BRAND MATTERS: Free brand trial and consumer engagement

One of the several strategies adopted by companies to entrench their brands in the minds of consumers is free trial.

This is a key marketing effort intended to engage consumers and deepen their experience of the brand. It also helps the brand make appropriate adjustments in order to enhance consumer satisfaction. Free trial aids direct connection with the target audience.

The brand connects to consumers through several touch points and free trial is a major one. It is indeed a veritable avenue to build consumer loyalty and followership.

This strategy is aimed at selling the values and benefits of the brand to the consumers, and empowers them to differentiate between brands they can trust and the ones they should not.

Consumer experience has a great impact on brand equity, as it helps them experience the perceived quality, thereby encouraging loyalty. This can be achieved through free trial, which fosters interaction between consumers and the brand.

Free trial also ensures a renewed focus on the consumers, as it empowers them to feel the brand to determine whether it aligns with their aspirations. DStv mobile was an innovation and value added mobile television entertainment for subscribers and when unveiled in the Nigerian market, the company announced free trials which lasted for over a year for subscribers.

The ultimate goal was to enable the subscribers experience the unique service of mobile entertainment on the go and also promote brand acceptability. The approach yielded the desired results.

The free trial strategy also helps to measure consumer experience, as it increases the word of mouth effect. There is every likelihood of satisfied consumers recommending the service to others.

It is important to inquire from them how their experiences have been in order to offer them premium services. The feedback mechanism put in place revealed exciting experiences for subscribers, as the DStv mobile service gave subscribers memorable moments, especially during the World Cup.

When a brand aligns with the lifestyle of consumers, they are poised to tap into the enormous benefits of value and entertainment.

DStv mobile has a deliberate strategy to stimulate consumer experience through exciting service delivery and the free trial was a vantage platform to achieve this. Indeed, there had never been mobile TV entertainment in Nigeria before the DStv mobile free trial which was relevant and meaningful for the consumers.

The benefits of free trial are enormous, as it generates a relationship building direct marketing programme. It definitely expands the frontiers of bonding touch points that have been created with the consumers.

Source : 234next