http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/10/170-sv-list.html

#170Blog Post - Tuesday, 11 October 2022
 

Postedby Denny Hatch 

AMind-blowing Survey and the Unique
List of 20 Million Upmarket Consumers 

Many, many years agoI somehow landed as a copywriting client in Toronto a tiny company calledShopper's Voice. I have no idea how we found each other. I went up for anexploratory visit and found I would be working for a peach of guy—perhaps thenicest, most knowledgeable client I ever had. The company was putting togethera marketing survey of consumers and wanted some help with the verbiage for thequestionnaire and messaging to persuade people to take the survey.

I don't remember myclient's name, but my gosh he was a lovely, low-key young guy. I made a coupleof trips to Canada for meetings. When I asked about the business model—how heplanned to monetize the service—the reply was vague. I didn't pursue it.Instead I concentrated on the copy and he liked what I did. Whereupon after twoor three months he announced the company was being acquired by Epsilon. Myclient was going to marry the love of his life and retire young. I had metEpsilon's John Groman—another lovely guy—who had his own copy staff. I was letgo. It was all very amicable.

RevisitingShopper's Voice

Last month on a whimI Googled Shopper's Voice. All I can say...

WARNING

I interrupt this blog post to alert readers that after joiningShopper's Voice I am suddenly being blitzed with torrents of JUNK EMAIL,SPAM AND OBVIOUS SCAMS. 

 Denny's Yahoo Inbox

I now continue where I left off as if this rude interruption never happened...

Imagine theprofitability of a list of 20 million consumers who are guaranteed to read theirmail and order products and services over distance—email, Internet, TV,telephone and direct mail.

What's more all 20million folks (representing 40 million families) on this list happily blabbedeverything about themselves—the entire intimate nitty-gritty of their lives.Among the specifics they shared for their entry:

name - street address- email addresses - family members' ages  - occupation - income -retirement plans - investments - specific credit cards (and reasons forownership) - credit limit - bank balance -  health - ailments -medications - insurance - real estate - own or rent - hobbies - diet - eatinghabits - smoking - social concerns - religion -  donations and specificnon-profits - interests - sports - apparel  and sizes of family members -magazines - political party - products & services ordered by mail (and fromwhom) - specific electronics owned - home technology - pets.

Here's a Sampling of How Deep into the Weeds

Of Responders' Lives the SurveyGoes

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

As a reminder, responses may be used to provide you withinformation regarding heath conditions and productsthat might be of interest.

DIABETES

Do any household members have diabetes?

No

1) What type of diabetes do household members have?

                                                                    You          Others in Household                             

Type 1

Type 2

Not Certain

2) Do household members use any of the following to managediabetes?

                                                                                    You          Others in Household

Glucose monitor

Insulin injection - 3+ times per day

Insulin injection - 1, 2 or 3 times per day

Insulin pump

Oral medication

Diet or exercise

3) What types of Insulin do household members use?

                                                                      You          Others in Household                                                  

Humulin 70/30

Lantus

Levemir

Novolin 70/30

Novolog

Other

RHUMATOID ARTRITIS

  = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Forty-five yearslater, the business model and promises made sense.

InShopper's Voice Own Words

Epsilon’s Shopper's Voice databaseis made up from a mix of online and postal survey responders who have taken thetime to complete our comprehensive Shopper’s Voice survey, providing usinformation about unique, hard-to-find data points such as ailments, productusage, purchase intentions, lifestyles, and demographics.

With Shopper'sVoice data, you can reach high potential prospects by targeting consumers withknown interest and behaviors. Our precision targeting allows you to reachproven direct mail responsive consumers, maximizing your response rates andreducing your cost per responder. Find the right customers, target them withthe right message, and increase your ROI.

Shopper's Voice—You Can Do the Arithmetic on a CocktailNapkin

Let'ssay the average one-time rental order is $75/M plus 5 refinements at $10/M fora total of $125/M.

Assumingmy arithmetic is correct (I sometimes get lost in zeros) why that's $2.5million smackeroos every time the list of 20 million consumers is turned.

Expenses:

•Salaries

•Commissions to list brokers

•Minimal digital ad buys to attract consumer volunteers. 

•Minimal expenses for gift premiums and "online thank-you goodies" forparticipating.

•No product or service development costs.

•No testing costs.

•No cost of goods sold.

•No manufacturing

•No inventory.

•No warehousing.

•No returns.

•Damn near pure profit from a few teensy spritzes of electricity.

Yum,yum.

Quite Frankly, the Con Job in the Survey Is Some of the Most Brilliant Direct Marketing Copy I have Ever Read!

Thisis the epoch of the Internet, the "cloud" and vast electronic dossiersamassed by corporate America on all of us. By reading our emails and recordingour shopping habits, wealth, legal and financial problems the results aremixed. The upside: terrific offers by savvy direct marketers. The downside:ruinous scams out of China, Russia, Nigeria and computer geeks all over theworld.

TheShopper's Voice pitch to consumers is fascinating. The entire business model ispremised on the fact that most people love to talk about themselves. I rememberan old aunt many years ago who—if you asked "how are you?"—wouldrelish telling you for the next half hour.

As a result, the Shopper's Voice Survey is amazing—involving,persuasive, reassuring, flattering and irresistible. I took the Survey and washooked. I was particularly interested in the health questions. Mercifully, I've had goodhealth all my life. I hate health stuff. Plowing through this litany ofdiseases and disorders in the lives of others made me feel blessed andgrateful. It was a positive experience—especially in these depression-causing years ofCOVID.

Themessaging is brilliant! Shopper's Voice uses four proven Key Copy Drivers (Emotional Hot Buttons) thatpersuade prospects to act:
             Flattery - Greed -Exclusivity - Salvation

Below Is Some Actual Verbiage Used on the Shopper's VoiceWebsite

("Imagined emotional responses by the consumer are inred.")

  = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Flattery:
"... By sharing your thoughts once a year inour Consumer Product Survey, you play a key role in shaping how yourfavorite brands, products, and services are developed and improved. Byconnecting with these companies..." ("I play a key role! I can make adifference!")

Greed:
"At Shopper’s Voice, we’re about helping you makethe most of your shopping. That’s why we make it so rewarding for you to tellus about the brands, products and services you love most. Complete our survey and you’ll have the opportunity for instant flash savingsfrom your favorite brands – plus coupons, samples and free stuff all year long!Plus, as a Shopper’s Voice member, you’ll get Rewards points simply for openingand clicking on our emails – points that you can convert into gift cards...

"By connecting with these companies, they reward you with freesamples, coupons and special offers tailored to you – and Shopper's Voice rewards you with instant flash savings plus a chance to win in ourfree survey sweepstakes." ("Freegoodies! Wheee!")

Exclusivity:
"Shopper's Voicecarefully gathers opinions, preferences and insights from shoppers like youaround the country through our online consumer opinion survey."  ("I stand out from the crowd! My opinions are worthsomething!")

Salvation:

At Shopper’s Voice, we’re about helpingyou make the most of your shopping. That’s why we make it so rewarding for youto tell us about the brands, products and services you love most. Complete our survey and you’ll have the opportunity for instant flash savingsfrom your favorite brands – plus coupons, samples and free stuff all year long!Plus, as a Shopper’s Voice member, you’ll get Rewards points simply for openingand clicking on our emails – points that you can convert into gift cards. ("Thisis a grand invitation to add meaning to my life, to learn about the world, andreceive payments—if not in cash, at least in kind!")

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

I Really Liked the Honesty Throughout.

In addition, Shopper's Voice is deadhonest and levels with you. For example, in the health-fitness-illnessessection is the oft-repeated caveat:

As a reminder, responses may be used to provide you with

information regarding heath conditions and products that

might be of interest.

"If you want to be successful in Direct Marketing, STEALSMART.

—Dorothy Kerr, Circ Director, U.S. News & World Report

As I was taking the Survey—answering seemingly hundreds ofquestions—it quickly became obvious that I was deep into the mother lode of howto persuade and inspire normally wary customers and prospects to give you a tonof information about themselves and their lives.

Suffice it to say Shopper's Voice makes it very difficult tocapture the Survey. For example, you must fill out a page, and only then areyou allowed to proceed to the next page/section. And it's impossible todownload the pages in Word. Remember, this Survey—honed to perfection over 30years—was (and is) responsible for thecreation of a giant list of 20 million names and a cash cow.

Takeaways to Consider

• Create a Swipe File like I did at WHO'S MAILING WHAT! which—over30 years—made me the king of junk mail. (Over the years we isolated 1661 direct mailGrand Controls in 200 categories. These were mailed over at least threeconsecutive years. The Ultimate example: "The most SuccessfulAdvertisement in the History of the World." brought in $2 billion duringits 27-year lifespan.")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ww8a-8hyio&t=645s

• When you get to a new page in the Shopper's Voice Survey,immediately take a picture of it, turning it into a PNG, jpg or whatever.

•  When you have a completefile of PNGs, manually retype the questions.

• Download and save all Shopper's Voice  promotions, offers, goodies, artwork andemails.

• You will have at your fingertips the Shopper's Voice entirebusiness model.

• Here's the link to the Shopper's Voice List:

    https://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=230519

• Here's the link to the Shopper's Voice Survey:

   https://www.shoppersvoice.com/sv/v/usa

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