SKIMspiration blog

Whether we are struggling with personal health issues or going through a global pandemic, health information is crucial to modern life. Health information underlies many, if not all, decisions made by both healthcare professionals and patients in the healthcare setting, particularly when it comes to decision-making on treatments.

Healthcare decisions don’t take place in a vacuum. They result from different factors like individual characteristics, the context of a specific health condition, the availability of knowledge, etc.

Therefore, there is great variety in the degree to which people want to know about their health condition, engage with information, and participate in healthcare decision-making processes. This spectrum of behavior can be explained by the notion of health orientation and health information behavior.

How can pharmaceutical companies improve outcomes by exploring this behavioral spectrum?

For CPG brands and retailers, the subscription model offers tremendous opportunities for recurring revenue and consumer connection. But what is fueling consumer choice in the subscription economy, specifically for FMCG products, and how can brands capitalize on it?

It’s tempting to assume that consumers choose product subscriptions primarily to save money (think Amazon’s Subscribe & Save). However, our Subscription Lifestyle research revealed otherwise: in almost every category, consumers, especially those with multiple subscriptions, valued other subscription benefits more than a lower price.

Do you know what drives consumer choice for product subscriptions in your category? Is it convenience, cost, quality, or surprise? Getting it right is critical for your Go To Market strategy.

Our latest research explored consumer behavior and attitudes towards subscriptions across a variety of CPG categories. The results have revealed some surprising factors driving consumer decisions in these categories.

Read on to learn what subscription benefits consumers value most and the marketing implications for your brand

Have you ever opened your door and wondered: “What is in the package that just arrived?” Not since the early days of Netflix, when those red envelopes containing DVDs arrived in the mail, have so many consumers been confronted with a huge question mark at their doorstop.

This shopper phenomenon has been caused by an explosion in digitally enabled subscriptions for nearly every imaginable FMCG and Direct to Consumer category, combined with the popularity of Amazon Prime Subscribe and Save.

How is your company tackling the subscription economy? Do you know how the subscription lifestyle is impacting shopper journeys in your category?

Perhaps your team is already experimenting with a direct-to-consumer offer, or maybe you’re in the early stages of mapping out your subscription strategy.

Either way, it’s important to understand exactly how subscriptions are shifting consumer behavior and perceptions.

Read on for our latest insights on the ubiquity of the subscription lifestyle and five issues your team will want to address to succeed in this channel.

In the early days of COVID-19, the head of the World Health Organization stated it was not only fighting a global pandemic, but also an ‘infodemic.’ Since then, COVID-19 has made it painfully clear that timely and trustworthy information is of vital importance to public and individual health, especially when inaccurate or misleading information is on the rise. Whether tackling a global health crisis or battling personal health issues, credible health information is paramount.

If you work in the pharmaceutical or med-tech industries, you know too well how health information, as well as communications and channel strategies, are of greater importance than ever before.

The role of empathy and surprise in consumer interactions

Market changes are constant and inevitable. Your competition isn’t slowing down, and you must react quickly and strategically. When information and innovation travel fast, the costs of a late response are high.

Like many marketers today, you’re forced to make fast decisions and quickly adapt brand strategies.

How can you ensure your communications, products, and services deliver on your brand promise – surprising and delighting consumers?

Mistakes may be inevitable when it comes to consumer experiences, but how can you best rectify them?

We recently conducted research to answer these questions and explore the role of emotions in consumer experiences and decision-making.

Why consumer health brands need a more advanced analytics approach to decision journey research

The consumer health shopper journey is a particularly complex one. As with traditional FMCG products, the shopper journey for consumer health products is a labyrinth of channels and touchpoints. It’s never a linear decision-making process.

However, as a consumer health marketer, you face additional challenges when trying to untangle messy decision journeys: understanding the unique role of healthcare providers and their influence on the path to purchase.

How can a global organization improve strategic decision-making, align all stakeholders around an action plan, and accelerate deployment?

These were the exact questions Danone faced last year in its plant-based acceleration unit of the specialized nutrition division.

As one of the top global food companies, adapting to changing consumer behavior is always a key challenge for Danone. Consumer demand was rising for plant-based products. Danone wanted to continue to grow infant nutrition by leveraging plant-based assets from the company. Danone’s global strategy and insights team saw an opportunity to use business wargaming to help accelerate strategic decision-making and growth for its plant-based portfolio.

Business wargaming is a data-driven, agile decision-making approach that helps companies make faster and more holistic and bold decisions.

I recently sat down with our clients at Danone to discuss their new approach for agile, cross-functional and collective decision-making. Read on to learn how Danone used business wargaming to transform strategic decision-making and lead the business into a promising new market. 

How organizations can turn “intent” to act sustainably into “action”

Consumers are becoming increasingly vocal about a need for sustainable change in society. While it is encouraging to see this growth in people’s intent to act and buy more sustainably, their actual behavior is lagging.

How can organizations help inspire this behavior? Through consumer psychology, SKIM’s psychological distance framework can help explain why this lag is happening and offer tangible communication guidelines on how to turn intent into action to build a more sustainable world.

A fun and holistic process that uncovers the right decisions FAST

“More data, more problems.” That’s how a Product Insights Lead recently described to us the reality many brands face when it comes to making decisions today. Holistic, data-driven decision making is more complex than ever before, thanks to a variety of competing realities:

• Business intelligence is often siloed in different departments and data sources
• Different data sources may give conflicting insights
• Stakeholders have differing concerns and perspectives
• The competitive landscape may not be well understood
• Decisions need to be made quickly in response to changing markets and priorities

These realities impede your ability to make the best decisions to achieve your company’s goals.

So how can you bring together various data sources, information, insights, and stakeholders to make holistic and agile decisions?

Given today’s increasingly green-washed competitive landscape, it’s difficult to stand out, remain relevant, and drive consideration and conversion at the same time. Optimizing product sustainability communications is one way to help your brand achieve these simultaneous goals.

There is also an inherent conflict many marketers face when developing sustainability-related messaging: Sustainable products and services primarily benefit society in the long-term, rather than individual consumers in the short term.

How can brands reconcile this conflicting duality between personal short-term goals and broader long-term goals? How can your brand best provide product sustainability information to consumers in an authentic and impactful way?