Apparently Moms between the ages of 25 and 44 are not the only ones shopping for groceries.

According to a recent study by Yahoo reported in Ad Age, more than half of men aged 18-64 and 60% of Dads now identify themselves as the primary grocery shopper in their households.   Even if these figures are overstated that is still a lot of men doing the shopping (I am one of those dads who does the grocery shopping for his family).

Most CPGs and retailers tend to focus their advertising and promotions on Moms.  Not surprisingly, less than one-quarter of men feel CPG advertising speaks to them.  And, with over half of purchase decisions made in the store, marketers risk delivering the wrong message to the wrong shopper at the wrong time.

Digital marketing, and digital coupons in particular, provide a great opportunity to reach men with relevant offers.  Although women are heavier coupon users than men, men are much more likely than women to go online to coupon, retailer and brand websites than to clip coupons from the newspaper. In addition, the New York Times recently reported that one-third of people using digital coupon users don’t print or clip coupons and that these users skew younger and more male.   Because they can be easily delivered via the Internet, mobile phones and in-store devices, digital coupons provide brand and retail marketers with a powerful tool to communicate with men as they are planning their trips or in store making purchase decisions.

If there is a first rule of digital promotions it should be this: design them with your best customers in mind and work out from there.  Delta is currently running a promotion that shows the pitfalls of not following this maxim.

The Delta promotion provides free inflight Wi-Fi access for all fliers during the month of December.   In theory this would have been a great idea – assuming of course I had been able to get on the network on my last flight.

Apparently the onboard network can only support a limited number of users at one time.  As a result, I kept getting a message telling me:  “Much like the airplanes this holiday season, the Internet is full” and to try again later.  I tried again later, and later, and later, but still could not use the Wi-Fi.  A quick look around suggested that I wasn’t alone.  Many other passengers were getting the same message and we’re equally as frustrated.  Instead of enhancing my loyalty, Delta reduced it.

Loyalty marketers must maintain a laser-like focus on building long-term loyalty and share of wallet with their best customers.  In this case, Delta would have been better off targeting the offer to its most frequent fliers as a nice holiday thank you and to avoid overloading the network.   At a minimum, Delta should have reserved a certain number of slots for its Medallion members to make sure its best customers could take advantage of the promotion.  It is likely Delta underestimated the number of fliers who would participate and so didn’t realize it would lock out frequent fliers.  If so, this brings up a second point: a great idea for a promotion cannot make up for poor execution.  To avoid problems, marketers need to find partners with the experience and technology to not only make the promotion run smoothly but also to flag any hidden pitfalls that can derail a great idea.  The right execution will help you avoid making promises to your best customers you can’t keep.

Kroger has realized what too many loyalty marketers miss – a good loyalty program can’t overcome a poor customer experience.  If the store isn’t right, meaning the underlying product and service doesn’t resonate with consumers…forget about trying to build loyalty.

A recent interview with Dave Dillon, CEO of grocery giant Kroger, underscores this point. Kroger has some of the best consumer data insight capabilities in retail through its partnership with Dunnhumby. While Dillon said the data is a good starting point, it “only tells you so much”.

There is no substitute to getting in front of your consumers and understanding what is important to them and how you can help make their lives easier.  Dillon and other senior Kroger executives spend significant time walking their stores and meeting with shoppers.  They also do “shop-alongs” and visit shoppers in their homes.  This approach helps them to see firsthand what products they buy and how they use them.  The feedback, combined with data from dunnhumby, has led to changes in staffing, training, marketing, merchandising, and technology to create better assortment and product information, more helpful customer service, faster check out times, and cleaner stores.

So, take a page from the playbook of one of the best retailers in the U.S.  A good loyalty program has to start a strong customer experience.  Getting this experience right is a continuous process and, as Dillon demonstrates, requires organizational focus that starts at the top.

CPG companies have a large opportunity to drive sales by encouraging their existing consumers to spend more, either by buying more of their current brands or by purchasing from new brands or categories.

P&G in particular is focusing on share of wallet to improve US sales growth.  In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Melanie Healy, the new head of P&G’s North American market, said, “Our whole organization is focused on how we get more P&G households to carry more P&G products.”

According to the article, P&G has launched at least two core programs to capture these extra sales.  Last year, P&G started its “Just One More” program which includes a strategy of targeting its best customers, in particular the 8% of North American households that, on average, use 10-11 P&G products.  P&G is bundling related products, issuing coupon books, and adding bonus products in its packaging to move its existing customers up the loyalty ladder (so that more of its households buy at 10-11 level) and getting its best customers to buy 11-12 products instead of 10-11.  With P&G’s scale, these moves could be worth $2-6 billion in incremental revenue annually.

More recently, P&G kicked off a “Have You Tried This” campaign to get its customer to try more of P&G’s new products.   The campaign features 18 new products and includes a consumer website with reviews and product information and an upcoming coupon booklet with more than $113 in discounts.

CPG companies have not traditionally done much with loyalty programs, preferring instead to use mass media such as TV ads and coupons in the Sunday newspapers.  Digital technologies, however, have made it easier for CPG companies to build deeper relationships with their consumers at a cost and with a reach that was impossible even a few years ago.   As a result, brand marketers are beginning to find out what leading loyalty marketers have known for years: you can often drive more sales by better targeting the customers you already have then spending to acquire a new customer.

Based on an analysis of best-in-class loyalty programs and our own experience, we believe there are three key factors to creating long-term consumer loyalty. A winning program must:

• Deliver the right rewards and incentives for loyal behavior.  My Coke Rewards, P&G’s Gifts to Grow, and Stonyfield’s myStonyfield rewards programs are good examples of loyalty programs that reward consumers for buying more items and engaging with the brand.  Increasingly, loyalty initiatives must tap social media to broaden reach and enhance word of mouth.
• Provide deep insights into consumer behavior. Use the data captured – including demographic data, attitudinal data from surveys, purchase data from codes on pack or electronic proofs of purchase , coupon behavior, and other factors – to identify and better understand target customer segments.
• Personalize the consumer experience.  Tap the data captured to deliver relevant offers and content to consumers to get consumers to buy more of the brands they already buy and to try new brands and products across the portfolio.

Critically, CPGs must build loyalty directly with consumers AND through key retail customers to engage consumers across all potential touchpoints, including at the “moment of truth” – when consumers are shopping for products, and making buying decisions.

As P&G is showing, the world of brand marketing is rapidly changing and the winning CPG companies long-term will be the ones that put in place the technology and programs to continuously build deeper relationships with their consumers.