Your company has spent thousands if not millions trying to develop an image of your product, but is it working?
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
This well known quote from John Wanamaker is commonly used to describe the inability of companies to know which marketing messages are truly working. While there have been advances in tracking campaigns to conversions, the real question is this: “Are consumers talking about your products in a way that aligns with your marketing message?”
The only way to know if your marketing message is working is to go to the source, which is the consumer. There are a few ways to go about that, but the most honest, unbiased and unsolicited feedback comes from consumer reviews. Consumer reviews reflect the true voice of the consumer at the time when they most love or hate the product.
If you are looking to know if your marketing message is working, then you need to be monitoring product reviews.
Case Study: Do Consumers Agree that Owlet Care Provides “Peace of Mind”?
Owlet is a product that is designed to alert you if your baby stops breathing. However, its branded message is, “Owlet is intended to provide peace of mind.” The key phrase here is “Peace of Mind.”
“Peace of Mind” is not a common phrase. In fact, this phrase is at an all-time low in usage and is used in less than .0002% of literature according to Google:
Source: https://books.google.com/
Product Review Volume Indicates Owlet’s Marketing Message is Working
Using the Channel Signal platform, we can see that Owlet had 184 positive reviews that used the term “peace of mind.” That means more than 20% of Owlet’s reviews used a phrase that is relatively uncommon in the English language.
Source: Channel Signal platform
Owlet Branded “Peace of Mind”
Now we may have somewhat of a “chicken or the egg” scenario. Did Owlet realize the consumers were using this phrase and in turn change its marketing message? Or was their marketing message spot on to begin with?
In either case, Owlet has successfully branded the phrase and it is a great example of a congruent marketing message that works. From their “45 Day Peace of Mind Guarantee” to their e-newsletter, “peace of mind” is used 154 times on the Owlet website.
Using Consumer Reviews to Validate the Marketing Message
There are two ways a brand can measure product reviews to validate its marketing message.
- Mine reviews to see which common phrases are being used to positively describe your products. If this is not congruent with your current marketing message, adjust it.
- Once your marketing message is on point with what consumers love about your products, close the loop by featuring those reviews on your site, product descriptions and social media. Owlet has reviews mentioning “peace of mind” highlighted on its site like this:
Summary
By using the Channel Signal platform, Owlet now knows their branding is working. Consumers are actively using the branding message without being prompted to in the product review process. With more than 90% of consumers turning to product reviews in their decision-making process, it is a marketer’s dream to know their marketing message is working. There are many more use cases for the Channel Signal platform, but having a clear path to proving if the true voice of the consumer reflects the marketing goals of the company is critical to any marketing campaign.