We live in the digital age, yet traditional means of communication remain unbeatable when it comes to marketing, reveal the findings of a survey* by OpinionWay for Wincor Nixdorf. Top performing levers of marketing include promotional leaflets and WOM, both better perceived by clients than other marketing efforts.

Digital may be the new black in retail marketing, but a good old promo catalogue has not yet said its last word. In a survey among target audience of various marketing efforts, it was a promotional leaflet that garnered most praise from the respondents.

Keeping it simple works best

Promotional catalogue leads the pack as the most effective tool to make consumers part with their money. Nearly 60 percent of 1,019 respondents claim that on several occasions they made a decision to buy following a perusal of a catalogue. Word-of-mouth (WOM) comes second (44 percent of respondents), followed by POS advertising (41 percent). It seems that the simplest methods remain the most effective. Online advertising comes fifth with ad mail picked as the most relevant advertising method by 29 percent of those surveyed.

Apart from prompting a decision to buy, promotional leaflets offer a whole range of other benefits for consumers, according to the survey’s respondents. Perceived as the most practical form of support in shopping, catalogues are also mentioned among the most interesting and relevant means of communication, offering a true representation of the store in question.

The less intrusive, the better

Considered the most relevant and interesting of all means of marketing communication, WOM also turns out to represent the most personalized offer, according to the survey’s respondents. Why is WOM so successful? It seems less direct and intrusive, compared to other marketing techniques. Of course, consumers trust WOM referrals from people whom they know and trust. This forces stores to establish coherent communication through their multiple channels and place the staff again in the heart of POS.

The popularity of traditional media highlights deficiencies of digital marketing such as intrusiveness and interfering with consumers’ privacy. The survey’s respondents do not seem that keen on such digital advertising techniques as e-mail, pop-up ads and advertising on social media, all of which are perceived as too invasive. Telephone marketing emerges as the least popular of all advertising techniques.

* a study conducted by OpinionWay for Wincor Nixdorf on 2 and 3 September 2015.

Source: https://www.lsa-conso.fr/le-prospectus-l-arme-gagnante-pour-declencher-l-achat,219945