Quirks 2022 Award Nominee for Client/Supplier Collaboration,
Researcher of the Year (end-client), Best Client-Side Team,
and Best Market Research Supplier of the Year

Marketing, Packaging, and Messaging Research for Netspend

The Challenge

Netspend, a leading provider of prepaid card solutions in the U.S, was looking to revamp the packaging and messaging for its prepaid cards. Its Head of Research and Insights, Mr. Chris Ogilvie knew that instead of doing traditional packaging tests, more accurate results would be achieved by diving deeper into their shopping journeys and uncovering how their attitudes and values drive selection decisions. So he hired Gold Research, a national customer journey mapping and research firm, and set on a mission to better understand his target market.

The Solution

From the onset, Chris knew that to be successful, he needed to illuminate consumer purchase habits, attitudes, values and preferences that drive key decisions during the shopping process. So a robust qualitative research process involving in-depth interviews and focus groups with a diverse group of target consumers was designed to gather shopping behavior related insights from target consumers while concurrently testing early stage concepts. Chris used these initial results to guide internal teams to further optimize the planned packaging and messaging options. To further solidify the findings and make them more statistically valid/projectable, Chris also commissioned a quantitative survey research effort that would sample hundreds of consumers. In order to mimic the “real-life” shopping experience as much as possible, each survey respondent was shown a virtual shelf that presented all competitor cards placed along with only one of the multiple Netspend cards (with their new packaging and messaging). This was an innovative format as it enabled respondents to view and rate test concepts not in isolation (which could have produced biased results) but in context of competitor cards that they were used to seeing in the market place.

The Results

Due to Chris’s leadership, Netspend was able to better understand the shopping habits of its consumers and design their product packaging and messaging that matched their customer expectations. This research effort had a wider business impact as it facilitated the consumers as well in their buying journeys by enabling them to quickly identify a product that addressed their financial needs better than other available existing options.

Testimonial:

Historically, Netspend has conducted smaller scale quantitative checks on retail packaging options where respondents were asked to compare and contrast a champion package to alternative versions.  The champion always won and the study format didn’t offer enough insight into expected performance in market or areas for improvement.  For this study, I wanted to meet multiple objectives, including: measuring strength of packaging against key competitors, design and messaging feedback that the marketing and creative teams could use to improve the packaging concepts, and consumer product purchasing behavior preferences.  Working with Gold Research, we were able to identify which concept performed best against competitors, which messages convinced, repelled, or confused consumers, which design generated the most attention and likelihood to purchase, and whether or not the consumer’s buying process affected their reactions.  Ultimately, we worked with the marketing and creative teams to select a design, messaging, and packaging format combination that increases appeal and reduces barriers to purchase for most consumers, which will be in market later this year. Most consumers will have an easier time finding our product on the shelf, learning about the most important product features and uses, and understanding how the product works before they buy it.  It will save them time while shopping and they will have a better post purchase experience because they have a better understanding of the product.  We expect to see a lift in sales and customer retention as a result of rolling out this new packaging.

– Mr. Chris Ogilvie, Head of Research and Insights, Netspend