Reduction in forecasting error using Kinsa’s illness insights vs. retailer’s traditional illness data set
Kinsa Insights Case Studies
Discover how brands and agencies are taking advantage of real-time illness insight
Mucinex uses Kinsa Insights’ ™ Illness Solution to Double Retailer Demand Forecast Accuracy
The Challenge:
The timing and intensity of seasonal illness is always unpredictable. COVID-19 exacerbated that unpredictability for illness related brands. Some, such as disinfectants, saw historic sales fueled by panic-buying. Others, like symptom relieving medications, saw volatile sales due to historically low levels of common colds and flu. Amidst this uncertainty, Mucinex®, a leading cough, cold and flu brand, sought to reduce out-of-stocks by ensuring a top 3 national retailer’s forecast could cover exceptions in illness-driven demand.
The Solution:
Kinsa deployed its Illness-Based Sales Demand Solution, which leverages Kinsa Insights’ proprietary 12-week cough, cold and flu forecast, to accurately predict Mucinex product demand. During an unprecedented illness season, Kinsa’s Illness-Based Sales Demand Solution reduced a top 3 national retailer’s forecasting error by 50%, reducing Mucinex out-of-stocks, ensuring a superior experience at the shelf, and driving sales.
Additional product demand above what the retailer forecast identified
Kinsa cold, cough and flu based sales forecast
- Actual
- Kinsa predicted
- Retailer Forecast
Our partnership with Kinsa helps us understand where, when and how much demand there will be for our products, allowing us to better collaborate with our retail partners. This upcoming Cold & Flu season, Kinsa’s accurate illness forecast will help us optimize our supply chain, drive revenue and most importantly, have our products on shelves where they are needed, ensuring consumers can rely on Mucinex for symptom relief.
MiQ uses Kinsa Insights’ hyper-local illness data to increase in-store sales for a national drug retailer
The Challenge:
Existing illness data used in media targeting is delayed, costly, and limited in geographic accuracy. For retailers targeting ad campaigns to areas of rising illness, this data results in inefficient and ineffective spend, and low ROI. Retailers need a unique way to promote products that are directly impacted by illness.
The Solution:
Kinsa Insights delivers real-time, hyper-local, aggregated illness data to pinpoint precisely where and when illness is spreading. MiQ leverages this innovative solution to target retail store locations where community illness is on the rise.
About Kinsa
Kinsa Insights’ real-time aggregated data is built from a proprietary network of millions of households using Kinsa smart thermometers nationwide. This dataset is weeks earlier than the Centers for Disease Control’s ILINet and gives brands the insights they need to: Optimize budgets around campaigns that drive results with real-time insights. Improve media targeting to consumers that need their products the most with hyper-local targeting. Quickly adjust in-market messaging based on current and predictive illness trends
Sales Lift in featured products
A campaign ROAS of $4.00 per $1 spent.
Sales Lift in halo products
By using illness data via Kinsa’s API connected with their DSP, MiQ updates their campaign spend and audience targeting in real-time, driving ROI
Incremental sales lift from illness signal vs benchmark
Leading Retailer Engages Ready-to-Buy Allergy Sufferers with Kinsa Insights’ Allergy Media Targeting
The Challenge:
The timing and intensity of allergy season varies by year, geography and symptom severity, making it difficult for marketers of allergy symptom relief products to accurately predict where and when to target allergy-focused campaigns. With this yearly challenge in mind, a leading national retail chain sought to engage allergy sufferers in their digital media campaigns to drive sales of its allergy relief products.
The Solution:
The retailer leveraged Kinsa Insights’ media targeting solution, powered by Kinsa’ allergy symptom signal, to target consumers where and when they were suffering from allergy symptoms – regardless of pollen count levels. Analysis found that Kinsa’s allergy signal yielded .93 correlation with allergy product sales, meaning that said signal was a strong indicator of where and when consumers were purchasing allergy symptom relief products.
By identifying and recommending DMAs (Designated Market Areas)where allergy symptoms were very high, Kinsa’s allergy media targeting solution enabled the retailer to drive a 16% higher click-thru-rate (CTR) vs non-recommended DMAs.
Why Kinsa Insights for Allergy Targeting?
- Accurate: Kinsa Insights tells you exactly where and when consumers are suffering from allergy symptoms that matter to you (nasal + eye), not just where pollen levels are high or low.
- Comprehensive: Kinsa receives 200k symptom inputs per day from millions of households across the country through its health guidance app.
- Earlier: Data is collected at symptom onset – not lagged days or weeks like healthcare data – enabling you to target ready-to-buy consumers before the purchase decision.
- Compliant: All data is aggregated and anonymized – no PII
About Kinsa
Kinsa Insights’ real-time aggregated data is built from a proprietary network of millions of households using Kinsa smart thermometers nationwide. This dataset is weeks earlier than the Centers for Disease Control’s ILINet and gives brands the insights they need to: Optimize budgets around campaigns that drive results with real-time insights. Improve media targeting to consumers that need their products the most with hyper-local targeting. Quickly adjust in-market messaging based on current and predictive illness trends
Allergy symptom signal correlation to retailer’s allergy product sales
Improvement in engagement (CTR) when targeting Kinsa-recommended “high allergy” areas