
Dr. Praeger’s acquires 71% repeat purchasers at retail after doing Digital Demos product sampling
Category: FOOD & BEVERAGE
Impact at a glance
Dr. Praeger’s tapped into the Social Nature community to launch two new products: the Perfect Turk’y Burger and Perfect Sliders. Three months later, they surveyed users who tried their products to measure post-purchase behavior.
The Challenge
Dr. Praeger’s has been in business for over 25 years. For previous new product launches, they let the market dictate their success. Dr. Praeger’s knew they needed a proactive strategy to raise awareness and promote new products in this increasingly competitive market.
To gain market share and grow the category, they needed a solution that would help them reach new consumers who shopped the plant-based category.
The Solution: Product Sampling
Through Social Nature’s Digital Demo solution, Dr. Praeger’s is able to support new product launches at key accounts while acquiring net new customers to their brand.
Digital Demos helps Dr. Praeger’s build online demand with Social Nature’s community of health and wellness shoppers. With plant-based foods becoming more mainstream, 72% of Social Nature’s community buy plant-based foods, regardless of dietary preference.
Targeting plant-based burger shoppers
Dr. Praeger’s wanted to target shoppers who specifically bought plant-based burgers, rather than users who regularly purchased plant-based dairy products. Users who applied to try the Burger and Sliders free samples filled out a pre-trial survey that provided Dr. Praeger’s with additional data points to qualify their target consumer.
Thousands of reviews. 4.4/5 star product rating.
Dr. Praeger’s e-commerce site had no reviews, but they were able to capture thousands of reviews with an average star rating of 4.4/5. Now prospective customers had the validation they needed to make a purchase in-store or online.
Above average opt-ins to Dr. Praeger’s mailing list
An average of 47% of users who tried Dr. Praeger’s products opted-in to their mailing list to receive communication directly from the brand. This opt-in rate is 57% above the campaign average of 30% opt-in rates. Users truly love Dr. Praeger’s frozen plant-based products and the results of the post-trial survey reinforce consumer interest.
Driving 71% repeat purchase three months post-trial
Digital Demos sampling drove velocity during the campaign periods and after too.
In a three month post-trial survey, Dr. Praeger’s discovered that 71% of respondents repurchased the Perfect Sliders or Perfect Turk’y Burger at least once.
Since trying Dr. Praeger’s Sliders, 69% of respondents purchased the product again. During the trial period, majority of consumers picked up their product at Publix and the same behavior is seen post-trial.
3
units purchased
per person
46%
purchased the Sliders at least 2x
26%
purchased the Sliders at least 3x
49%
buy the Sliders in addition to category products they already buy
24%
replaced other frozen sliders with Dr. Praeger’s Sliders
3
units purchased
per person
46%
purchased the Sliders at least 2x
26%
purchased the Sliders at least 3x
49%
buy the Sliders in addition to category products they already buy
24%
replaced other frozen sliders with Dr. Praeger’s Sliders
2
units purchased
per person
47%
purchased the Burgers at least 2x
24%
purchased the Burgers at least 3x
36%
buy the Burgers in addition to category products they already buy
37%
replaced traditional veggie and alt-meat burgers for Dr. Praeger’s Burgers
2
units purchased
per person
47%
purchased the Burgers at least 2x
24%
purchased the Burgers at least 3x
36%
buy the Burgers in addition to category products they already buy
37%
replaced traditional veggie and alt-meat burgers for Dr. Praeger’s Burgers
A core component of new product launches
“This is the most valuable tool for launching new products with consumers who are excited to try new products. Social Nature helps people break out of their habits and try new things.”
– Austin Allan, Senior Brand Manager, Dr. Praeger’s
Each new sampling campaign gives Dr. Praeger’s the ability to experiment with different coupon promotions or iterate on another brand’s successful tactics. For example, Dr. Praeger’s is taking some learnings from another client by producing their own coupon booklet.
“We want this coupon booklet and other follow-up promotions to drive velocity at key retailers, encourage repeat purchase, and incentivize trial for other Dr. Praeger’s products,” states Austin.
“I appreciate how you turn product sampling into a data collection opportunity. I will be presenting these product insights to my R&D team, marketing team for positioning, and sales team for buyer conversations. We look forward to featuring different products throughout the year to sample to our ideal target consumer and get more data.”
About Dr. Praeger’s
Founded by two heart surgeons in 1994, Dr. Praeger’s Sensible Foods® creates healthy and delicious frozen food to help people adopt better eating habits.
Dr. Praeger’s products focus on simple, nutritious ingredients for great-tasting, convenient products that families love.
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