US: The sweet smell of sales - A conversion rate analysis of leading deodorant brands
In the highly competitive and consolidated North American personal-care market, deodorant brands continue to compete fiercely for the attention and loyalty of consumers.
Brand conversion funnels can serve as effective customer journey models to identify areas for improvement and growth by illustrating the gradual decline of the number of potential customers as they are guided through the lower stages of the funnel towards becoming paying customers.
Using data from YouGov BrandIndex — which monitors several key measures of brand health daily — let's explore the performance of three leading US deodorant brands to uncover how successful they are at converting consumers, from Awareness to Consideration and finally Purchase Intent.
Old Spice
Old Spice demonstrates a high Awareness score, with 89.5% of US adults saying they are familiar with the brand.
Coming to consumers who say they would consider buying from the brand the next time they’re in the market for this type of product, Old Spice edges out Axe and Dove Men + Care with a Consideration score of 18.8%. This equates to a 21% conversion rate from the Awareness stage to the Consideration stage. Despite leading the pack, however, the brand, like the others we look at, faces significant challenges in the consideration stage, possibly due to the high concentration of players in the market.
Old Spice’s Purchase Intent score of 4.2%, a measure of how likely someone would be to purchase from a specific brand, corresponds with a substantially high conversion rate of 22% from the Consideration stage.
Axe
Similar to Old Spice, Axe also has a high level of brand recognition among the US audience, with 74% of consumers saying they’re aware of the brand.
Roughly a fifth (17.4%) of US consumers say they would consider buying from the brand, indicating a conversion rate of 23% - the highest among the three brands - from Awareness to Consideration.
The brand’s Purchase Intent score of 2.9% reveals a conversion rate of 17% from the Consideration stage to the Purchase Intent stage and putting it into second place.
Dove Men + Care
While Dove Men + Care's Awareness doesn’t match that of Old Spice and Axe, a majority of consumers are still familiar with the brand (68.2%).
The brand’s Consideration score of 11.1 signifies a conversion rate of approximately 16% from aware consumers to considerers, placing it firmly behind Old Spice and Axe.
The brand somewhat makes up for its lower Awareness and Consideration in the final stage of the purchase funnel. The brand’s Purchase intent score of 1.3 reveals a conversion rate of 12% from the Consideration stage to the Purchase Intent stage, but that still puts it in third place.
Summary
Looking at the conversion rates at the Purchase Intent stage, Old Spice clearly outperforms its competitors with an impressive 22% conversion rate followed closely by Axe at 17%. However, Dove Men + Care (12%) falls significantly behind in this regard.
Old Spice's consistent performance across all stages showcases its dominant market presence.
Although Axe has a lower Awareness score, it demonstrates significant progress in converting consumers from Awareness to Consideration, highlighting the brand’s ability to make an impact on consumers in the personal care market.
Similarly, despite trailing behind, Axe and Dove Men + Care's strong brand recognition suggests they have a solid foundation to build upon to increase their conversion rates.
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