 - February 2023

        What did we learn from our members about the future of the QSR space?

        Drop surveyed 1,300 card-linked members and found that 69% said they will spend the same amount on fast food in the next six months. However, 10% of respondents plan to spend more or much more because they are too busy to prepare food at home (40%), it’s convenient (40%) and it tastes good (29%). If QSRs introduce similar initiatives that were leveraged during the Great Recession like value meals, 28% (+18%) of respondents would purchase more fast food.

        QSR Purchase Frequency in the Next 6 Months

        Despite QSR basket size remaining steady, the decrease in the frequency of purchases is resulting in a decline for overall spend so far in 2023. From the Drop card-linked survey, around 80% of respondents will spend the same amount or more in the coming months on fast food. 

        If QSR brands want to capitalize on this sentiment and increase their share of wallet, they should look to the lessons from McDonald’s and Chipotle during the Great Recession. Similar to what was done in 2008-2009, QSRs should prioritize cheap and easy value items, emphasize the savings from coupons only found by downloading the brand’s respective app, and build on loyalty within the industry to maximize profits.

        The benefits of Drop card-linked offer programs for QSRs.

        With Drop’s Card-Linked Offers solution, QSR brands can offer personalized discounts and rewards to customers based on their spending behavior, leading to increased engagement and higher revenue. By adopting a card-linked offer program, QSRs can benefit from increased customer retention, improved consumer insights, and a competitive advantage in the market.

        Ready to maximize profits for your QSR brand? Start driving more sales and building customer loyalty today with Drop’s Card-Linked Offers solution.

        How Netflix’s password crackdown could be creating cracks in their armor

        Posted on by Drop

        Last month we shared some interesting insights and data around Netflix and the video streaming industry. Leveraging our Longitudinal Survey Product that tracks industry trends over time as well as data from our transaction-verified panel, we crowned Netflix as the most popular video streaming service among consumers (check it out here!). Despite recent price increases (January 2023) Netflix continues to be successful because of the quality and diversity of its original content. 

        Netflix’s upcoming prevention of password sharing, which began in Q1 2023, is a looming issue for the company. As part of this change, Netflix will ask for an additional fee for friends and family who share an account and are not living with the account holder. Drop conducted further research to understand the consumer sentiment towards this change from Netflix, and the results suggest the ramifications could be costly for the company.

        Favorite Streaming Provider Netflix Disney+ Huhu Apple TV+ Peacock Paramount+ Drop Market Research Solutions, Feb. 24, 2023, 2,000 US respondents.

        The majority of Netflix users are unhappy with the password-sharing crackdown and are unlikely to pay for additional subscriptions. 

        A survey with 2,000 Netflix users recorded 63% as account holders, and 37% sharing an account with family, friends, or roommates. Just over half (51%) of the respondents disagreed with the password-sharing crackdown. This percentage increases to 58% for users who share an account and would obviously be significantly impacted by the change. 

        It looks as though Netflix will miss out on a lot of potential subscribers, as 57% of the respondents are unlikely to pay for an additional subscription. The additional asking price is potentially where Netflix needs to adjust as 54% of respondents would only pay $5 or less, and the Netflix pricing looks to be higher than that in most regions. 

        Likelihood to Pay for an Additional Subscription Amount Willing to Pay for Additional Account Drop Market Research Solutions, Feb. 24, 2023, 2,000 US respondents.

        Nearly half of the Netflix users surveyed would consider canceling their subscription as a result of the password-sharing crackdown, and with lots of strong competition, this is a serious threat to Netflix. 

        Of the total respondents, 48% are likely to cancel their Netflix subscription as a result of the password crackdown. This percentage goes up to 63% for those who are currently sharing an account as this group is impacted the most. When asked which streaming providers they would switch to, Hulu had the majority of the vote (68%) and from the previous research, Hulu looks to be one of Netflix’s strongest competitors. These results suggest that the Netflix password crackdown could create opportunities for competitors to fight for more market share. 

        Likelihood to Cancel Subscription After Password Crackdown Drop Market Research Solutions, Feb. 24, 2023, 2,000 US respondents.
        Which Streaming Provider Would You Switch To? Drop Market Research Solutions, Feb. 24, 2023, 2,000 US respondents.

        The negative reaction from Netflix users in response to the password crackdown is also leading to concerns for future subscriber and revenue forecasts. 

        Over 80% of the survey respondents believe that the Netflix password crackdown will have an impact on the company’s subscriber numbers. Given that sharing accounts is a common practice among Netflix users, the potential loss of subscribers would no doubt have a major impact on the company’s revenue. It remains to be seen how Netflix will address these concerns and mitigate any potential impact on its business, but it’s clear that the company needs to take steps to reassure users and maintain its subscriber base.

        Will Password Crackdown Impact Subscriber Numbers? Drop Market Research Solutions, Feb. 24, 2023, 2,000 US respondents.

        So what happens next?

        From the findings above, it is safe to say that Netflix users are not happy about the imminent password crackdown. The change is considered unfair, particularly if users are on a tight budget and cannot afford to pay for individual accounts for all family members. As Netflix navigates the next few months, it will be crucial for the company to understand and accommodate subscriber needs and preferences where possible. With more accurate member data, the password crackdown provides a great opportunity for Netflix to effectively invest in more outstanding original content.

        Netflix Originals Covers

        Will the improved content outweigh the severely negative user sentiment and continue to be the factor that keeps Netflix ahead of the streaming provider pack? That’s the question Drop will look to answer when we next consult our streaming provider Longitudinal Survey and future research projects!


        Want to gain a deeper understanding of your industry that can give you a competitive edge? Check out Drop Market Research, and gain valuable insights into your target audience and start making informed business decisions.

        Entering Web3 with NFTs

        Posted on by Drop

        Marketing strategies to help make your first NFT a winner.

        Entering Web3 with NFTs

        In 2021 the world was caught in a frenzy surrounding a new technology – the Non-Fungible Token (NFT). Growing by 11,000% in the span of a year, NFTs were popularized by highly publicized multi-million dollar sales, such as Beeple’s First 5000 Days, capturing a global audience and elevating the mystique of NFTs.

        What are NFTs?

        While NFTs are widely identified as algorithmically generated digital artworks, that is not the only use case for the technology. NFTs essentially operate as non-editable records of assets and the full capability of NFTs is still a blue ocean of possibilities.

        These unique and distinct codes are recorded on a blockchain system, similar to ones used in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Transactions and records on the blockchain are irreversible and immutable, guaranteeing the authenticity, ownership, and provenance of a digital asset.

        NFTs and global brands

        What was previously only leveraged by web-based companies is now on the radar of almost every brand in the world. Global brands such as Nike are taking notice of the meteoric growth of NFTs and applying them in creative ways to interact with consumers to generate their own meteoric growth.

        We are able to observe microtrends developed due to emerging technologies, consumer behavior, and brand deployments of NFTs. As more branded deployments, known as mints, enter the market, we are able to identify distinct branding strategies and the results of these minting events.

        Marketing strategies of NFTs

        Retailers such as Nike and Adidas have launched exclusive digital collections of their products in the form of NFTs aimed at increasing brand awareness. Strengthening the idea of customer loyalty and building hype surrounding the brand is the main strategy in these mints, usually done in collaboration with well known developers.

        The marketing strategies behind these projects are so strong that typically the contents of these mints are unknown to the consumer until after the purchase is made. Similar to their high-profile and coveted product launches, there are typically significantly fewer NFTs available for purchase than there are consumers. Scarcity increases the perceived exclusivity of these brands which extends into their physical products; On some occasions these digital releases are accompanied by limited physical products such as the Gucci x Superplastic NFT collection. Owners of this NFT are entitled to an exclusive statue manufactured by the storied luxury brand.

        Developing an exclusive digital collection gives brands a new avenue to interact with their consumers. Highly targeted mints increase a consumer’s potential Lifetime Value (LTV), especially for brands where a large amount of their revenue is attributed to their high-spend clients. On the other hand, exclusive mints aimed at the general public have the potential to drum up an incredible amount of publicity and attention.

        Adding utility and driving loyalty

        Connecting passions and habits to collectibles is a well-known strategy for businesses to captivate their audiences. Tour merchandise for popular music artists are a memento for the concert-goer to keep; Sports cards commemorate iconic moments in time of a favorite player. The NBA has successfully digitized these moments in the form of NBA Topshots – collectible NFTs that represent different moments in a player’s career. The strategy for these mints is to offer a personalized product that is updating an old collecting habit, a natural progression into the digital world.

        Perhaps the most recognizable NFT collection, The Bored Ape Yacht Club, hosts a yearly festival known as ApeFest. Holders of the NFT Tokens are invited to this event to participate in an exclusive concert featuring headline celebrities and the opportunity to network with other holders of the NFT. Members of these communities typically are hosted in a private talk-server where consumers are able to communicate with each other; Brand representatives are able to open a line of constant contact with their consumers through the talk-servers. These NFT talk-servers help a brand increase the number of potential opportunities to interact with the public. Any sort of update to those NFTs also provide a chance for the brand to reactivate the buzz surrounding their tokens, whether new features are added to the token or if an event is hosted for token holders.

        Are NFTs a good strategy?

        Many brands have accepted NFTs as a reasonable investment and continue to expand their usage of this technology. It’s not yet clear whether or not NFTs will maintain their current trajectory but they have proven useful for companies who wish to get closer with their audience.

        It’s clear to see a major transformation in the way brands communicate with their consumers, developing experiences intertwining the digital and physical realms. Redefining what it means to have community engagement and strengthen a base of loyalist consumers is possible with NFT communities. Increasing user engagement on new and novel products becomes more accessible by deploying a NFT or collectible alongside the product. Further incentivizing a specific user behavior enables a brand to build predictable patterns of engagement – such as daily activations and redemptions.

        Understanding a brand persona is foundational to launching a successful NFT. The audience who is being delivered the marketing messaging should be interested in the trend first. Once the deployment is ready, it is imperative to delight the audience with the product and grow brand awareness.

        Companies such as Nike, Adidas, and Drop see the future ahead of us and are actively learning to determine what makes the most sense to explore. It is absolutely essential to think about all the possibilities of using new technologies for a brand and envisioning opportunities to leverage these developments.

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          Bringing Data Science to Retail

          Posted on by Drop

          Get a complete view of your customer, so no money is left on the table.

          The 21st century consumer’s path to purchase meanders through a stream of data and information. In today’s digital world marketers need to understand audiences and apply insights to deliver relevant experiences to their consumers. But that is not as easy as it sounds – Google and Apple are both significantly restricting the amount of information available to marketers by limiting the effectiveness of advertising cookies.

          Making informed decisions is now critical for marketers looking to deliver the most impact with their campaigns. Each company’s strategy will vary based on its business goals and their specific audiences, what remains true is the necessity for accurate and actionable data.

          Combining Datasets

          Data captured by a company typically only encompasses a few interactions with a digital advertisement or website engagement. Finding more insights on how a consumer interacts with a social media post and mobile app is possible but still we are missing critical pieces of the consumer experience. Building a complete vision requires the integration of all available data collected and will help achieve marketing objectives.

          But what if your company does not own those data sources? Partnering with a data specialist, like Drop for Business, will allow you to access that information – developing a more enriched image of the consumer.

          Uncovering data insights with a partner comes with many advantages. Drop for Business maintains a growing consumer dataset where members share their transaction data in exchange for monetary reward in the form of Drop points. This data encapsulates all of a consumer’s spend in various categories including competitive retailers, an avenue of data that is typically unknown to a company.

          Integrating Analytics

          Once a complete view of the consumer is generated it is time to use this information in decision making. Identifying valuable customer segments and applying them to marketing strategies turns insights into valuable actions:

          • Personalize customer experiences with audience-level data.
          • Segment customer bases to reach specific audiences with custom messaging.
          • Analyze marketing channel effectiveness and optimize budget allocation.

          Getting a more comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior leads to more effective marketing efforts. In turn, these efforts go on to improve the bottom-line performance of a business. Marketers with integrated technologies are more able to deliver experiences to consumers that delight each time they occur.

          How can Drop for Business help?

          Integrating more data into your marketing strategies enables you to gain actionable insights that prioritizes your business needs and understands your customers. For the best impact, the sources of the data must be reliable and up-to-date – Drop for Business currently provides a complete view of consumers from a combination of surveys and real-time, first-party data from billions of transactions, to truly understand your customer’s actions and future intent. With the data provided by our card-linked marketing platform, you can be sure to target the right customer, at the right time to supercharge your ROAS.

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            Winning Share of Wallet

            Posted on by Drop

            Strategies to winning the consumer’s attention and ultimately the sale.

            Strategies to Win Share of Wallet During Key Shopping Moments

            The consumer journey is a fundamental pattern that marketing and advertising strategists use to drive results. Shoppers today are inundated with influence and information coming from mixed media. What was once a direct shopping journey has been made an exploration, with the ease of access to information.

            As a result, advertisers must find ways to influence a sphere of customer journeys that lead to their brand and products. How?

            1. Aim to reach people, not personas

            Target people who are exhibiting signs of being in-market for a purchase. Typical strategies attempt to identify trends using a data set customized to their unique business. Understanding the indicators of a motivated shopper is not easy, but when done right enables marketers to close the sale.

            2. Deliver a quality experience

            It is key to ensure that the experience of your brand is high quality to make the shopping experience as seamless as possible. An easy experience is critical to building a base of brand loyalists.

            3. Always stay credible

            The multiple touchpoints between a brand and a shopper are each opportunities to build trust. To help, strive to anticipate consumer apprehensions and then address them during the shopping journey; ensuring that the message behind your brand is cohesive will help consumers make an informed decision that they can feel good about.

            4. Identify your moments

            While it is easy to identify that a prospect is actively searching for your product online, it is not always easy to understand where the shopping journey started. The desire to make a purchase can stem from a moment not directly related to the product – understanding these moments enables marketers to double-down on what is working.

            People make deliberate decisions about shopping, weighing many individualized factors to make their choices. With abundant information available online, it is now the objective of the advertisers and marketers to generate a holistic strategy that caters to the fragmented journey outside of their own digital properties.

            Gaining a view into the activity and actions of a consumer requires insight about their daily lives outside of interactions with a specific brand environment. In addition to making great content, it must be delivered to consumers at a time that matters to them outside of the traditional shopping journey. A prospective consumer that discovers content should be able to relate to the content as well as find it useful and trustworthy – keeping the brand top of mind for a purchasing decision.

            How can Drop for Business help?

            Many marketers are partnering with companies that specialize in connecting consumers with products and services that are specific to their needs. Drop for Business has over 5 million members that receive their own tailored content which is most relevant to their lives. Members choose to share their shopping behavior with Drop in exchange for Drop points, ensuring a clear exchange of value and maintaining trust between the member, Drop, and our brand partners.

            With this data, Drop for Business is positioned to segment, target and tailor content to meet consumers at these unique key shopping moments and ensure an efficient conversion of lapsed shoppers while maintaining a healthy relationship with loyal shoppers. By maximizing this strategy, marketers are able to promote customer loyalty as well as attain more customers, thereby increasing share of wallet.

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              Driving Scale with Card-linked Offers

              Posted on by Drop

              Drive 10x more scale than affiliate offers – here’s how to do it.

              Card-linked offers (CLO) are a great tool to drive in-store activations and reward your most loyal customers. But that is not the only reason why they’re becoming more popular with business and consumers alike. CLOs with Drop for Business have proven to drive 10x more scale than affiliate offers – here’s how it works.

              Affiliate Marketing

              Affiliate marketing is an advertising model where publishers (such as Drop) earn a commission for successfully promoting a product or service for an advertiser (ie. brand or merchant). The publisher is rewarded a payout for providing the result desired by the advertiser, usually the sale of a product.

              Affiliate marketing attribution is tracked via unique web URLs, capturing data points that inform the advertiser where the end-customer originated from and attributes the sale to the publisher responsible for attracting the customer to make their purchase.

              While affiliate marketing has been an extremely successful approach for direct to consumer and ecommerce businesses, traditional brick and mortar businesses struggle with associating online marketing activity to offline purchases.

              Card-Linked Marketing

              A new advertising channel gaining popularity with the rise of open banking is card-linked marketing (CLM). CLM operates similarly to affiliate marketing, with the key difference being publishers and advertisers attribute customer purchases using the bank-level transaction details, rather than web URLs. Card-linked offers are capable of measuring both online and offline purchases, and gaining traction with omni-channel and brick and mortar marketers.

              Benefits of Card-Linked Marketing

              Card-linked offers (CLOs) are the most popular way in which consumers choose to interact with brands on Drop and, as a result, they consistently unlock 10x more scale than affiliate offers.

              Card-linked offer attribution has historically been a challenge for marketers because purchases are measured in the bank environment as opposed to tracking click activity. Advertisers are accustomed to a 1-to-1 marketing attribution known as “Last-click Attribution”, where the last Publisher to receive a click from the consumer is granted commissions for the sale.

              But with Drop Pulse, our partner success tool, marketers get the best of both worlds, the increased scale of CLOs with the same last-click attribution as affiliate offers.

              Attribution with Drop Pulse

              Drop bridges the gap with a unique click ID that correlates the card-linked offer activation to the consumer’s transaction; Drop For Business is able to provide 1-to-1 tracking data to brand partners, accessible through Drop Pulse. CLO click attribution by Drop for Business is an order-of-magnitude improvement in marketing reporting that allows marketers to measure when the digital offer activation occurred and correlate it to the resulting online or offline purchase.

              At Drop for Business, we empower marketers to drive cost-efficient advertising campaigns by targeting the right customers, at the right time. Get in contact with our team and find out how Drop for Business is able to leverage CLO click attribution to exceed your advertising goals.

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                Win in a Cookie-less World

                Posted on by Drop

                Leveraging First-party Data to Win in a Cookie-less World

                Is your business poised to survive the impending loss of third-party data? In a world where cookies are becoming increasingly scarce, how can you effectively target and target your customers and accurately measure attribution? Drop for Business has the only future-proof solution you can rely on, once the cookies start to crumble.

                What are cookies?

                Digital advertising has historically relied on a piece of data deliciously named the “cookie”. This benign-sounding nodule is widely used as a tracker of web activity; functioning as a small digital marker passed between a user’s browser and websites, to help site owners better understand their visitors’ online activity.

                While the initial intent of the cookie was not to track user behavior on the internet, it quickly became commonplace. Personalized advertising unlocked by 1-to-1 tracking from cookies revealed new heights for digital marketers and digital marketing ROI. Cookie-based marketing began to play an integral role in the performance of multi-million dollar advertising campaigns on Facebook, YouTube, Reddit and many others.

                Why are cookies disappearing?

                Apple was the first major company to severely limit the ability of advertisers to track users on its devices – requiring consumer permission before tracking activity on websites and apps. Safari also limits the usage of cookie tracking, further restricting the details that advertisers can glean from an Apple device. While Apple is not strictly disallowing cookies from accessing Apple users, it is a fair assumption that, when asked, consumers will generally shy away from any form of tracking. These restrictions spelled a major shift in digital advertising, one that was further exacerbated by Google’s decision to limit the ability for cookie based tracking on its Chrome web browser.

                What does this mean for businesses?

                The restrictions put in place by Apple and Google have made it increasingly difficult to track users on the open web and businesses have been forced to adopt data collection at touchpoints within their direct control, like their websites and mobile apps. Nevertheless, such data collection techniques generally lack the granularity required for businesses to discern consumers’ intentions, preferences, lifestyle, etc.

                Facing these limitations, businesses are looking to augment their data to unlock a holistic understanding of their market landscape. To do so, they are partnering with organizations specializing in consumer-permissioned collection of data. Partners that specialize in data collection must take a strategic approach to ensure that their datasets are accurate as well as ethically sourced. The modern consumer is informed and knowledgeable of the value of their data. As a result, consumers are more inclined to provide accurate and complete information when a clear exchange of value is proposed.

                How can Drop for Business help?

                Drop for Business maintains a growing consumer base of over 5 million members, representing an average of 2 million transactions per day. All transaction data is stored with bank-level security and scrubbed of identifying information to maintain a safe and anonymized data set. Members actively participate in sharing their data in exchange for monetary rewards in the form of Drop points – pushing a frontier forward in a world where consumers and permissioned data sets are the priority.

                Advertisers are now able to leverage Drop’s ethically sourced, permissioned, first-party data sets in lieu of the advertising cookie to drive efficient and scalable campaigns far into the future, while driving significantly more value for both their brand and the end consumer.

                Request a Demo

                Learn how your business can see these results too

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