Did you know that only 0.7% of shoppers are driving 80% of new product volume for the first year?  And that among those trying a new product in the first six months, only 11% continue to buy the product after a year? ¹

These Catalina study findings¹ just further emphasize how important new product launches can be, as we have seen this number shrink over time, becoming more and more narrow.  It is not just about the first few months, but keeping those early triers engaged throughout the launch phase and beyond.   The key questions that marketers continue to ask are:

•  “How do I get a quick read on results in order to make key strategic decisions quickly to ensure my customers are continually engaged?”

• “Why do repeaters return and what are their future purchase intentions?”

• “Why do one time triers not repeat their trial of our launched product?”

How do we recruit these very, very important consumers?  Well, finding that needle in a haystack of new triers (the 0.7%) can be quite difficult.  We however, have a solution based upon our decade-old partnership with Catalina utilizing BAR®: Behavior Activated Research.  BAR® is a smart-targeting technique that recruits respondents based upon ACTUAL purchase behavior where we can easily recruit consumers at a time of very low incidence.  If they have purchased your product within the Catalina network of stores, we can find them!

Finding these consumers is much easier and quicker than you think!

Please contact us now to learn more about BAR and MSW•ARS’s other innovative research techniques!

A copy of the full Catalina report can be found at www.catalinamarketing.com/newproducttraction

¹“New Product Traction Through Targeted Shopper Interaction: How New Product Success Hinges on Small Concentration of Shoppers” report by Catalina (released 8/19/2015).

Recently a client came to us with an urgent issue.  This issue was around understanding if their very important compliance messaging was actually reaching consumers and having an impact.  The client did not have months to wait to understand if the communication was remembered and understood – so they came to us!

By utilizing our unique approach to survey recruitment, we were able to obtain patients based upon their actual purchasing behavior as well as their exposure to the messaging itself.  MSW●ARS’s Behavior Activated Research Rx® (BAR Rx® is a proprietary survey technique, in partnership with Adheris Health (formerly Catalina Health®). It enables our clients to obtain powerful insights by targeting consumers in Physician Offices and Pharmacies based on transactions, message exposure or past prescription history.

In this case specifically, we were able to meet two imperative client goals:  quick timing and valuable insights!

• The entire project from kick-off to results took less than nine weeks to get a robust sample.  Other recruitment methods would have likely taken double or triple the time.
• Our client was also very pleased with the information obtained and was able to easily understand which direction they should take next.  At a very high level, the project concluded that while the client did a good job starting the communication around this information, there was a lot more that needed to be done about educating the consumer – and likely via different means (e.g. social media, etc.).

BAR Rx is utilized for various reasons across our pharmaceutical client base – from messaging compliance, competitive knowledge, category overviews and new product launch usage understanding.  The unique aspect of this product is that we have access to a very large database of patient information to work from where surveys can be triggered off any dimension, such as past Rx purchase (including generic), age, gender, co-pay, etc.  This database contains 5 year patient histories with over 130 million health care consumers. We are now able to target as never before and reach a range of consumer segments and niche groups with ease.

Please reach out to us to learn more!

Whether it’s a new-to-the world product, a line extension or just new and improved – every product launch needs a few quick key data points to help guide marketing strategy and give upper management an understanding of how it is performing.  We believe that, among others, there are 4 key insights and questions that can be answered and which should be read immediately upon launch…

1)  Source of Awareness  

How did consumers become aware of your launch?  Was it your TV advertising, Word of Mouth (including social media) or an in-store flyer/coupon?  This key understanding helps to determine reach but also depth of your marketing communications strategy.  Did the media you believed would drive awareness really perform?  It’s also critical to understand the impact social media might be having

It’s also critical to understand what social media impact might be having (from positive buzz on Facebook to negative blogs posted on Mom sites) and take necessary actions immediately.

2)  Reasons for Purchase

Why are consumers initially purchasing your product?  Is it parent brand recognition/affinity or just because they had a coupon?  This is an important step to understand what might drive triers back to re-purchase or even to get aware non-triers to give it a go.  If your initial strategy is promotion heavy, how will this impact future repeat in the months ahead?  Tapping into the reasons behind their initial purchase can help inform future marketing activities and communication strategies.

3)  Product Experience Feedback

So how did they like it?  What could be improved?  Sometimes launches are quickly pushed in-market… and there might be a period of reformulation or re-strategizing for the brand team during post-launch months.  Taking into account early feedback from consumers should be the foundation for future improvements – to both the product itself as well as brand strategy.

4)  (Re)Purchase Intent

Are triers going to buy your product again?  How often?  Why/why not?  This can help with future forecasting as well addressing key issues early to ensure stronger sales go-forward.

It seems like every marketer needs information about their product launch yesterday.  These key insights can be quickly and efficiently gathered among ACTUAL PURCHASERS or TRIERS of your new product via our BAR (Behavior Activated Research) solution.  This approach capitalizes on our partnership with Catalina Marketing and Adheris Health (formerly Catalina Health) to deliver survey invitations to consumers (and patients) who actually buy your product, or even your competitor’s.  Contact us today to learn more about this innovative approach to research!