At Marketbuzzz, we have access to over two million Thai mothers nationwide ranging in kids ages from new born mothers up to 18 years of age. This substantially large number of mothers, the largest access of its kind in Thailand is used to collect information, opinions and views on a range of topic about mothers and their children to help marketers make more effective decisions and market their products and services in the most relevant way. And all of this is conducted on the Mother's mobile phone!
Marketbuzzz identified mothers of babies from new borns to three years old as the starting point. These mothers are leading very busy lives, many of them new mothers who are constantly looking and searching for information about being a mother and questioning whether they are doing the right thing or the best thing for their babies. We soon realised that many marketers were also looking for similar information for kids growing up, between the ages of 3-12 years old and also in their teens where Mothers who were looking for information whether its child development and education, eating habits and food, or general advice on parenting. So we realised there was an opportunity to provide access to Mothers based on all Mothers who have children from new-born up to the age of 18 years old.
Grant Bertoli, CEO of Marketbuzzz explained "Mobile has changed the way Mothers make decisions. They turn to their mobile phones to research, to educate themselves, to buy and make choices throughout the day, so brands have more and more opportunities to connect with Mothers. For this reason, it made perfect sense to provide access to the two million Mothers so Brand Managers and Marketers can also do their market research and find out more about their target market, in a fast and efficient way, by mobile".
Bertoli went on to add, "Larger does equal better in this case and by providing over two millions mothers, Marketers can conduct studies specific to their target market characteristics, whether its lifestyle driven, the age of the child, or even whether there is a specific allergy that a child is susceptible to, we can find them. The second benefit is that Mothers are extremely busy people and by accessing them on the mobile allows you to collect and feedback information when the Mothers have the time and are available".
As part of the launch, Marketbuzzz revealed its findings from the 'Real Mothers Voice' survey which provided an understanding of role of the mother's play with babies 0-3 years decision making especially with the changing landscape and influences of online channels. The mothers of today are millennials and have grown up with their mobile devices where they seek information but also love to share their child's moments of joy too.
Some pertinent findings of the study are as follows
· Not surprising 63% of Mothers are the key decision makers, however there is 37% where other family member are key decision makers along with the Mother, an opportunity in itself for supplementary targeting.
· Food is the most purchased category, followed by Personal Care, Clothes and Accessories, and then Educational Toys.
· The majority of Mothers spend on average between THB 2,500 and 7,500 on their child every month. Higher income earning households would spend more and subsequently lower income earners would be spending less per month.
· Historically, mothers went to their own mothers for advice. This generation of Mothers, are more connected now than ever before, particularly mobile and the internet-connected. This generation of Mothers are thirsty for knowledge to help them with parenting. The power of social media along with Online Ads and TV Ads as the highest channels followed /read news or article about baby products. This is higher than Family and Friends recommendations which indicates that Mothers are looking for wider information sources beyond their close knit groups.
· This is further reinforced as Mothers see Promotion activities as the highest impact on purchase decision for their baby (38%). This is rated higher than Family and Friends recommendations (16%), Advertising (15%), Doctors recommendation (14%) and Research Results from the views of the mothers (13%).
· And with regards to buying baby products, traditional stores (Department Stores and Supermarkets) is the most preferred channel to shop (92%), although ecommerce is rated a strong number two choice (58%).
· The study also looked in detail at the main purchase decision criteria for both feeding and changing diapers for their babies. Mothers are definitely open to changing their brands for both feeding and diapers but they have to have a good reason to change. The research found 58% switched milk powder brands and 65% switched diapers brands for their baby between 0-3 years old. Information provided and rationale for the product benefits are critical for why Mother's choose a brand. In addition, Price and Promotion play a critical role in the decision beyond the product benefits offered.
Bertoli commented, "The above research results provide some useful examples of the insights available from the 'Real Mothers Voice' survey and while these are broad findings they do highlight some of the ways our clients are utilising the Mother's Panel. All of this information from the 'Real Mothers Voice' survey was collected in under a week and in today's marketing world timing is critical. Brand managers need fast and accurate information to take a decision on, especially with the number of tactical decisions being made in this category".
No doubt Today's Mothers are more savvy, more influential and have more access to research and information than any generation prior. This provides a huge opportunity and brands have everything in their favour to make a huge impact with these mothers but there are huge risks as well. Brands can't afford to get these mothers wrong.
Intuition is great but what is clear is fact based insights and decisions will never steer you wrong.
Info: Marketbuzzz currently utilizes the user base of Buzzebees which has over 35 million users. In this ecosystem, we can conduct mobile survey effectively, fast, accurately, and everywhere every time like 24/7. Apart from that, we can design and customize the questionnaire in many aspects based on client needs. Further, there are several kinds of services for mobile survey such as product development, brand improvement, advertisement evaluation, customer and employee satisfaction, and consumer behavior study.