The Brief
To understand the target markets (Singapore and Malaysia) audiences and their purchasing behaviours and to identify marketing opportunities to increase iHerb’s market share.
iHerb approached Digital Business Lab for our support to better understand the target audience’s profile, purchasing habits, opinions, and preferences for purchasing supplements.
The Objective
Awareness, Consideration & Conversion
The Solution
Digital Business Lab took the initial step to run an in-depth market research survey to learn more about the following:
- The consumer behaviour and patterns of the target audience
- The level of understanding and need for health and wellness products and how the audience can better understand iHerb’s product offering, especially supplements
- What type of engaging B2C style content will appeal to the target markets
- What types of channels would work best to place iHerb’s content in front of the target markets
- How to identify a unifying strategy for the different target markets
This information was the basis for a localised owned, earned and paid social media strategy, where we analysed in detail the similarities and differences between Malaysia & Singapore and how this would impact the persona targeting, the content strategy, and paid roll-out plan across the 2022.
Digital Business Lab also developed a long-term influencer strategy (6 months) to build localised partnerships and effective collaborations to drive sales ultimately.
Market Research - Survey Methodology
- Precise targeting: The survey was made from Social Media, leveraging precise targeting focusing on key personas.
- Fast & efficient execution: Approximately 1 month to approve, execute the survey and produce the insights report.
- Cost-effective: The overall process required 8 to 10 times less investment than traditional surveys executed through leading market survey firms.
Organic Management - Social Media Strategy - Graphic Design & Video Production - Influencer Marketing
Key Takeaways
Running market surveys and diving deeper into the brand’s target audience was an essential step for iHerb, which had a brand presence in Singapore but wanted to increase its new customer rate. This survey gave Digital Business Lab a better insight into why users may turn to iHerb competitors and their pain points, which we could address through the new localised channels and the content we produced.
It also reiterated the importance of creating bespoke & localised strategies for different regions in Asia, which think and act very differently. Ultimately it is not just language that differs across Malaysia and Singapore.
Overall we have reached targets much higher than the benchmarks KPIs, e.g. engagement rate, follower growth month on month, % of followers born, which is ultimately down to knowing and understanding the type of content, the kind of wording, and the variety of products that resonate with the target audience.
It is also important to think outside the box, particularly launching a new account without paid support. Digital Business Lab decided to advise running an EDM campaign to the current SG database to incentivise the database to follow the new IG/FB channel, with the first 50 receiving a 15% discount code. Within 24 hours, the IG account had grown by 1,000 followers.
About iHerb
iHerb is on a mission to make health and wellness accessible to all. Since their founding in 1996, they have been dedicated to offering Earth’s best-curated selection of health and wellness products, at the best possible value, delivered with the most convenient experience.
