As product e-mails and search-engine optimization tactics become commonplace, OwnerIQ CEO Jay Habegger believes his company has created the next big trend in Internet marketing.
 

Targeting consumers looking for service information, OwnerIQ.com — where consumers go to download user manuals and other information about products they own — markets directly to customers who may be unhappy with their current product. As they search for information about a particular product, consumers see display ads for products in the same category; when they download the manual, OwnerIQ collects their information and can target them with e-mail campaigns. Average on-site conversion rates range from 2 to 3 percent, Habegger says, and e-mail campaign click-throughs can be as high as 15 to 20 percent.

“We can reach them on our site or we can reach them as they move around through our ad network through other sites, but in all cases it’s ownership targeted based on what they actually own,” he says.

Manufacturers are spending as little as possible on support because of tight margins, Habegger says, and retailers don’t always receive compensation to provide product support, “so there’s a big vacuum created for the end user” that “has manifested in things like the rise of Geek Squad, a paid support model and self support.”

According to a recent OwnerIQ survey, more than 86 percent of respondents cited the user manuals as the first place they turn to learn about the products they own, and 65 percent of Internet-savvy respondents reported consulting user manuals more than five times per year.

These figures represent good news for OwnerIQ. “We don’t see anything but clear sky, even in the down economy,” Habegger says. “On the consumer side, people curtail their spending and they’re going to be even more interested in supporting and maintaining things they own rather than rushing off and just disposing of it to get the latest model.”

Keurig, manufacturer of single-cup coffee makers, targets women with household incomes of $100,000 or more. Last fall, it executed an awareness campaign on OwnerIQ for about $7,000.

Erin Wormell, Internet marketing manager for Keurig, says the program – which placed ads in both the coffee-maker and high-end appliance sections — resulted in good click-through rates, increased impressions and decent e-commerce sales on Keurig.com. Keurig tapped into behavioral and demographic targeting, but the concept that really appealed to the company was ownership targeting.

Next step in evolution
That “really intrigued us — the idea that if somebody buys X then potentially they might buy Y,” she says. “I think it’s sort of the next [step in the] evolution in some of the targeting behavioral demographic stuff that’s been going on online for some time.”

Electrolux’s Eureka line of vacuum cleaners targets 25- to 54-year-old women. Eureka’s OwnerIQ program has resulted in 350,000 impressions — people who looked at the manual — and a 0.6 percent click-through rate.

“I was pretty impressed with the amount of impressions delivered,” says Jackie Cooper, director of marketing and communications for Electrolux. The click-through rates “I would say, are pretty average compared to other rates, but I do like the targeting aspects. In our case, if you were searching for air cleaners, for example, and you were interested in improving your indoor air quality, you were served up one of our advertisements. Targeting is getting much more specific.”

OwnerIQ, Habegger says, is doing things that “retailers and other advertisers have never really been able to do before. We make that possible by knowing what people actually have in their homes.”