Consumer response to brand action

A recent study by AMC Global and OpinionRoute polled 300 U.S. adults to find out how consumers are responding to brand action during the coronavirus pandemic. Amazon, Walmart, CVS and Target were received more positively by 40% or more of respondents, while CPG brands such as Lysol and Clorox came in at 55% and 52%, respectively. Automotive companies, too, experienced increases in positive perception, with Ford leading at a 29%, followed by Tesla (28%) and GM (27%).

Consumers want to hear about what companies are doing to ensure employee welfare and bolster community initiatives. Respondents reported that they would want to hear communications on a company’s treatment of employees (68%), support for local communities (63%), adjustments to production lines to alleviate medical supply shortage (57%), donations of goods/services (56%) and assistance given to the medical community (55%). 

The research was conducted March 27-29, 2020. Read more.

B2B tech spending

TrustRadius polled 1,688 software buyers and users to learn users how they expect the current COVID-19 crisis to impact their organizations’ software spending in the short and long term. Forty percent of respondents expect that their organizations will ultimately spend more, while 18% said that they would spend less. Another 26% said they don’t expect any change in spending. At the time of the study, the majority (75%) of respondents had transitioned to remote work in response to the crisis, which 53% of respondents say their organizations were already prepared to do. Given the number of organizations that support a flexible work environment, future spending among organizations expected to spend more falls within predictable categories, with 30% of spenders saying they needed to purchase video and web conferencing software; 23% looking for necessary software to take their workforce remote; and 15% searching for remote security software. Of those that said their organizations would spend less, 70% said that they expected their companies would eventually repurchase canceled products and return to prior spending levels in the long-term. For now, these respondents expect their organizations to cut back spending on anything that isn’t strictly necessary. 

The research was conducted March 18-19, 2020. Read more.

Social media behavior

Socialbakers analyzed data across 18 industries and five regions worldwide to observe recent trends in cost per click, ad spend and more. CMP has decreased across all industries in the survey, with the most recent figure ($0.810 USD) being less than half of the previous seven-month high in late November 2019 ($1.883 USD). Regionally, the CPM in East Asia has bounced back to about where it was seven months ago. However, other regions still in the midst of the pandemic have steadily declined in the new year. As North America begins to feel the impact of COVID-19, the CPM is dropping in the same way it did earlier in Asia. 

Ad spend in Asia has picked up once again and has surpassed where it was seven months ago; however, in North America this number is still declining. 

The research was conducted September 2, 2019 through March 22, 2020. Read more.

U.K. coronavirus concern

Savanta’s tracker study, which follows 1,000 U.K. respondents every day, reveals levels of concern about coronavirus in the U.K. as well as the virus’s impact. Worry still remains high, with 55% of respondents saying that they feel very worried or worse about COVID-19, a 14-point increase between March 18 and April 2. Two in five (42%) people say that their disposable income has decreased as a result of the pandemic.

While 45% of people say that they are currently self-isolating, this number has decreased slightly from 51%. About half (51%) report that they are now working from home when they would not ordinarily do so. This number has risen by 21 points since the beginning of the study on March 18, and only 22% say that they have to attend their regular place of employment. 

Less than half (45%) of respondents report leaving the house on April 1, and of those who did leave the house 24% went to the supermarket, 16% visited a non-grocery shop and 7% visited friends or family at home or not. Most (71%) of respondents say they are not buying more than usual at the grocery store, while 29% report that they are stocking up. Of those who shopped for groceries, 80% reported seeing empty shelves. 

The research was conducted from March 18 to April 3. Read more.

Normality in Australia

Forethought has released its Australian Normality Index to observe how Australians are responding to the challenges presented by COVID-19. According to the index, Australians’ perceptions of normality are 64% lower than the same time last year. Disruption of daily life by loss of freedom to move about in public and make plans contributes to this change. Australians say that things will begin to feel normal again when they feel comfortable to be out in public (25%), have the ability to make future plans (22%), feel confident in the economy (18%), are able to access health care as usual (13%), have the ability to fly domestically and internationally (12%) and are able to buy groceries as needed (10%). 

In response to the pandemic, more Australians are reviewing their finances and seeking professional help than usual, with 9.4% and 2.3% increases, respectively. Fifty-two percent of respondents say they are highly likely to visit a grocery store in the next week, a 32-perecentage-point reduction. 

The research was conducted March 26-29, 2020. Read more.