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When choosing an in-store playlist for your brand, do you feel you are not “artistic” enough to do the job so you leave this task to “experts”.
Unfortunately, even so-called experts can get this wrong.
Music is very subjective -each of your customers has different musical tastes and preferences. Trying to find a playlist to please them all is nearly impossible.
What we suggest is to approach the task, not as an artist, but as a scientist.
In this article we will shed light on how you can create a scientific in-store playlist that drives sales and enhances customer loyalty.
The scientific in-store radio playlist
I. Start with a goal
When we meet with prospects, we always start by asking them what their goal is for getting in-store radio. Many of them are caught off guard with the question, because it is something that isn't thoroughly considered.
In-store radio is not just "background sound" as many would consider it. We believe a good in-store radio playlist is meant to achieve three things:
Increase sales
Improve brand recall
Enhance the customer experience
Once you’ve identified which one you’d like to optimize for you can proceed to the second step of the process.
II. Create a hypothesis
Hypothesis is just a fancy word for “guess”. This is a guess of what your playlist should sound like to best achieve a goal.
Let’s say our goal is to increase sales.
We can start with a blind guess but the best marketers leverage customer data to come up with insights that inform their guesses.
Here are a few ways to get customer data:
A. Online tools
Using advanced analytics tools, like heat maps for website interactions or social listening tools for understanding consumer trends, can inform the selection of in-store radio content to maximize your sales.
This ensures that messages resonate with the behaviors and preferences observed online and allows for a seamless omnichannel marketing strategy.
B. Offline tools
Utilizing technology such as POS systems, interactive kiosks, and loyalty programs allows for the collection of valuable customer data.
This data can then be analyzed to understand customer preferences and behavior, aiding in the creation of more relevant in-store radio campaigns.
Once you’ve looked through the customer data, you’ll have a better idea of what to try to get your in-store playlist to achieve your goal.
III. Implement the hypothesis
Now it’s time to test if you guessed correctly.
In our opinion, the best way to do this is via an A/B test.
A/B testing (also called split testing) is comparing two versions of a variable that you are testing and seeing how each one performs based on the overall goal.
Going back to our example of using in-store radio to increase sales, you can try two versions of an in-store radio advertisement in one location and see which one performs better provided that you keep all other factors that may influence sales controlled.
IV. Measure
No scientific method is complete without measurement.
After implementing your hypothesis, you’ll want to see how each in-store advertisement performed based on your goal.
Did your guess help you achieve your goal? Did it hurt your goal? Or did it not do anything?
Measurements will provide you with objective feedback you can work with to create an even better hypothesis for testing next time.
V. Repeat
Lastly, we repeat the process.
You probably won’t hit your goal on your first attempt but by going through this process you will have new information on hand that will lead you towards much better results the next time around.
Conclusion
An effective in-store playlist isn’t something left to the “artists” and “experts”. This is a job for data-driven marketers.
By starting with a goal for your in-store radio, harnessing detailed customer insights to generate a hypothesis, implementing A/B testing, and measuring the results brands can create a store atmosphere that not only promotes products but also improves the customer experience.
Want us to do all this for you? We can create your scientific playlist with our Marico Data and Insights Service.
Send us an email at ntcastro@maricoadvertising.com to get started!