Incopro commissioned the consultancy Oxera to undertake an independent assessment with one of our largest clients to gauge the quantitative impact of our work with them.

Successful brand protection strategies should be measured by meaningful, quantitative outcomes. There are many metrics online brand protection vendors use to demonstrate ROI to their clients: for instance, the number of enforcements carried out. At Incopro we work with clients to identify those most useful to their business, but we typically focus on the metrics we think are most meaningful:

• The percentage reduction in infringements
• The compliance rate of our enforcement
• The number of sellers and users banned

These are all quantifiable results that can be used to gauge success. However, it can be hard to translate this to quantify the financial benefits that our services deliver to our clients.

The four key areas where we see our products and services delivering the biggest impact for our clients are:

• 1. Reducing lost sales and growing revenue
• 2. Helping stop brand dilution and loss of exclusivity
• 3. Protecting your brand from reputational harm
• 4. Reducing reputational risk and safety concerns arising from poor quality counterfeits

Of course, in order to achieve these outcomes at all, it’s necessary to deliver a lasting reduction in online infringements. Unless enforcement activity is delivering this reduction, then even sending vast volumes of enforcement notices is unlikely to deliver positive business impacts.

Whilst these can’t all have quantitative numbers against them, to measure the financial impact of our work Incopro recently commissioned the consultancy Oxera to undertake an independent assessment on the financial benefit we have provided for one of our largest clients. The client is a global player in the luxury goods industry, with a number of the most recognizable brands in the business.

What the study shows

The study attempted to understand the incremental sales generated for our client through our work strategically enforcing against infringing social media users. In order to try to isolate the impact of our enforcement, the scope of the study was limited to a single brand in the Middle East, where social media infringement represents one of the largest online threats to brands.

Oxera used regression analysis to study the relationship using our enforcement data and the client’s sales data in that region. A number of different models were considered alongside different lag periods between enforcement and sales impact.

The key takeaway: social media enforcement delivers incremental sales

Oxera’s analysis found a clear link between our social media enforcement and increased genuine sales for our clients.

• 1. The correlation between enforcement action and sales – The study showed that for every infringing social media account taken down it equated to approximately 0.7-0.8 additional sales, and for 2017 this generated a significant amount in additional revenue for our client -and represented a massive return on investment. Whilst it’s important to acknowledge that this type of analysis can never provide complete certainty, Oxera found a consistently positive relationship across all of its analyses supporting the conclusion that our work had driven incremental sales.
• 2. ‘The lag effect’ – The financial impact of Incopro’s enforcement was felt in terms of increased genuine sales within 1-2 weeks, although the full effect is seen after 3-4 weeks. This insight can have broader implications for brands; for instance, increasing emphasis on enforcement to clear the online space in the weeks ahead of a new product launch, or around major sales events such as Black Friday.

The results of this robust, independent research demonstrate that Incopro’s intelligence-led, strategic approach to online brand protection really can deliver financial benefits to customers.

If you would like to learn how we can protect your brand and deliver an increase in sales on your online channels, please talk to one of our experts today.