With the presidential election only a few months away, eBay decided to take advantage of the event by introducing a vote of its own via a campaign that spans through both social media and the mobile app.
The marketplace is enabling consumers to vote for one of two products on four separate occasions to decide which products will be showcased in its “Summer of Choice” mobile deals throughout the season. While the voting takes place on Twitter, consumers will only be able to purchase the winning products via the eBay mobile app.
The RTP team discusses whether they believe the crowdsourcing campaign will be successful for eBay, and if more retailers would benefit from deploying these strategies. The team also debates whether limiting the purchase to the mobile app is a smart move.
Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief: Many retailers are struggling to figure out the secret sauce of mobile apps. I give kudos to eBay for focusing a specific campaign on the app, as well as combining the effort with a shopper-empowered program. We know that today’s consumers want to be in control of their shopping experiences. eBay’s voting campaign is doing just that: putting the deal decision in the hands of the shoppers. But in order for this campaign to be successful, the deal has to be compelling enough for the consumers to take the time to vote, then circle back and purchase later. It’s a two-step buying process so it has to be meaningful enough to hold shoppers’ attention for more than a minute or two.
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Adam Blair, Executive Editor: It’s clever of eBay to attempt to boost customer engagement with voting, particularly in this fractious election season. This program provides opportunities for citizens to feel good about casting a ballot (or at least to not feel bad about it). And anything that incentivizes consumers to make greater use of a retailer’s mobile app must be counted as a positive. Other retailers, however, should remember that they don’t need to make an either/or choice between a mobile-optimized site and a mobile app. A recent Executive Viewpoints piece notes that smart retailers ought to focus mobile app promotions on their most valuable customers, who are more likely to provide a home on their smartphones for a retailer’s app in the first place. A highly accessible mobile site can (and should) be used for interactions with a broader base of customers. As retailers learn more about mobile, their “toolkit” should keep expanding.
Alicia (Fiorletta) Esposito, Content Strategist: For years, we’ve heard about retailers convincing consumers to fill out in-store and online surveys only to have their feedback ignored. So it’s reassuring that retailers are finally thinking of creative ways to collect valuable consumer feedback and apply it to their businesses in a positive way. As social networks acquire more and more active daily users, I believe we’ll only see more brands and retailers turn to their communities to guide their future campaigns and strategies. The best part about this approach is it doesn’t have to be complicated. There are so many platforms designed to allow people to create digital polls and embed them on web sites and in emails. Retailers could take an even simpler approach by asking them to turn to Twitter to voice their opinions, just like eBay did. Crowdsourcing campaigns are a powerful vehicle for retailers to generate buzz, connect with consumers in a more personal way and ensure they’re creating content, campaigns, offers and products that truly resonate with target consumers. Even better: social media is free to use, so even the smallest brands and businesses can test this approach.
David DeZuzio, Managing Editor: This is a great way to get the 53% of online shoppers who still prefer using a retailer’s mobile web site to download an app. For 50% to 70% savings, I would give it a try, and yes, I am one of the 53% who prefers to use the mobile site. The idea of voting on a great deal should be exciting enough to get non-shoppers into the game and is infinitely more enjoyable than picking out a president. However, the two-step process must be easy enough to keep prospective buyers from jumping out. If the mobile app experience isn’t as seamless as the web site, then this grand democratic experiment could yield some poor results and relegate the app into many users’ personal dustbin of history.
Klaudia Tirico, Associate Editor: Giving consumers an opportunity to vote and/or make a personal decision when it comes to what they spend their hard-earned money on (and how they spend it) is always a plus in my book. Whether it’s choosing to watch an ad in exchange for a discount (Tesco), voicing an opinion on what kind of products a company should create (Glossier) or, in this eBay case, voting for which products they want a deal on, I’m on board. These efforts show that the retailer is keeping consumers’ wants and needs in mind, and I think it definitely has the potential to be successful. And what better way to use social media than to give consumers a platform to engage and share their opinions? It’s interesting to see eBay take this campaign to another level by incorporating its app into the campaign. While it is a two-step process as Debbie said, and not every single voter will go back and make the purchase, it still drives awareness that an app exists. I look forward to reading about the outcome of this campaign.
Glenn Taylor, Associate Editor: Given that the campaign doesn’t appear to be reliant on too many expenses, I don’t see much risk involved. I think it’s a bold move to build a campaign that only can be completed end-to-end if the product is purchased on the mobile app, mainly because it assumes that consumers are willing to take that leap. With that said, more retailers are going to have to figure out how to optimize their mobile applications at some point, so why not start now with a campaign that transitions into it? With only 30% of consumers using mobile apps to purchase products at any point, and 60% of consumers having two or fewer retail apps on their phones, retail apps still haven’t caught on among consumers. If the majority of the apps are designed poorly or are just plain difficult to navigate, the brands developing them have to start there and work forward. Unlike many retailers trying to figure out their mobile positioning, eBay appears to be very confident in establishing their campaign, so hopefully they can create some sort of blueprint others can look to as a success story.
