The Problem
A pet care marketplace connecting pet owners with pet sitters was looking for organic opportunities to grow not just in the US market but also throughout Great Britain, a new market for the business.
Before launching an expanded organic acquisition strategy, they needed to understand the events, triggers, and elements associated with word-of-mouth and referral marketing, and identify additional opportunities to augment these channels.
The Approach
We fielded a two-phased project consisting of one-to-one interviews with customers across the United States and Great Britain, followed by surveys across these two geographies.
– Explored the events, triggers, and elements associated with word-of-mouth and referral marketing to identify incremental channel opportunities.
– Examined both US and GB markets to surface geographic differences in customer acquisition behavior.
The Results
Referral Opportunities
Pinpointed specific third party professionals as trusted referral sources, creating an incremental marketing channel opportunity.
Messaging Balance
Identified the need for both rational and emotional elements across marketing messaging to build confidence and trust in the marketplace.
Acquisition Spend Justification
» Explored the inter-connection of awareness marketing referral / word-of-mouth marketing, helping justify continued spend on awareness channels.
Product Feature Optimization
Isolated in-app product features needed to facilitate initial bookings from customers with last-minute referrals.
Did You Know...
Geographic expansion doesn’t just require a bigger sample — it requires a smarter one. When a brand enters a new market, consumer motivations, trust signals, and referral triggers can look completely different. Running parallel research across two markets lets you isolate what’s universal to the category and what’s unique to each audience.
