Iceland Foods: Treating you to CRM Best Practices?

It’s that time of the week again: PostFunnel’s seven commandments of CRM analysis. 

This week – we’re rating the leading frozen food specialist based in the U.K., Iceland Foods.

Looking into the results of analyzing many brands‘ basic CRM tactics, there simply was not enough personalization.

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Do you think Iceland Foods will show other brands how it’s done? Read on to find out and compare the frozen food retailer to the rest of the brands we analyzed to date.

1. Be Transparent 6/10

Of course, you expect any company to recall products after discovering they contained traces of salmonella. And Iceland did that. Still, even though it is expected – it is not taken for granted.

But, what was a nicer way of keeping honest, when we added kids’ cereal to our basket on Iceland’s website. We received “A note about our product information” that reads:

“We have done everything we can to ensure that the information we provide about all the products listed on this website is accurate and up-to-date. However, food products, in particular, are constantly being improved so their ingredients and the other information we publish here, including details of their nutritional content and allergy advice, is liable to change. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you always read the actual product label carefully before using or consuming any product. Please do not rely solely on the information provided on this website.”

Besides that, we did not stumble upon any special efforts by the brand to put the company’s matters and motives out in the open in ways that can benefit customers.

Further proving the transparent values of the brand.

2. Incentives and Perks 8/10

To mark its 50th birthday, Iceland cut some prices by 50%. Customers can shop big brands directly from their website for half the price – an excellent incentive.

In addition, the brand has a regular £1 value deal page, that offers hundreds of products for this low price.

We couldn’t find any welcome packages, newsletter registration offers, or other first-time purchasing incentives that other brands do offer. That cost them a couple of points here.

3. Be Relevant 7/10

Iceland has created a webpage dedicated to coronavirus help.

The page that offers coronavirus FAQs, info on shopping online, and more reads, “We know that this is a worrying time, so if you’re struggling, the following resources may be able to help you further.” Nicely done.

The page also encourages customers to take a moment and look at the following worthy causes: local councils, local community support, local charities, and more.

The company does have a booking delivery page.

We have missed information on the safety precautions/ extra measures they may be taking when delivering products that other brands we have rated do detail on such pages.

They lost more points here because we couldn’t find any unique offerings that make life with-pandemic easier.

4. Be Helpful 8/10

A recent Retail Times article states that Iceland is among those calling for transparency of plastic packaging consumption – to eliminate extra plastic packaging.

In total, Iceland has removed 3,794 tonnes out of the 13,000 tonnes it was using in January 2018 by the end of 2019. This is an impressive 29% reduction.

“Iceland is calling on retailers and other businesses to step up and commit to publishing their total plastic packaging transparently, including both own label and branded products. For several years now, businesses have been using incomplete information to represent the scale of their plastic packaging, their commitments to change, and the progress being made. We will all be better served by a more accurate and transparent picture on this issue,” said Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland.

However, on its website, although Iceland Foods do call for its customers to donate by promoting local charities and local support, we couldn’t find any recent causes or charities it has been supporting or donating to itself.

5. Realtime Personalization 1/10

Unfortunately, like most of the brands we have rated so far, Iceland is also getting a low score on this commandment.

The brand used no retargeting efforts. Additionally, no upselling or cross-selling techniques were implemented when adding items of any sort to our cart.

Nothing to write home about.

6. Master UX 10/10

Our overall experience with the brand was fantastic. Everything from the layout of the categories on the HP, browsing, and roaming around the site, to finding what we’re looking for – was as good as we’ve seen.

It was all fun, and we can even say (though frozen) the products look tempting, tasty, and fresh (through the use of fantastic imagery.)

We liked the following feature Iceland offers when adding items to our cart. It allows the customer to make sure they can receive the products before researching and adding them to their basket.

The booking delivery page offers customers the ability to pick and choose time slots using a weekly calendar view that’s comfortable, easy to view and book a time with. Sounds basic? Well maybe. But it doesn’t mean it as common as you’d imagine.

Also, the star rating before adding items to our cart was nice to have:

7. Leverage Social Media 10/10

As usual, we analyzed the brand’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter social media accounts. On all three accounts, the brand posts all types of content in high frequency.

On Facebook, the brand mainly posts videos and posts on their products, like this:

However, the brand also posts challenges, deals, events, giveaways as well as supports causes and more.

On Instagram, the brand does use the Instastory feature; unlike others, we have rated. All in all, the page looks good, filled with delicious food that made our mouths water.

We were glad to see them use Twitter’s platform to support child food poverty, for instance.

Overall, Iceland Foods is getting a 50/70 here (71%), placing them right in the middle of the pack. Sorting their personalization should be a top priority for the brand RN – above all. A solid score on that category would see them tailing the chasers.

Here are the full rankings of all the brands we analyzed to date:

1. Pets at Home 91%
2. Lowe’s 90%
3. Petco 90%
4. Target 87%
5. Uniqlo 86%
6. West Elm 81%
7. Best Buy 78%
8. Etsy 76%
9. The Body Shop 74%
10. Gymshark 73%
11. Iceland Foods 71%
12. Tommy Hilfiger 70%
13. Walgreens 70%
14. Kohl’s 70%
15. Fiverr 67%
16. Next 63%
17. Patagonia 61%
18. Burberry 60%
19. COS 57%

We publish a new analysis every week, so watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way!