Net Gains
Using a Hispanic Market Strategy
to Increase U.S. Web Sales
In the U.S. direct response industry marketplace, we talk about a variety of tactics to increase sales: upsell, cross-sell and continuity programs are among the most common methods used to increase average order value (AOV), improve media efficiency ratio
(MER), and enhance lifetime customer value (LTV).
Each of these is certainly well-grounded in an abundance
of proven methodologies, research and statistical results.
Simultaneously, we are putting a great deal of energy
in DR into optimizing Web site performance. Why? Not
only is it becoming the preferred way for consumers to
transact (versus the phone), but Web channels operate
at a much lower cost than the more traditional live agent
channels. Additionally, businesses have access to a much
larger audience at a reduced cost and possess more opportunities for self-service and automated processes.
An Overlooked Opportunity
But consider another far less obvious opportunity. At a
high level, we know that the U.S. Hispanic audience is 50
million strong. The audience is younger, they have a larger household size and they have more than twice as many
children as the general market. There are also significant
market opportunities occasioned by the behavioral and attitudinal characteristics of the U.S. Hispanic population.
As our teams conducted in-depth analysis of multi-
channel campaign data on programs running in U.S. Eng-
lish and Hispanic markets simultaneously during the past
few years, we’ve concluded that there were several key
items influencing U.S. Hispanic buying behavior:
The U.S. Hispanic “nuclear family” is largely multi-
generational.
Bilingual and Spanish-only generations often live, socialize and watch TV together.
In the same household, generations of U.S. Hispanics
are watching both English and Spanish programming
and reading English and
Spanish publications.
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The Jewel in the
Market
Based on our
qualitative research,
it became clear that a
significant percentage of U.S. Hispanic buyers might be
crossing over to U.S. English sales channels despite having viewed the advertisement in Spanish language. Further qualitative research concluded that the very nature
of U.S. Hispanic family behavior, coupled with another
basic marketing concept of “reach and frequency,” could
(and should) be responsible for a substantial crossover of
English-speaking U.S. Hispanics that would transact on
U.S. English Web sites and lift unique customer visits,
sales conversions, revenue and profitability. But how
much impact could there really be?
Stunning Matchback Results
Detailed testing of our matchback theories occurred
during the past two years. In order to get a broader
spectrum of data, our initial tests began with two of our
company’s internal products. The same tests were also run
with client products and achieved similar results. During
the tests, English-language campaigns were suspended to
determine how many orders from Spanish-language campaigns were actually coming through English Web sites.
The results were significant:
The percentage of Web orders relative to total orders
rose from approximately 10 percent to 25 percent.
For our two internal products, 80 percent of one and
60 percent of the other’s orders came through the
companies’ English-language sites despite the fact that
no English-language television campaigns had been
running.
Additional client tests concluded that 95 percent of
Internet orders generated by the Hispanic media campaign were placed through the English Web site.
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What We Know Now
Previously, most product marketers assumed that less
than 10 percent of Hispanics ordered online, but we confirmed that a minimum of 26 percent of total Spanish orders were coming through the Web and a significant majority were coming through English-language Web sites.
It’s clear that marketers should look at the Hispanic
potential in a new light — including a more in-depth behavioral understanding of the U.S. Hispanic buyer — as
well as viewing it as an opportunity to lift overall campaign performance. ■
