Three Case Studies on Reaching Millennials

To help guide marketers in their product development efforts, I recently held a webinar that showcased how we are leveraging pop-up communities, mobile technology and social listening techniques in order to obtain Millennial-driven insights. In this article, I'd like to share a few case studies from my presentation. These examples demonstrate how we are linking three key Millennial truths to varying stages of product development.

What's now: Millennials expect a stage on which their voice can be heard.
What's next: Pop-up communities for collaboration and iterative engagement.

Recently, one of our clients was challenged with identifying a more efficient way to execute product testing for their new body spray, specifically with male Millennials. While traditional research methods were used in the past, response rates were not where they needed to be and product developers were not getting prescriptive insight into what aspects of the product should be modified and why. Because of this, they were unable to develop products that were inspired, co-created and endorsed by Millennials.

We determined that a pop-up community offered the most compelling alternative for this situation, creating a forum that was both convenient and collaborative. Our goal was to recruit one hundred Millennial males to join and then stay with the community for an eight-week period. The quest for engagement started with the invitation to participate - it needed to let this audience know their authentic voice would be heard and listened to by the manufacturer.

The findings from this study were invaluable. The use of the pop-up community doubled our Millennial male retention rates as compared to the previous year where a more traditional method had been used. In addition, the feedback and insight obtained provided explicit guidance as to how and why to modify the test formulations.

What's now: Millennials desire speed, ease and efficiency.
What's next: Mobile for speed, context and discrimination.

In this next case study, our client was looking to launch a new cleansing mask which promised a sensorial journey at a very premium price point. To ensure the consumers agreed it was worth the price tag, we needed to capture and quantify `in the moment' responses.

Mobile was able to offer us the flexibility to gather data `in the moment', rather than having to wait to complete a post-usage recall survey several hours later. In our approach, we invited females aged 18-34 to use the mask for three days, and use their mobile devices to complete an experience diary detailing the entire usage journey. We also asked them to provide structured and open-end responses, as well as selfies and video journals over the three days - effectively allowing us to tap into their visual vocabulary.

The data was able to confirm that the mask exhibited very different sensorial experiences, the experiential journey elevated overall acceptance, and Millennials would pay the highest price point as a result.

What's now: Millennials influence each other to make authentic decisions. What's next: Social listening, buzz monitoring, prescriptive diagnosis.

One of our clients was challenged with identifying a very efficient method for capturing and tracking feedback quickly after the launch for a new line of craft beers. Traditional methods for obtaining feedback, especially among Millennials in this category, weren't feasible given the restrictions associated with shipping and testing beer.

In order to assess product quality and impact on consumer behavior, we knew we had to listen, rather than ask Millennials via a traditional survey. So we passively monitored the buzz that they were creating with each other on social media, tracked the words that they were using, and understood the sentiment behind what they were saying.

Within four weeks of launch, we were able to provide our client with a comprehensive scorecard that summarized the total buzz. Specifically, we quantified the buzz volume, the overall sentiment, media page types, the language that was being used, and the top SKUs in the line that were generating the buzz.

In summary

Millennials have tremendous buying power and significant influence on the success of your products in-market. As these case studies demonstrate, we need to be able to connect what's now to what's next through innovative platforms that can transcend traditional research approaches we've been using to date in order to engage this powerful segment.

Interested in learning more about how we are engaging with Millennials? Listen to the full recording of my presentation here.