Melanie Babcock had a confession to make.
As Senior Director/Agile Marketing (Audience), Social Media, AdTech & Display at The Home Depot – the home-improvement retailer – Babcock is charged with crafting omnichannel media and content strategies that fuel demand.
The problem? What seemed like a promising campaign for boosting paint sales, she said, fell undeniably short of expectations. "I thought it was going to be the best thing ever," Babcock admitted at SXSW 2018.
Melanie Babcock, Senior Director/Agile Marketing (Audience), Social Media, AdTech & Display, The Home Depot
"And I got a zero dollar return."
The post-campaign analysis revealed that "we had too much paint" marketing in train at the same time, meaning a customer interested in acquiring a few cans of satin or semi-gloss ultimately was bombarded with messages. "So, now, I had to go out and re-score my model, and think differently about that customer." Babcock said.
In doing so, her team sought to establish the particular projects that were occupying the prospective buyer, and develop more relevant communications for "that same customer who got a paint ad [when] I got a big zero." Babcock reported.
The redemptive outcome? "I sent the exact same customer, who I knew was on a bath[room] project, a paint ad, and it was the best-performing ad that I had. So, failure helps," she said.
Optimization of this kind demonstrates, in the first instance, The Home Depot's commitment to a test-and-learn ethos. Equally, it indicates that digital channels – like social media, programmatic, and retargeting – have become uniquely powerful tools for understanding customers.
The Home Depot's three main audience pockets are consumers, trade professionals, and shoppers who want experts to undertake a job for them. And, as Babcock transitioned from her original role as the firm's Senior Director/Social Media – a position she held from December 2013 to November 2015 – to leading agile marketing, adtech, social, and display, the granular data on offer about these groups has exploded.
"We know so much about each of our customers now, and what they need, and their desires. And it isn't based on demographics or psychographics. It's based on this data," Babcock told the SXSW assembly in Austin, Texas.
"And our ability to think about our customer has expanded exponentially over the last couple of years as we really dig down into: What does a customer mean? When you're moving, you're also redoing your bathroom, or maybe you're redoing your kitchen, and you're also buying exterior paint. And, all of a sudden, you're no longer a customer for products, but you've got a whole house renovation going on.
"So, how do I speak to you about all of that, and how do I prioritize which message I'm going to send to you first? It's really significantly changed what we know about our customer, and how we speak to them."
These new ways of speaking might include:
- Artificial intelligence (AI): A common hurdle for The Home Depot's customers involves sifting through the mass of products available online to find the ideal solution.
"When you have a thousand faucets in your catalog, people don't want to see a thousand faucets. They want to know, 'What faucet is best for my price point in the vanity that I just bought?' By the way, faucets are really complicated … Especially to market them," Babcock said.
"But to offer up products that are relevant to you requires a significant amount of AI and machine learning."
A recent Pinterest campaign tackled this problem head on for people trying to pick a new water heater. More specifically, The Home Deopt utilized information-led creative providing hints and tips for consumers. And coupling first-party data of known customers with retargeting yielded powerful engagement and return on investment.
"We have a customer base who demands it. They want to know the best selection," Babcok said.
"If we aren't using all of the data that's available to us … delivered in a federated way to the marketers on our teams – who can use that data to produce really strong campaign strategies, but more importantly, highly-relevant content in a place like Pinterest – then our customers are going to leave us."
- Mobile app: This digital tool has been downloaded 20 million times and is regularly updated based on research among consumers and tradespeople.
Its primary attribute is enabling consumers to shop for more than a million products on their phone, and have these purchases shipped to a store or their home.
Some other app features:- a store locator;
- tailored "in-store menus," so guests can see a bespoke guide to finding items on-shelf, view local ads, and access details about live workshops
- voice and image search capabilities, so consumers can take a photo of an object to view similar products, or make an enquiry with oral commands
- consumer reviews, as seen through scanning a product's barcode.
- Events: A Pinterest campaign for holiday décor drew on the insight that people start planning their festive finery in October. And that knowledge points at how Home Depot has changed its approach.
The brand began targeting messaging at relevant shoppers early in the purchase journey as they browsed their feed or searched for appropriate ornamentations. And this effort prompted a spike in in-store and online sales alike.
- Google Home: Last year, Home Depot announced it would sell products in response to voice instructions submitted via Google Home, the tech company's AI-driven interactive speaker, as well as through the Google Express website and app.
"We have a very historic, successful event-marketing practice," Babcock said of its evolution in this area. "Those are tentpole events that we do at Home Depot that market products. And to have to change how people think about marketing – and the strategy and the approach – [needs a] lot of education."
Additionally, the company's online team has worked with store members to work out if Google's speakers could be a useful aid as consumers try and navigate around stores to locate products.
- Augmented reality/virtual reality: One important use of augmented reality, which overlays digital features onto real-life images using digital devices, empowers Home Depot app users to envision what a piece of furniture or lighting might look like in their home.
The brand also allied with OATH, the digital-content arm of Verizon, last year to test AR-driven ad units that let people find out whether an item could enhance their current rooms via messages run on platforms like Yahoo Mail.
Elsewhere, the Home Depot partnered with OmniVirt, a VR ad platform, to formulate a social-media campaign that shows people, in 360 degrees, how they can redesign their living room, bathroom, and so on.
As the brand's priorities have transformed, so Babcock's team has evolved. "My team structure is an audience strategist, a head of creative, a media planner, and a data scientist. And, together, the four of them – that pod – goes after data and our audiences to deliver the best experiences. And I would say that's remarkably different from two years ago," she said.
Their key performance indicators are changing, too – and in a manner that tracks straight back to unsuccessful experiments. "The tests that we do can show zero return. You don't want a lot of them. But those are great tests. It really helps you stop and think about: Was my data right? Was my messaging right? We build a lot of models in our company. Was the model scored properly?" Babcock asserted.
"Did the creative messaging work? Did the landing page experience work? Did they go in-store and not have a good experience? That really helps you stop, and think about every aspect of your job, and what you're doing, and where the breakdown occurred.
"And then you can fix it."
