The Impact of Cause Marketing on Purchase Behavior
So I have been remiss in writing for this Blog for the past month – things seem to be very hectic and this is the part of the business that suffers. Loyalty Marketers continues to move along with various consulting assignments both in the Loyalty Marketing space as well as the Website consulting space. They don’t necessarily make sense together though they are the skills “we” bring to the table. Our latest website project should be going live soon – it is now in internal Beta – and once it is we’ll publish the link. The site looks great thanks to the wonderful work of Embolden Design of Rhode Island. They specialize in non-profits and do fabulous work.
On the Loyalty Marketing front, I came across an interesting article in AdAge about the impact of Cause Marketing on consumer behavior. According to the article, consumers will choose a particular company for their spending based on the causes those companies take up. For example, Box Tops for Education by General Mills or the various companies that use the Susan G. Komen for the Cure logo on their packaging. There are many examples of companies that use Cause Marketing in one form or another with the hope that it will improve consumer perception and ultimately improve the bottom line.
I’m a big believer in Cause Marketing because it provides a simple way for people to support causes they believe in. The interesting part comes from those people who could care less about the cause but still buy the product because they want the product. There may still be some residual benefit among this crowd and it would be interesting to see that measured.
One thing I question though is whether someone is more motivated to support a cause such as a respected non-profit like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital vs. their own self-interest. For example, if one company supported a charity through your purchase and the other gave you rebate for your purchase through a Loyalty Program like Upromise to help someone save for their own child’s college education, it would be interesting to know which one might have the greater impact on consumers.
What do you think – what motivates you when making purchase decisions?