Car seats – combining safety with sales

If you want to sell more effectively to mums (and dads) then you need to identify what it is they want. And that’s not as simple as having the right products on the shelf, especially when those products are going to be used for transporting our precious children around.

A few weeks ago we got into a discussion with some mums about car seats. We were talking about the growing interest in rear-facing car seats. What we noticed is that there is some expert information available but there is also lots of mum opinion and experience out there. We love mum opinion, their honest reviews and insight can create product revolutions, help mums in similar situations and cut through marketing hype. But sometimes it’s important that mum opinion sits alongside expert opinion so that parents get the information they need to keep their children safe.

 











Car seats is one area where this is absolutely vital. Asking other mums what car seat they have got is great, but not if it’s the wrong seat for your car or you choose something and then have it fitted incorrectly by a retailer.  

There’s information that we need to get out to both retailers and parents before they make choices about car seats.  If you are a car seat manufacturer or retailer then giving this information puts you ahead of the pack, it means you care about more than the sale and that concern creates brand loyalty.

It’s also important we start to dispel some of the myths around car seats and create a culture where parents are informed and aren’t scared when they come across information on parenting websites or in the papers.

So how could you engage parents and find ways to communicate information about car seats that can help them buy the right seat, stay safe and become loyal customers?

Julie from Child Seat Safety wants to get some basic information across to parents before they buy:

1. 8 out of 10 car seats aren’t fitted correctly. It sounds like a scary statistic but it’s easily preventable if retailers are trained in fitting and communicate this service clearly to parents.
2. Not every car seat fits every car. Retailers and manufacturers could consider focussing less on the features of the seat and more on asking parents what car they have/whether they move it between cars.
3. Keeping children and passengers safe takes more than fastening straps. Do you think parents know that unrestrained car seats in a crash can cause catastrophic damage? Do you let them know how to operate the seat (in a clear and concise way) once the child isn’t in it?
4. Growing children. Are you letting potential customers know when it is appropriate to change car seats (age and weight)? Take it one step further – are you letting them know why you shouldn’t move children to a bigger car seat or booster when they are too young?  Are you asking parents the right questions and identifying gaps in their knowledge?
5. Long term care. What happens when a child is sick all over the car seat? Do parents know that some cleaning products can damage straps and reduce their effectiveness in a crash? Is this vital information tucked away in a 50 page instruction booklet? Could you offer initial or ongoing training to parents?

Buying a car seat (or car seats over a period of time) is often a process for parents, one where they are bombarded with information and one way to check whether your products and service is hitting the mark is to carry out online research. Start with parents at the beginning of the process – where do they go for information? Who are they asking about car seats? Are they getting the right information at that stage to make informed decisions? The next step would be to observe parents as they walk through the sales process – whether that be instore or online. What affects their purchasing decisions? Are they more concerned about price or safety?

When we have walked mums through this process this is often where tiny nuggets of insight pop up (I liked the colour, I don’t know whether I’m buying the right thing, I don’t know if it will fit my car). As we see more mums purchasing online the scope for making the wrong choice widens. Without expert advice parents may purchase based on price and then find themselves stuck with a car seat that doesn’t fit in their car. This is where retailers have an opportunity to step in an offer a comprehensive and fitting service or make their return guarantees explicit. We often work with companies to marry up messaging on their website with a mums’ experience (does the product description match what I received, could I easily see what I need to do if the product needs returning).  

It’s only by walking parents through each stage of the information gathering/purchase/returns/customer service process that we can start to identify how we could make it better.

You only know what you know

If you want to target mums, you need to understand what they want. To understand what they want you need to ask questions. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But getting to the RIGHT questions can be a trickier process.  If you don’t ask the right questions then you never get the answers you need to truly connect with mums.

When we’re developing questions and doing insight work at MumPanel we use the mantra ‘you only know what you know’. We know questions are just as important as responses and the best insights come from the questions you might not have asked or didn’t think you should ask.  As mums we have a bit of a shortcut – there are things we understand because we have experienced them. Recently Asda trialled a new shopping trolley. Their existing trolleys (along with most supermarkets) were difficult to see over and control once you put a car seat on the top. This might seem an insignificant issue but the small changes they have made can boost brand loyalty (I’ll choose that supermarket because they accommodate my needs) and increase sales (I can see what I want and I’m less stressed so I’ll spend longer in the supermarket). What is important is that someone in their research team asked the right question – they thought to ask about trolleys and then to dig deeper and understand what the real issue was.

One of our big bugbears as mums is cordial fruit juice. Most of the products on the market are sugar free. We know at some point brands must have asked mums what they wanted and of course, they don’t want drinks full of sugar that rot their children’s teeth. So that market has become all about ‘NO ADDED SUGAR’ drinks. But what we’re hearing from mums is that they’d rather have natural sugar fruit juices or other alternatives over aspartame-filled drinks.  There’s been a missed opportunity to take the research full circle instead of using a linear approach that stopped at the first response.

Last week we were chatting with Julie from Child Seat Safety, they train retailers to fit car seats correctly, accrediting them to a scheme endorsed by Which? What came out of our conversation was that stores often focus on the quality of the product and forget to ask questions that really matter – is that car seat right for their car, their needs, and their child. This is partly because retailers haven’t been trained to ask the right kind of questions. Because safety is such a hot topic, it’s vital we identify the questions that NEED to be asked so that brands and retailers get it right.

Questions are ignored, we all so busy rushing to the response and it’s about time we put the brakes on. If you want to really start to understand mums then it’s time to start digging deeper, get involved in their day to day journey and have your ears open for when they drop those little nuggets of insight that can revolutise your brand. 

If you’d like more information on asking mums the right questions then drop us a line.

Holidays - time to think about mums and dads

We’re now in a world where information is available at the click of a button, just a quick surf to a web page on our laptop or smartphone. It’s something that’s particularly useful when you are planning a holiday, or so you’d think. In our experience planning and enjoying a holiday can still be very hit and miss and that often comes down to a lack of vital information that mums (and dads) need when planning a break.

I’ve just returned from Menorca and on reflection I can see it’s the little things that made the difference – knowing what food my daughter would have access to, what hours the kids club would be open. I’d done my homework, visited travel agents, and scoured the internet forums and Trip Advisor for insight. It should have been enough but the stuff I really wanted to know was missing. I could pick out some bits from the varied reviews online but the problem with reviews is that we don’t know the reviewers and what makes one person happy can be a nightmare for someone else.

As a mum and marketer I’d like to see holiday companies (and that includes airlines) think about the small stuff that makes a difference to parents so I don’t have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Here are just a few things that matter to mums and dads and could well influence their buying decisions:

Pool depths. I have a five year old who is way too cool for the baby pool. She wants to be in the big pool but I’m only happy to for her to be in there if there is a graduated depth. That way I can watch her, she gets to have fun with newly made friends and I get an extra few minutes on the sun lounger. 

Food. With kids you need specifics – what times can they eat, what will be on offer (especially important for babies and those weaning) and what is on the kids menu? If you offer self catering then where are the nearest child friendly restaurants. 

Kids Club. We need to know if it will be open and when. Otherwise you can end up with very disappointed kids and angry parents. What activities will be on offer – how about showing us a typical week’s itinerary? 

Flights. Make it clear what the situation is with pre-booking (or not) seats. Is there any chance we could be separated from our children/partners? A policy that keeps families together (and occupied!) is a great idea. Make information on car seats and prams (additional costs) clear. 

Mums and dads. Make it clear before we get there what trips and activities are on offer to the adults. At our hotel there were archery and table tennis competitions, I didn’t know this beforehand but for some of our party it definitely enhanced their holiday experience. 

Size and beds. Make it clear how big the apartment is (truthfully!) and whether the beds are doubles or singles squashed together. If you have family options (adjoining rooms etc) then make this information easy for families to find. Remember that if you offer one-room apartments to families and their children go to bed early then mum and dad could be sat in the dark staring at their sleeping children.

Hygiene. How often is the apartment cleaned? How often are the towels changed? Should we take beach towels?

Since I had children my criteria for holidays has changed, I now look at things like transfer times from the airport (two hours in a hot coach with a child is a nightmare) or closeness to the beach (small legs can’t walk very far). This information can often be hard to track down without trolling through but it would be easy to make it more visitor centric. 

The holiday experience should start at the searching stage and we shouldn't be left hoping for the best on arrival. I think holiday firms have to ask us the tourists about what we want to know and realise the some of the little holiday nuances make a big difference.

Lynne

Is in house research enough?

We approach companies to talk to them about research, innovation and product development. One regular reply we hear is ‘we do all our research and development work in house’. It’s a reasonable response, after all who knows your products, processes and customers better than your company? You probably think in house R&D is easier to control, cheaper and gives you the insight you need. 

Of course we’re going to disagree with that because we’d like to work with the companies we’re approaching. But there is a very important discussion that should take place around whether in house research is giving you what you need to push your company forward. 

We see lots of brands setting up their own research panels and groups to work with mums and we think that’s a flawed way of doing research. Why? 

If you’ve asked mums to sign up to test your products (especially if that’s done using social media where they might already follow or like you) then you are testing people who already like your product. To gain real insight and get a more balanced viewpoint you need to ask consumers who might not even know or yet have an opinion on your product.  We also know that certain brands might attract a certain demographic and provide you with skewed results that will only appeal to a narrow audience. MumPanel consists of all kinds of mums, from all kinds of backgrounds (and was grown organically) which means our research takes into account the views of lots of different kinds of mums. We’re also impartial, no one wants to please us but we know mums might want to ‘please’ a brand because they like them (or hope they might get something out of it). 

One of the great things about internal research is that you are totally immersed in your product and probably know a fair bit about your competitors.  You can add to this by using an external agency that is completely immersed in the world you want to speak to (for example mums) because they can reference not only your industry but also other things that affect consumer decision-making and buying decisions.  We have been working with mums for over three years and as professional researchers and mums we know how to connect and ask the right questions to get the most rich and rewarding replies. 

Often it’s the little nuggets on information gathered during insight that can be the most significant and make the most difference. Sometime in-house research is so focussed on a specific answer that they miss the ‘background chatter' or key decision making points. In our experience innovation often comes as a result of an offhand comment by one mum. Because we have an overview of the mum world and an objective perspective we can spot these comments and then go and sense check them with other mums. 

And our final piece of advice if you are going to do in house research is to make sure you understand the ins and outs of research. It’s vital you know what influences respondents, how to ask the right questions to get the information you want and to know which answers have meaning. 

If you’d like to know more about mum focussed market research will MumPanel then email lynne@mumpanel.co.uk

Soreen Lunchbox Loaves

Last month Soreen launched another delicious product, Lunchbox Loaves.

They are perfect for school lunches or just a snack at home and come in both malt and banana flavour.

The loaves meet the Government's food based nutritional standards, each bar is less than 100 calories and less than 0.3g saturated fat.

MumPanel played a part in developing the product with our mums testing different versions of the product and giving their feedback.