Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

How Does 1-800-flowers Track Their Results?

Posted by Anonymous on 3/3/2010 at 10:10 AM ET 125 Points
I am opening this up to the forum. I am curious how 1-800-flowers track their results. How do they know which marketing campaigns are doing well with only one number? Even if you don't know how 1-800-Flowers does it, I'm curious to see how you would do it.
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  • Posted on 3/3/2010 at 10:23 AM Author
    You know, I have thought about this and come up with a few ideas but none are as precise as I would like. Some companies ask you where you heard about them, but from my experiences, this isn't a reliable source of information. Other companies use promo codes in their commercials and tell someone to enter this code to get a discount and that code is used to track the marketing campaign. Other ideas include analysis of incoming area codes and call spikes. Although these aren't bad ideas, I still think there is a better answer out there. Please let me out...
  • Posted by jlandau on 3/3/2010 at 10:41 AM Accepted
    I also am not sure how 1-800-FLOWERS does it, apart from assigning promo codes or having their call centers ask callers what they're responding to, but here are my thoughts on the topic:

    If a business is using just one number to promote themselves in advertising then...

    1. They could stage campaigns so there is minimal over-lapping and then use a tracking platform to identify response rates based on the timing of a newspaper ad vs. a radio campaign, for example.

    2. As someone already mentioned, tracking systems provide detailed call reports that show the area codes of where a call is coming from, and others also share address and zip code information - so there is another way to track, assuming there is geo-targeting of ad campaigns.

    3. Another option is for a business to use alternate prefixes of the vanity number, like 800-FLOWERS in TV, 866-FLOWERS in print campaigns, 877 in outdoor media, and 888 in radio. Then they can track using the prefix.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/3/2010 at 12:24 PM Member
    They could also use historical data. For example, they might know how call volume is week-by-week for different regions. Implementing a new campaign is likely to change the results. It's anecdotal (since the caller may not have directly seen the campaign), but still valuable.
  • Posted by leigh on 3/5/2010 at 10:38 AM Accepted
    I worked at 800 Flowers for two years and helped establish their online division. They use a combination of methods to track campaigns like any other business. This includes using offer, catalog and promotion codes as well as custom call-in numbers (after all, they own MANY businesses). They also ask callers where they were referred from, use tracking systems, track call volume. Hope this helps.

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