What PebblePost Learned During Our Summer Insights & Bites Series
As a marketer, you may find yourself pushing hard against digital headwinds, forces, and factors that prevent you from achieving the results you want–or need–for your brand.
If you’re wondering, others in roles like yours also feel those headwinds. That’s one conclusion drawn from PebblePost’s Insights & Bites sessions held this summer in Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago. Read on to learn more.
Aim of the Insights & Bites series
These events brought together intimate groups of marketers in each city to discuss the challenges and opportunities they see over a delicious lunch at a well-regarded eatery.
The conversations were so energizing for all involved that PebblePost decided to hold more Insights & Bites sessions during September in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Boston. (We’d love to see you at the session nearest you. Dates, information, and an RSVP link can be found at the end of this post.)
The primary topic explored was “How Leading Digital Marketers Are Adopting Offline Strategies to Engage Decision-Ready Consumers.” The event aimed to share ideas and experiences, with PebblePost representatives present to facilitate a lively discussion. And lively it was.
Four areas were explored.
- Challenges with third-party data reliability
- Generational shifts in digital attitudes
- Handling email overload
- Measurement headaches
Challenges with third-party data reliability
Attendees discussed the angst surrounding the Google cookie drama. However, the marketers noted a more significant issue is the less-than-precise nature of third-party data. While much can be gathered, much may not reflect the consumers you seek to start or build relationships with.
PebblePost observed that its Programmatic Direct Mail (PDM) solution, which harnesses the power of shared first-party data, can be used to prospect for new audiences, convert leads to customers, reactivate lapsed customers, and a host of other drivers for brand success.
Generational shifts in digital attitudes
Nearly 21% of the U.S. population comprises people born between 1997 and 2012. This group, dubbed Generation Z (Gen Z), has over 69 million people.
Since this segment is coming into its own, the marketers in Columbus and Chicago discussed its impact.
This generation grew up with smartphones and social media and has experienced social conflicts like school shootings, protests, economic turmoil, and the Coronavirus pandemic. Attendees suggested that you should not assume Gen Z is simply a variation of the groups that preceded it.
One session participant said, “My kid is in college. She loves mail, yet she never checks her email. She’s Gen Z, through and through, the group behind the de-influencing trend on TikTok to get you not to buy stuff being advertised. Thinking they’re all about digital is short-sighted.”
Handling email overload
Another participant observed that they have “15,663 unopened emails. Every one of them is some sort of retail offer. If I’m getting weary of all that email as a marketer, I can only imagine how the proverbial ordinary consumer feels.”
This apparent email irritation has prompted the growth of unsubscribes. That has encouraged marketers to look for alternative ways to engage with–or re-engage–consumers. Whether they let the emails go unopened or remove themselves from brands’ email lists, those consumers have become lapsed customers.
Attendees found PebblePost’s Lapsed Customer Optimization (LCO) solution appealing for renewing relationships with those who may have drifted away. The LCO solution connects lapsed customer data to billions of identity, intent, and transaction signals across hundreds of brands to identify those likely to convert and engage with a piece of personalized mail.
Brands that implemented this PebblePost solution achieved business-building results. For example, a national menswear retailer saw a 156x ROAS using LCO. A top-shelf meal kit brand realized an 81% lift in win-back vs. the holdout group (consumers not exposed to the power of PebblePost). A national furniture retailer logged a 28x incremental ROAS.
Measurement headaches
Session attendees in both cities observed that the growing demand for instant results affected their long-term measurement strategies. The collective point of view was that incorporating incrementality, long-term customer value, and various attribution windows across different channels into your thinking is essential. As one session member called it, “instant measurement gratification” will likely distort your thinking and yield disappointing results.
Attendees were unanimous in their belief that a strong measurement partnership is crucial so that performance can be tracked and measured even before full attribution, as you can see on the PebblePost performance dashboard.
A PebblePost brand partner who joined the Columbus Insights & Bites session commented, “PebblePost performs so well and is so efficient that sometimes your metrics can be hard to believe.”
Join us at the PebblePost Insights and Bites event nearest you
In a manner of speaking, school will be back in session come September. That’s when the PebblePost Insights & Bites events continue. They’re a chance for you and other marketers in your city to learn more about adopting offline channels, like PebblePost PDM, to move decision–ready consumers to action.
It’s also a great way to network and build relationships with your peers. On top of that, it’s an opportunity to have a superb meal at a spectacular restaurant and enjoy stimulating conversation.
Here’s the schedule for the upcoming Insights and Bites sessions:
Los Angeles
Tuesday, September 10
Dinner @ Funke
San Francisco
Wednesday, September 11
Lunch @ Alora
Seattle
Thursday, September 12
Dinner @ Spinasse
New York
Wednesday, September 25
Lunch @ Torissi
Boston
Thursday, September 26
Lunch @ Contessa
Space is limited for each of these events. To save your place at the table nearest you, RSVP now.
For more information on the Insights & Bites Series, email events@pebblepost.com. If you’d like to speak with us to learn more about how PebblePost can impact your omnichannel marketing performance, just ask here.
