customer.
Using Consumer Research to Increase Sales
Consumer research is an often-ignored marketing tool that is rarely used by small businesses. The reason it’s usually ignored is small businesses don’t know how to use it.
Many owners will see a statistic and log it into the back of their brains but never use that statistic to their advantage. The pot of gold is not necessarily in having the consumer research, but knowing HOW to use it to sell more products and services.
Let’s take a look at some consumer research in the spa and pool industry and try to develop some marketing tactics that would take advantage of our knowledge to sell more units. The following statistics that I will quote are available from the National Spa and Pool Institute by calling (703) 838-0083, ext 153.
I highly recommend that every small business contact their own industry association to get a copy of their own industry’s statistics, as you will soon see how valuable they can be to you and your business.
Developing Marketing Strategies Based on Consumer Research
Statistic #1: According to ICI Acrylics, the profile for an average spa consumer is a person who is married with an above-average income, with most earning between $40k to
$75K. Most do not have children under 18 living at home, and most have lived in their home an average of seven years. The male member of the household comes up with the idea to get a spa or pool and initiates the buying process.
Marketing Strategy: Knowing this information, you might plan a direct mail campaign to zip codes where the average income is around $60k and to married couples with empty nests who have been at the same address for five years or more. You would address the letter to the male member of the home, by name if possible. You might perform a test mail campaign in several zip codes and measure response rates before launching a full- scale campaign.
Statistic #2: Two-thirds of all new spa owners say they have friends who own spas, and 90% of current spa owners would recommend one to a friend.
Marketing Strategy: You might consider launching a strong referral program with your current customers, since two-thirds of the people who have purchased a spa know other people who already own one. This statistic tells you that the spa and pool industry has a tight demographic audience that has similar tastes and spending habits.
Additionally, it is uncommon for 90% of a customer group to recommend a product so strongly. This indicates a very high level of customer satisfaction. This makes it ripe for a referral program, as compared to an industry that has customers in a very wide range of demographics, which makes for a poor referral program.
Statistic #3: The top three reasons that non-owners didn’t plan to purchase a spa were (1) 27% never gave it much thought, (2) 13% thought is was a poor investment, and (3) 12%
preferred a different recreational item over a spa. Consumers would rather do exterior renovation, add a room, buy new appliances, or buy new furniture instead.
Marketing Strategy: First of all, the fact that 27% of the people never even considered buying a spa means that manufacturers have not been doing their marketing jobs. It is the manufacturers’ job to provide mass marketing support for their brand. You should ask for co-op dollars from your manufacturer using this statistic as a basis for your argument.
Secondly, you might partner with home improvement stores and furniture stores to do some joint promotions. Perhaps these may be good places to display some of your spas (if they don’t carry a line themselves) or leave some Special Reports and give the stores a commission for generating leads.
Statistic #4: Consumers get the same warm feelings from activities such as (1) riding in a convertible car with the top down, (2) riding on a Harley Davidson motorcycle, (3) using a warm electric blanket, (4) dinner by candlelight, (5) sitting in front of a fire in the hearth, drinking wine and listening to music, and (6) getting a massage.
Marketing Strategy: Businesses that provide these experiences have customer lists too and would make excellent joint venture partners for doing endorsement offerings. By endorsement offerings, I mean that you could talk to the owner of the local Harley Davidson store and ask him if he would be interested in doing a direct mailer to his customers endorsing your spas and store. You could also do a direct mailer to your customers endorsing Harley Davidsons and his store. You could do the same for expensive restaurants and massage clinics in the same zip codes as your customers.
Statistic #5: 65% of all spa owners said that they thought spas were a great way to relax, and 23% mentioned that they received medical or therapeutic benefits. 24% of spa owners said that their spas were difficult to clean and maintain and 6% said that they didn’t think the chemicals were safe.
Marketing Strategy: If 65% of spa owners said they like the relaxation they received most from their spa then that needs to be a key marketing message to your customers. As a matter of fact you should contact your customers and get testimonials that reinforce that fact and the therapeutic benefits they receive.
In your marketing messages you should also try to portray a man getting home from work exhausted and jumping into his soothing spa to relax after his high-stress job. Remember, it’s the man of the house who comes up with the idea to get a spa.
You might also craft a message, and probably even a script that your sales people would have to memorize, to counteract the objections that may arise as a result of spas being hard to maintain.
Statistic #6: Statistics say that there are more skeptics than believers when it comes to spas. Over 51% aren’t convinced a spa could benefit their lives. The statistics also revealed that those skeptics tend to be older.
Marketing Strategy: The only way to overcome skepticism is to educate your consumer.
Consider developing Special Reports that talk to and prove the fact that spas not only will improve your health, but your happiness too. Include lots of testimonials from older people attesting to that fact to provide social proof.
You might also dig up some statistics of older people whose health has improved as a result of spa hydrotherapy. You might be able to find this information with associations for the physical therapist industry and the medical industry in general.
Statistic # 7: Forty-five percent of potential spa buyers used the Internet to gather information about spa products and services before they purchased. This statistic was drawn from a 1998 study so it most assuredly is higher now.
Marketing Strategy: If you know that potentially half of your customers went to the Internet to get information before they ever walked into your store, you should, first of all, make sure you have a website, and second, make sure you have a lot of consumer information on it that your prospect will find interesting. You might also consider giving away your hottest free reports (but only after your prospect gave you their email address).
Statistic # 8: Consumers’ top three rational reasons for purchasing a spa were relaxation, therapeutic benefits, and year-round pleasure. The top three emotional reasons were conversations, relationships with loved ones, and the desire to unwind and regroup their thoughts.
Marketing Strategy: Of all the statistics in this study, this is perhaps the most important, because it helps you understand why your customers purchase spas. After all, consumers purchase as a result of their emotional responses. They react to primary obvious benefits, and they also react to hidden emotional benefits.
With the information you gleaned from this statistic, you should consider writing a press release with the headline, “Rescue Your Marriage Using This Little Known Secret.” The article could go on to talk about how marriages are breaking up right and left and the number one reason from a woman’s point of view is lack of conversation. Then you could talk about how little husband and wives communicate.
Consider finishing the article telling the readers how regular spa users have quintupled the amount of conversation in their marriage, and that purchasing a spa has dramatically improved their relationships and literally saved their marriage in some cases.
Lastly, you should consider offering the reader a free Special Report about how spas can save their marriages. The number one selling book of the 1990’s was John Gray’s Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. Do you think there is a lot of interest in this subject? YOU BET!