EXPERIMENTAL MARKETING

Before the advent of the word ‘experimental’, experimental marketing had always been seen as an attachment to a broader and conventional marketing. At some point, several attempts were made to define it but due to the fact that it was more associated to experience and skill of marketers, it was only used by agencies and had several terminologies.

It was not until it was accepted by media, agencies and brands across the industry, several years later, that it became known as experimental marketing.

Experiential marketing, as a unique approach to the task of marketing goods and services, is a concept that integrates elements of emotions, logic, and general thought processes to connect with the consumer. The goal of experiential marketing is to establish the connection in such a way that the consumer responds to a product offering, based on both emotional and rational response levels.

Appealing to a variety of senses, experiential marketing seeks to tap into that special place within consumers that has to do with inspiring thoughts about comfort and pleasure, as well as inspiring a sense of practicality. This means that the marketer needs to have a firm grasp on the mindset of the target audience he or she wishes to attract. By understanding what the consumer is likely to think and feel, it is possible to get an idea of how to steer the customer in a direction that will relate with the product, and entice individuals to act on that impulse to purchase.

In order to engage in experiential marketing, it is necessary to engage as many of the senses as possible. Striking displays with powerful visual elements, such as websites, and visual media such as print ads should not only be visually appealing, but also conjure up daydreams of locales and reminders of sensations that are enjoyable to the individual.

APPROACHES IN EXPERIMENTAL MARKETING

Experiential marketing approaches allow consumers to become active participants in a marketing effort. Well planned and executed experiential marketing approaches can be very memorable and relevant and can result in a positive change in consumer behaviour, such as making a purchase, and attitudes, such as changing brand preference.

Experimental marketing are majorly categorized into two (2). These are; the satisfaction approach and the retention approach.

SATISFACTION APPROACH

Satisfaction approach, which can also be known as impression approach is an approach that relies upon the communication and acquisition of consumer requirements solely from existing customers in a mutually beneficial exchange usually involving permission for contact by the customer (gale, 1994). Satisfaction approach is mostly associated to the customer service of companies and greatly affects sales, pricing, and quality. It is also related to surveys and can be used to reach a very large scale of audience. Although, this does not necessarily mean that it will be effective without proper directive from other marketing strategies like viral marketing.

Also, using experimental marketing to create customer experiences that is reliant on the senses, establishes a sense of rapport between the product and the consumer which helps to make the good or service more desirable with each encounter.

RETENTION APPROACH

Retention approach is the retention of customers through varying means and practices to ensure repeated trade from pre-existing customers by satisfying requirements above those of competing companies through a mutually beneficial relationship (gale, 1994). This can be seen in competitive marketing were rival companies ‘copy’ products of their counterparts or even reduce their prices so as to keep their ‘loyal’ customers happy.

TECHNIQUES USED IN APPLYING RETENTION APPROACH

Listed below, are 5 techniques used in applying retention approach to a business:

1.       Customer valuation. Gordon (1999) describes how to value customers and categorize them according to their financial and strategic value so that companies can decide where to invest for deeper relationships and which relationships need to be served differently or even terminated.

2.       Customer retention measurement. Dawkins and Reichheld (1990) calculated a company's "customer retention rate". This is simply the percentage of customers at the beginning of the year that are still customers by the end of the year. In accordance with this statistic, an increase in retention rate from 80% to 90% is associated with a doubling of the average life of a customer relationship from 5 to 10 years. This ratio can be used to make comparisons between products, between market segments, and over time.

3.       Determine reasons for defection. Look for the root causes, not mere symptoms. This involves probing for details when talking to former customers. Other techniques include the analysis of customers' complaints and competitive bench-marking.

4.       Develop and implement a corrective plan – This could involve actions to improve employee practices, using bench-marking to determine best corrective practices, visible endorsement of top management, adjustments to the company's reward and recognition systems, and the use of "recovery teams" to eliminate the causes of defections.

5.       Building barriers to customer switching through product bundling - combining several products or services into one "package" and offering them at a single price, cross selling - selling related products to current customers, cross promotions  - giving discounts or other promotional incentives to purchasers of related products, loyalty programs - giving incentives for frequent purchases, increasing switching costs - adding termination costs, such as mortgage termination fees, and integrating computer systems of multiple organizations - primarily in industrial marketing.

It should be noted that even though 5 techniques have been noted, it does not necessarily mean that an individual or company should be limited to them. Techniques can vary according to the user and have different effects on the target audience.

IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIMENTAL MARKETING

Because experiential marketing connects with the consumer on multiple levels, the strategy is ideally suited for contemporary sales and marketing campaigns. Shortened attention spans demand that any ad campaign make a quick impression, or the opportunity to engage the consumer will quickly pass. While thirty second ads on radio and television once had a great impact, many people now use modern technology to avoid this sort of marketing approach. 

This means that ads on the Internet, in print media, and on modern billboards must immediately catch the attention of prospective clients and hold that attention long enough to make an impact. 

Experiential marketing holds the key to making this happen. By appealing to all the senses, and making the connection quickly and seamlessly, this approach to the marketing task ensures that businesses can still attract and satisfy the needs and desires of consumers. Also, by merging the two major approaches, that is, the retention and satisfaction approach, companies will have the potential of acquiring consumers of rival companies through ‘product matching’ and ‘product enhancement’.

Experiential marketing can retain, reappraise, as well as recruit by taking a brand out of its traditional environment and challenging the consumer to re-evaluate the brand, turning customer interaction into a long-term brand-building tool.

Finally, experimental marketing can increase and build customer loyalty, brand awareness, brand recall, and purchase intent, retain current consumers, recapture past consumers, create marketing methodology that repeatedly drives purchases, create positive impact on consumers, enhance the perception and value of product or brand, increase word-of-mouth sales, edge over competitors, and provide a low cost way to introduce new products.