Personalization helps sustain the effectiveness of regular promotions

Consumers might find it favorable for retailers to hold constant promotions, but is this the best way for companies to realize big profits? Allowing consumers to get used to special deals and discounts awarded at regular intervals can effectively train your best customers to always look past standard pricing - something Jack Aaronson, ClickZ author, likens to Pavlovian conditioning.

"Pavlovian marketing stems from the idea you train users to only shop with you when they know they'll receive a discount," ClickZ author Jack Aaronson writes. "When we constantly give out coupons, not only do we provide a stimulus for buying, we also actively train customers to buy from us when they get coupons. Some may argue this is the point of coupons, but there's a secondary effect. If the coupons occur on a continuous reward schedule, we train people to shop only when they get a coupon. This can be disastrous for sales margins, as well as for brands."

For some retailers, however, these promotions are their best chance for grabbing the attention of consumers in an already volatile and competitive marketplace. Weaning customers off the habit of discount shopping could be easier said than done when they don't know how else to attract and retain a loyal customer base. In this regard, Aaronson recommends personalizing ad campaigns to build a lasting dialogue that survives promotion cycles.

Fortunately, Semcasting's unique predictive modeling capabilities draw off of hundreds of publicly available data points to help advertisers recognize and segment consumers based on "look-alike models." These demographic and psychographic profiles accurately paint a picture of consumers based on their location, life stage, political leanings, affluence and more. Companies may be able to avoid the cycle of deals and the ensuing detrimental effects, provided they get to know their target audience better and personalize their advertising in a way that consumers will find valuable. Consumer knowledge can be used to great advantage when attempting to attract consumers back to the store by building a lasting dialog with potential consumers.