Product Registration
You’ve just invested in a new refrigerator for your home. You likely spent hours researching the best brand and solution for your needs, so you want to ensure your investment is protected. How can you be sure the brand will replace a part or send you a replacement if your investment becomes damaged after you’ve purchased it?
Welcome to the world of product and warranty registrations.
Let’s discuss product registrations, how to create product registration experiences, why consumers and manufacturers can benefit from product registrations, and so much more.
What Is a Product Registration?
For consumers, registering a product means they have given their name and contact information to a manufacturer. In return they expect their product warranty to be honored.
From a manufacturer's perspective, product registration allows the brand to build a customer list. Most manufacturing brands do not receive customer information from their retailer partners. Product registration forms are a way for brands to close that gap and gain customer insights.
The type of product that should be registered depends on the longevity of the item. For example, for purchases meant to last several years like a hair dryer, washing machine, or lawn mower, consumers would want to register these products so they can receive notices like safety recalls, updated warranty information, and more.
What Products Should Be Registered?
-
Hair Dryers
-
Microwaves
-
Power Tools
-
Washing Machines
-
AC Units
-
Refrigerators
-
Coffee Machines
-
TVs
-
Toasters
-
Lawn Mowers
But not every product needs to be registered. For example, consumers are extremely unlikely to register a consumable product , such as food, makeup, or cleaning products.
What Is Warranty Registration?
When shopping for a considered product like those products listed above, you might hear the terms product registration and warranty registration. But what is the difference between these two? What forms are necessary for consumers to complete in order to receive coverage?
Let’s discuss the difference between a product registration and a warranty registration.
Product Registration
Product registration is when a consumer gives a manufacturer their contact information and details about a product. Not all companies warranty their products so sometimes a product registration may not result in warranty coverage. Consumers complete a product registration in order to receive safety notices, product recalls, and to opt-in to receive related marketing updates.
Warranty Registration
A warranty is a guarantee from a manufacturer that the brand will repair or replace a product if it an issue arises in a designated time period. Warranty registration is when the consumer gives a manufacturer their contact information in order to receive an appliance warranty.
It’s important to note that some manufacturers use the terms interchangeably and include the warranty registration process with the product registration form to make it more convenient for the consumer.
Types of Product Registration
As the world has transformed digitally, there are now more ways products can be registered.
There are three main ways registering products can be accomplished:
-
Warranty Registration Card - Physical warranty registration cards are typically what most consumers see when they unbox an appliance like a toaster or a coffee machine. The problem with physical cards is that they take a lot of effort on the part of both the brand and the consumer. Consumers have to physically write and mail the card back to the manufacturer. On the manufacturer’s side, it takes an incredible amount of space to store all of the physical cards and an incredible amount of time for the business to catalog and/or digitize those records.
-
Product Registration Online - Manufacturers may choose to create an online product registration portal or a website that consumers can visit in order to register their products. While there’s a better option (spoiler - it's a digital product registration experience) having an online format to collect warranty and product registrations is still a better method than having a physical card.
-
Warranty Registration App - Warranty and product registration apps can come in the form of a digital experience which is the most seamless process for both consumers and manufacturers. A digital product registration experience can be activated via product packaging by consumers. Once the digital form is completed, customers’ information can be sent directly to a manufacturer’s CRM, so the information is stored in one place.
Is Product Registration Necessary for Warranty
The problem with traditional means of warranty and product registration is that customers don’t see the value in submitting their warranty registration, nor do they remember to send the warranty card in the mail.
Is it necessary to send in warranty cards? No, not when using a digital experience platform (DXP) like Lumavate. How do I register my product using a digital experience? With a digital form, the registration takes seconds to complete and can be done on a customer’s smart device.
Product Registration Template
If you’re looking for a way to get started quickly with a product registration card template, Lumavate has an even better solution - our Product Registration Template. This digital experience can be created in under 30 minutes and used on any iPhone or Android device.
How do I register my product using Lumavate’s digital Product Registration Template? First, customers will unbox their new product. Once unboxed, brands can choose to include a QR code, text, NFC tag, or URL for customers to activate on their phones in order to access the product registration digital experience. Once completed, the customer submits the form and the information goes directly into the brand’s system of record. Lumavate integrates to several CRMs, including Salesforce which can help reduce the number of Salesforce licenses needed to be purchased.
This type of experience will set your company apart, because these activations can be product specific. That means when customers activate your product registration experience, it’s smart enough to prepopulate the model type and other information negating the need for customers to hunt down serial or model numbers.
Warranty Registration Template
Lumavate also has a warranty registration template available for marketers in manufacturing to help them capture zero-party data and collect valuable customer insights.
When using Lumavate’s Warranty Registration Template, you can easily include a digital copy of your warranty so customers can easily reference it. The Warranty Registration form prompts customers to provide their information, including:
-
Name
-
Address
-
City
-
State
-
Zip Code
-
Phone Number
-
Email
-
Date of Purchase
-
Purchase Location
-
Serial Number
Similar to the Product Registration Template, brands can have a form that’s connected to Salesforce so the customer data flows seamlessly into your system of record.
Tour Templates
Want to see how easy it is to use Templates with Lumavate? Check out this on-demand tour.
What Is the Point of Registering a Product?
One of the main blockers to customers completing their warranty registrations is the lack of perceived value. When consumers Google “Should I register my TV,’ it’s apparent the warranty benefits aren’t obvious.
Customer Benefits
Let’s walk through some of the benefits of product registration from the consumer’s perspective:
-
Ability to receive communications from the manufacturer including recalls, safety notices, etc.
-
Ability to view product onboarding information such as how-to videos, owner’s manuals, etc.
-
Ability to easily contact customer support since they already have a customer’s contact information and product information resulting in reduced call times.
-
Ability to receive special promotional offers from the manufacturer via mobile and email opt-ins.
Manufacturer Benefits
Now let’s walk through some of the benefits from the manufacturer’s perspective:
-
Creates a direct relationship between manufacturer and consumer, which is extremely important if the product is primarily purchased through channel partners such as retail, dealers, distributors, etc.
-
Ability to communicate with consumers about safety recalls, product notices, etc.
-
Channel for driving marketing opt-ins for promotions.
-
Access to demographic information about your consumers.
-
Decreased call support times since customer contact information and product information is already available.
-
Increased customer satisfaction during the initial onboarding experience by providing helpful content, videos, manuals, etc.
If you sell your products to a major retailer, you’re likely missing out on the valuable customer data these retailers possess. You’re missing out on who is purchasing your products, shopper behavior, and other valuable customer insights your marketing teams can use to personalize your marketing messages even further. In short - you’re missing out on zero-party data.
Changes to Google and Third-party Cookies
You may be aware of the headlines saying changes to Google and cookies will occur later this year. Confused about what this means? Let’s do a mini deep dive into this huge change affecting marketers sooner rather than later.
What Is Third-party Data?
Third-party cookies are data points brands purchase and rely on in order to market to their customers. The issue with third-party data? Your brand can’t fully rely on the data. They aren’t collected by you and may be missing key information that tells the whole story.
There has been some debate if third-party cookies will continue to get pushed back by Google, as many brands are ill-prepared for the switch. Think this is good news and your brand can continue using third-party cookies? Think again.
Even if changes to third-party cookies get pushed back again, brands need to stop relying on third-party cookies as their source of customer data and move to zero-party data.
What Is Zero-party Data?
Zero-party data is information customers willingly give a brand. When brands use third-party cookies, that data has not been given to the brand using it by customers. Data privacy is a rising concern among consumers, as such the brands that choose to be transparent with how they collect customers' data and do so in an ethical manner will beat their competition.
Plus, zero-party data will drastically improve your marketing efforts. When you know your customers, you can create highly personalized messaging for each customer profile.
For instance, if you sell lawn equipment and see that males age 34-45 tend to have a higher average cart value in the early spring months, you have just identified a key consumer profile and seasonal marketing campaign.
Personalization isn’t including a customer’s name in an email. Personalization done right addresses a customer’s needs and expectecation at the moment they want to hear from your brand. Brands that personalize their messaging to fit their customer's needs win over new and existing customers and drive brand loyalty for life.
Ways to Collect Zero-Party Data
In addition to collecting product and warranty registrations, here are some ways your brand can collect zero-party data:
-
Email and Mobile Messaging Opt-ins: Whether it be product launch announcements, webinar information, or even alerts to safety recalls, messaging with your customers via text or email is a great way to interact with your customers. Using Lumavate’s Email or Mobile Messaging Opt-in Templates, you can quickly create a form that customers can complete in order to opt-in to your brand’s messaging. Text OPTINRENEW to 586828* to see how our Email Opt-in Template can capture opt-ins for your business or text SPARTANMOBILE to 586828* to see how our Mobile Opt-in Template can help you capture mobile opt-ins for your business.
-
Surveys: Using surveys, your brand can quickly gather important customer insights and data that can help you improve your marketing efforts. For example, you can easily create and launch a Net Promoter Score (NPS) digital experience using Lumavate and gauge how your customers feel about your brand. Text NPS to 586828* to see an example of how our NPS Customer Survey Template can help your brand seamlessly capture customer feedback.
-
Event Registration: If you’re hosting an in-person event or even a webinar, you can create a digital event registration form that easily collects information from your attendees. You take this one step further if your brand uses text messaging to communicate to customers by texting them updates about the event or information about future events. And depending if there is a certain topic related to the event, you can send these individuals personalized content after the event. Text EVENTREGISTER to 586828* to see an example of how our Event Registration Template can help increase registrations for your next event.
Interested in learning more about ways your brand can collect zero-party data? Check out our list of Templates designed to help you collect valuable customer data.
Why Does it Matter if Product Registration is Digital?
We do everything on our phones. According to data.ai, consumers now spend up to five hours a day on their phones. We shop, play games, watch TV, read, and more on our phones. Why wouldn’t we want a digital product registration that we can complete in a matter of seconds on our phones?
Adding a digital element to a product is crucial for brands for this very reason.
A digital element is any landing page, microsite, app, portal, etc. that can be activated on a customer’s smartphone via a URL, text code, near-field communication (NFC) tag, or QR code.
Marketers can create a digital element, otherwise referred to as a digital experience, using software called a digital experience platform. Instead of outsourcing these projects to an agency or an internal development team, marketers can use these no-code solutions to quickly spin up a digital experience for their products throughout the customer journey.
How a Lawn Mower Manufacturer Can Add Digital Elements to Products
Let’s walk through how brands can create an engaging digital experience for customers from the minute they begin shopping for a product to the moment they begin to use their product for the first time.
-
Product Launch- Your brand has just launched a new riding lawn mower. Now you need customers to purchase your new product. By having a digital product launch experience customers can activate through interactive signage via a QR code, they can learn more about this product without needing to ask a sales associate for information. They can also see specific product specifications, an overview of installation instructions, and more that helps direct them to your brand’s product.
-
Product Onboarding - Your customer has just taken home their new lawn mower. The only obstacle in their way? They need help getting started using it. A digital product onboarding experience can include step-by-step instructions on how to get started with their new piece of equipment. The digital experience can also include other helpful content like mowing best practices, FAQs, warranty information, and more.
-
Product Registration - Customers can complete a digital product registration form that can easily be integrated into a CRM like Salesforce, so this customer data is in one place. In your digital form, you can include a mobile opt-in where customers can sign up for text messages or emails so you can further communicate to your customer in the future about upcoming promotions, changes to their warranty, safety recalls, and more.
-
Product Information - Customers inevitably have issues with their product that they need to call customer support for or look up tutorials on how to fix it. With a digital product information experience, the lawn mower brand in our example can include brand-approved tutorial videos that demonstrate how to properly fix the lawn mower. Plus, with a digital product information experience, you can reduce the support calls and costs for your business.
You might be thinking to yourself that this is a lot of information and content to keep up with. Luckily there are several tools to help your brand store all of the necessary product data and content in order to quickly create engaging digital experiences.
Product Information Management
Product Information Management (PIM) software is a tool businesses can use to centralize their product data and related digital assets. PIMs offer teams the ability to be more efficient and streamline their efforts in creating digital experiences connected to their products.
If brands do not have a PIM solution in place, they are most likely using spreadsheets to store this information which is problematic for several reasons. One, it causes gaps in data since the data is likely managed in several spreadsheets. Also, it can lead to inefficiencies if teams need to quickly look up product data for a marketing resource for example, it can be difficult to know where this information is stored - especially if this data is stored on a local hard drive of someone’s computer.
Finally, if a brand is using spreadsheets to store its data and creating PDFs for its resources (like a product catalog) this information is likely outdated the second it’s created and does not lead to an engaging customer experience.
Take a look at this video to learn more about Lumavate’s PIM solution.
Things You Can Store in a PIM Solution
-
Name
-
Product Description
-
Price
-
Product Manual
-
Type of Refrigerator
-
Product Images
-
Related Products
-
SKU (stock keeping unit)
-
Product Ratings
-
Intended Uses
-
Owner’s Guides
-
Product Classifications
How PIM Solutions and DXPs Work Together
DXPs and PIM solutions work great together for many reasons. Lumavate is a DXP platform that has a PIM solution within its suite of functionality.
Manufacturers can enter all of their product data into a PIM solution so there’s one location where business teams can go to find, edit, and store this data. Then, marketing teams can create digital experiences that pull in the product information stored in a PIM that makes creating resources such as digital product guides, product onboarding digital experiences, or even a product launch campaign possible in 30 minutes or less.
Using Lumavate as your DXP and PIM solution is incredibly cost-effective and can save your business time and money by centralizing your product data and assets into one place. Plus, creating digital experiences with Lumavate is more cost-effective than hiring a third-party agency to create one for your brand.
Create Product Registration Digital Experiences with Lumavate
With Lumavate, you can create a digital product registration experience from scratch or use a Template to help accelerate your efforts.
Want to learn more about Lumavate’s PIM? Schedule a demo with one of our product experts to see how we can get you easily started on our PIM solution. Or see our PIM in action with our interactive tour.
*Msg & data rates may apply. May receive up to 2 msgs. Reply HELP to 586828 for help and STOP to cancel. Terms and privacy available here.
