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When And Why Moms Click 'Buy': Recommendations, Reviews & Incentives

When was the last time you watched a TV commercial and thought, “Wow, I do need to buy that vacuum!”? Or how about the time you clicked a digital banner ad featuring the shoes you just admired? Guess what? it’s not the way mom shops, either.

Life was easy in the 1960s. Women watched television, brands advertised, moms were told what to purchase for their family, and they listened. 

Flash-forward to 2016 and content consumption is segmented, attention spans have shortened, and consumers (moms especially) are averse to brand advertising. Families subscribe to Hulu and Netflix to skip TV commercials. They implement ad blockers for a non-disrupted digital experience, and moms would rather create and post their own content on Facebook and Instagram than visit your brand site. 

So, how does your brand break through the clutter to reach mom? How can your brand communicate superiority and engender interest among mom communities? The answer is simple: social recommendations of friends/family, strong product reviews, and offer value over competing products through discounts/incentives to purchase.

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Social Recommendations of Friends and Family: 

A recent MediaPost article stated, "81% of female consumers say they frequently buy items they’ve seen shared on social media.” And 86% of females agree that: “Social media content has become a chief source of online research.” Social media provides a safe space for moms to inquire with their broader mom community and to ask questions. Often these conversations revolve around brands. Similac or Enfamil? Children’s Tylenol or Advil? By leveraging Social Mom Influencers, brands can jumpstart and integrate into the conversation in a trusted environment. For example, Keurig teamed up with super mom of four kids (one being a newborn), Tabitha Blue, to highlight how to craft the perfect DIY coffee bar at home. Tabitha hosted giveaways to further incentives and drive conversation on Keurig. The post was shared over 110 times on Pinterest alone! 

Product Reviews:

Our research finds that product reviews are the #1 trusted source of information for women. Women are making smarter purchase decisions, and information on products from women “like her” serve as a virtual stamp of approval. Additionally, 96% of women have been influenced to purchase by seeing an online review. And 97% of women have consulted a product review before deciding to buy. Brands can leverage broad-scale sampling with Influencer communities to drive reviews across brand and retailer sites. This can be done prior to product launch, which also drives SEO! 

Incentives to Purchase:

For anyone who knows moms, and millennial moms specifically, couponing is very much in style. Aliza Freud recently shared insights on Engage:Moms about the couponing craze and, not surprisingly, with sites such as Retailmenot and Groupon at all-time traffic highs, mobile coupon usage is expected to hit over 120 million users in 2016. Brands can utilize coupon Influencers to share offers and promote coupon incentives on products that she recently purchased through retargeted ads. After all, “80% of shoppers are looking for coupons for the products they are already buying.” 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Moms look to their friends and family for recommendations. They want products that have been validated on site, and discounts trigger the purchase click! 

Have thoughts to share on this post? Feel free to comment below or contact me on Twitter @morgan_buell.

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