Forget Christmas, let’s book a holiday!

It’s only two months until Christmas and in every shop the shelves are packed with Christmas goodies. We asked our MumPanel what they’ll be spending their money on this Christmas and there were some surprising results. 

We wanted to know if mums are feeling the financial pinch this year – 30% said they would be spending less, 58% about the same, 12% more.  And even though today we’ve heard we’re finally out of recession mums are always canny shoppers – whether that’s because money is tighter because of redundancy or maternity leave or they just want to have enough left to pay for a holiday next year.  A strong message from the survey was that mums value family time most, spending almost takes a back seat with many prepared to spend a little less or a little more wisely at Christmas. 

So we know mums like to plan ahead (they are already thinking about next year’s summer holiday and cutting back on Xmas spending so they can afford a family break) and 10% of our mums had already bought food and drink by September. For many mums present shopping starts in January, allowing them to stagger the cost over the year. Our mums also showed us they are resourceful – hunting down deals, and using charity shops and ebay so they can still afford the gifts their children want. And lots of mums find out about these deals from other mums – money saving word of mouth. That’s worth remembering when you are planning how to communicate with mums in 2013. 

We asked mums what they would be buying for their children this year and we expected the list to be full of gadgets and technology. But that isn’t the case – we found kids really want a mix of heritage and traditional toys (bikes, Lego, jigsaws) that wouldn’t be out of place on a Christmas wish list from the 1970s.  We are seeing more tech led presents creeping in (especially for older children – the mums who are spending more this year tend to have older kids who want more expensive, gadget type gifts) but it does show that children still love playing and getting out and about. 

MumPanel Christmas Shopping survey 2012, over 350 respondents, mums with children 0-16 years

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.

Does sex sell potatoes to mums?

That’s the question we answered in a recent survey for Fresh Produce Journal. Samantha Lyster, deputy editor, approached us asking whether we’d help her understand what influences mums’ decision making process when it comes to buying fresh fruit and vegetables. She particularly wanted to understand how much influence advertising campaigns had on mums and in particular if images of a bikini –clad model covered in potatoes would encourage mums to buy. 

Unsurprisingly our research confirmed that mums think this kind of advertising is at best slightly daft and at worst downright sexist and offputting. We found taste was the biggest influence on buying decisions (46%) with appearance at 29% and cost at 19%. Presentation limped in with 0.02% and advertising had almost no impact on the mums we asked.

Our message is always to ask mums what THEY want, not to try and presume to understand what appeals to them. 

You can read the full article here. 

Back to school - uniforms

It’s that not-so-joyful time of year for mums when we have to schlep around the shops looking for school uniform. It’s time to weigh up the pros and cons of costs versus quality, money back guarantees versus promises of kid-tested, whatever you can grab versus careful planning with compliant children.

 

We asked our mums what their back to school bugbears are and how brands could ease their shopping worries.

• Finding offers. We know M&S currently have £5 off when you spend £25 on kidswear (so you can get those tights, vests and socks you need for the start of school) and there are deals highlighted on Money Saving Expert. But mums don’t have the time to haul through site after site looking for information. A savvy brand or company would be putting all the back to school offers in one place (even as a competitior price comparision) so we can quickly see where to get the best deals.

• Mums want things that last. If your products fall apart in a week then we won’t come and buy from you again, and we’ll tell our mum friends not to buy from you. Most companies have gone some way to dealing with this by offering money back guarantees or saying products are independently tested. As a mum I’d like to know how this testing took place, was it with boys or girls? In a lab or in the playground?

• What we do know is when mums find something they like (and that could be either cost driven or quality driven – it depends on the mum) then they stick with it. One mum told us she choose Next because a friend had told her about it (the trusted inner circle) and the quality was good so she has now stuck with it. Another mum chooses Next because they offer slim fit trousers for her tall but slender son. One of our mums, Susan, told us she sticks with Clarks because they last the whole school year. It’s worth considering innovative ways to connect with mums on the ground because that’s where conversations about where to go for uniforms are happening.

• We’re seeing brands such as Tesco and M&S offer a ‘Your School Uniform’ – schools sign up, allowing parents to purchase school logo items and the school receives a cashback amount. It seems a very smart way to connect with parents and benefit the school. Is there a way you as a brand can push mums to purchase but still offer something additional in return?

• Some mums shop online and some shop instore. Free delivery and easy ordering are a must for online. Instore – the stress points for mums are trying to track down the right size when they are shopping last minute. As a brand how can you work on this? Last minute fast delivery?

• And finally to bags. We’ve identified a gap in the market for appropriately sized bags for primary school children – we’re hearing from mums that either they aren’t big enough to hold books or they are so large they threaten to topple over kids. Indepth research and testing would easily overcome this problem and would make those bags really stand out to mums.

Good luck to all our mums (and dads) as they start the new academic year! If you’d like to better connect with mums and understand what they want then drop us aline.

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.

MumPanel - One Minute Insight

At MumPanel we're constantly asking our mums for their views and ideas. There's some fascinating insight that comes out of our research and conversations and we want to share it with you in a one minute snippet.

Mums Favourite Brands

We asked mums to name their favourite brands. The response was enlightening - there were two supermarkets (Tesco and Asda) in the Top 5. They were joined by three 'heritage' brands - Johnsons, Heinz and Fairy. Just over 5% of mums specifically mentioned 'own brands' as their favourites.

 
What does this mean?

Mums connect with those brands they see day in and day out. If you want your brand to appeal to mums, you have to be where they are and what they want - that's why we're seeing good value 'own brands' being recognised in their own right. *Insight snippet - MumPanel survey 2012, over 800 respondents, mums with children 0-16 years If you'd like to receive our One Minute Insight by email then drop a line to lynne@mumpanel.co.uk

Parent Power – Are you listening to what we are saying?

Last week Lynne spoke as part of the Parent Power Panel at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield. The Children's Media Conference brings together people who develop, produce and distribute content to kids – across all platforms. 

What we wanted to talk about was using parents at the right stage of the development process when creating new content. We’ve been lucky enough to work on projects for the BBC, including the CBeebies Grown Up website, where our research started at the very earliest stage of the project and influenced design and content. 

There are plenty of examples of where parents have reacted adversely to new TV programmes, games or websites.  We know it’s impossible to please all of the people all of the time but early involvement in the creative process means you know what parents are thinking. This also means you can objectively manage any negative responses because you know you have developed a programme or other content based on what parents and their children say they want. 

As many broadcasters now develop for digital platforms one of the questions raised at the conference was whether social media is a good place to gather feedback and connect with parents. 

We think the answer is yes. It’s a great place to listen to what people are saying about your content. But there is a but.  Not all parents are on social media, there are fewer mums and dads over 35 on facebook and just a small percentage of the UK parent population are on twitter. We need to listen to and connect with parents from across the board, not just those online with vocal opinions. Remember where your audience are – the school gate, the supermarket. 

Some organisations don’t think they need to bother managing social media and that’s fine if you are Apple and have millions of brand advocates waiting on your next move. Ignoring the voices of parents on social media (and beyond it) is unwise simply because it can quickly go viral and create negative sentiment that stays on the internet forever. We’re also increasingly seeing traditional press sourcing stories and features that start on social media, often appearing long after you think any negative furore has died down. 

And what did our MumPanel and social media mums have to say? 

“It’s interesting actually - I don’t use social media to try to influence programmes, but I think modern technology gives me much more control over what my kids watch - we never watch live TV, it’s stuff I’ve prerecorded or stuff off iplayer."

 Ruth Arnold (Geek Mummy) 

“If I felt that parents were being asked opinions which would actually contribute to the programmes and subjects covered on that childrens channel - if I knew my opinions were being listened to and that I could in a small way help to shape my child's viewing via this channel."

 Finally, what to remember when you are developing content for children (and their parents)…

•  Involve parents in the development process – by dong this you are harnessing and embracing parent power rather than being at the wrong end of it.
• Utilise the directness of social media so you are aware of conversations and trends that can then be tested in more detail.

If you’d like to know more about parenting testing and content development then drop us a line.