Summary
It’s a little known fact that only 51 per cent of online shoppers complete their purchase. PayPal Express Checkout therefore has a very valuable benefit to online retailers because it helps people pay more quickly, which then reduces the number of abandoned shopping carts and increases revenue. This campaign is all about an effective creative way of communicating that benefit across a number of different media.
About the client company
PayPal is a leading provider of online payment systems.
Strategy – broader business issues the company is facing
Shopping basket abandonment is a massive issue for online merchants (only 51 per cent of online shoppers make it past the website payment process – the rest give up). PayPal Express Checkout helps to increase the speed and efficiency of the process (just three clicks and minimal data entry/re-entry) therefore increases sales conversions by 33 per cent. Offering PayPal therefore helps merchants to increase revenue. However, awareness of this fact was not high among online retailers.
Objectives of the campaign
The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness among online merchants of the value of using PayPal Express Checkout.
The target audience
The campaign was directed at decision makers within online retailers.
Media, channels or techniques used
Key to the whole campaign was helping the audience understand the benefit of the three-click functionality of PayPal Express Checkout. Because it is faster, shoppers are more likely to complete their purchases. It therefore helps online retailers to reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts, which then increases their revenue.
This was communicated by the creative promise “When things are this quick, more people make it to the end.” The promise was accompanied by a creative treatment where various well-known films and books are condensed into a five-second format – representing the speed with which payment can be processed with Express Checkout.
This theme was communicated via a range of different media, and included a number of elements:
– Pre- and post-campaign research
– On/offline creative (including belly and cover wraps) and a dedicated landing page
– Five-second movies
– DM
– Emails
– Advertorials
– Case studies
– Event collateral (the exhibition interpretation of the campaign included a bespoke ‘five-second cinema experience’, which screened a series of short films, while also providing viewers with tiny boxes of popcorn – just long enough to last.)
There were further strategic key elements:
– Targeting specific verticals to drive awareness and consideration
– Focusing on the ease of use and integration
– Promote the mobile feature of Express Checkout to help further upsell product to merchants
Timescales of the campaign
The campaign was created July-Sep 2010. It began running in September 2010; some elements of the campaign are still running.
Results
This was not a lead generation campaign. The objective was to raise awareness of the solution and its benefits. Since the campaign is still running, the success so far has been measured by mid-campaign research and analysis into four key factors.
The results show:
– Top-of-mind awareness measure for PayPal Express Checkout has increased by 10 per cent
– ‘Belief that simpler user journey reduces abandonment’ increased by 17 per cent
– Consideration of ‘PayPal as additional payment option’ up 14 per cent
– Consideration of PayPal as supplier up 16 per cent
Client testimonial
“Increasing awareness of how our products can directly benefit our customers is critical to PayPal’s success and this campaign did exactly that. It was a highly creative idea that communicated product benefit and brand personality at the same time. Mid-campaign research showed a significant increase in awareness and consideration of Paypal, making this a highly successful initiative.”
Birthe Emmerich, Enterprise & SMB Marketing, PayPal
