Retail media continues to grow, and modern solutions are making it easier for retailers to activate, test, and optimize campaigns.
As a result, retailers are spending more time developing their media strategies and working on their approaches.
We spoke with experts in this field to get their insights, and below are our key takeaways.
Test, Learn, Optimize
Your dispenser screens are a unique marketing tool – they offer you a 1:1 messaging platform that lets you engage with your customers at the moment of a transaction.
The worst thing you could do is not use them at all. A message that didn’t perform as strongly as you hoped is better than no message, because it means that you’re trying to utilize your valuable forecourt space.
Plus, you’ve just gained insight into what kind of messaging doesn’t resonate with your customers. And that’s when you get back up on that horse and try again! Take what you learned and try a different approach until you find the message(s) your customers want to hear.
Pro Tip: Consider mixing in messaging that isn’t just advertising to keep things conversational. It can be as simple as a shoutout to the local high school basketball team during their playoff run.
You Don’t Need to Copy What Others are Doing
Just because your competitors are using their dispenser screens in a certain way doesn’t mean you have to too.
One of Shep Digital’s mid-sized c-store operators, known for its handcrafted ice cream, ran an eight-week control study. Instead of promoting the price of specific items, the campaign highlighted its broader lineup of craveable offerings, including packaged ice cream, hand-dipped cones, shakes, and fountain drinks.
What did they find out? Ice cream sales at the test sites that ran those category-level messages outperformed the control stores by as much as 17%! Even better, sales for the 18 - 35 segment jumped 35%!
That retailer could have followed the norm and stuck with price-specific messaging but think of all the sales they would have missed out on!
Pledge Your Loyalty to Your Loyalty Program
You don’t need to just promote products on your dispenser screens; you should also be promoting your loyalty program!
When driving loyalty adoption, the message really matters. Make sure you're straightforward, easy to understand, and adopt.
But the loyalty messages shouldn’t stop once a customer signs up. Loyalty customers drive 60% more revenue than the average "grey" or unknown transaction, according to data from Shep Digital. So, keep engaging with them!
You have their transaction data, so why not offer them tailored messaging? If you know that a loyalty customer often purchases coffee at your site, it wouldn’t make sense to show them a message around fountain drinks. Use what you know and set your screens up to share your latest coffee promotions or offerings to that customer to get them into your store.
Insights from the Experts
Across the conversations, a few themes came through clearly:
“No screen should ever be dark – it should always be used for something as it is a valuable moment to engage your customer and a great way to get them to try something new. One popular chip brand we worked with actually increased the trial of a new bold flavor by 73% by tapping into that moment.”
- Dan Trotzer, Executive Vice President of Industry, GSTV
“Each retailer has a different market. Each different location needs to have a different strategy to it.”
- Tama Williamson, Founder & CEO, TriggerPoint Media, Inc.
“Your customer is opting into your loyalty program. They offered you this information. If you don’t do anything with it, you’re missing the mark.”
- Brian Nelson, President/Founding Partner, Shep Digital Solutions
The Bottom Line
The journey from the forecourt to the store is a valuable one. The right kind of messaging can make all the difference. Thanks to dispenser screens, you have the tool needed to show your fueling customers those messages.
Use these tips to make sure your retail media strategy is as effective as can be, because your fueling customers are no longer just fueling customers; they’re also your audience!