Marketing research and insights news and information. This issue's keywords: privacy; personalized promotions; retail apps; customer experience; social networksÂ
Consumers appreciate how much technology has approved their lives, but they are still concerned about privacy shows a survey from Experian, Costa Mesa, Calif. Eighty-three percent of survey respondents agree that technology has enhanced their daily life in areas such as connecting with the people they care about (51 percent) and gaining access to knowledge or education (50 percent). Thirty percent of those surveyed say technology helps their financial status and 33 percent say it allows them to be more engaged with the products they use. Eighty percent say they would be even more connected, if possible, than they are today. However, only 36 percent of survey respondents review privacy policies when notified of changes by institutions they do business with and 28 percent review privacy policies of mobile apps before downloading them. Ninety-three percent feel identity theft is a growing problem, while 91 percent believe that people should be more concerned about the issue. Online activities that generate the most concern include making an online purchase (73 percent), using public Wi-Fi (69 percent) and accessing online accounts (69 percent).
A global cross-industry study by India-based technology services firm Mindtree shows that consumers say personalized promotions encourage them to buy products and services they have purchased before (78 percent), as well as relevant products and services they have never purchased (74 percent). However, only 28 percent of the decision makers from companies surveyed globally say their organizations are investing significantly in personalization to improve the online purchasing experience, even though it has improved their online sales over the past 12 months for the majority (58 percent). Additionally, consumers expect their use of mobile apps for shopping to more than double in the next three years. While 6 percent of consumers said their preferred channel for making retail purchases as of 2015 was mobile apps, 15 percent said they expected mobile apps to be their preferred channel by 2018.
In the U.K., more than seven in 10 U.K. smartphone users see room for improvement when it comes to retail apps found a study by mobile app developer Apadmi. Specifically, 56 percent of respondents said improvements could be made in functionality, while 34 percent said apps could provide more offers or loyalty schemes and 21 percent said current apps are too slow. The biggest complaint among respondents was responsiveness, with 61 percent saying they would delete an app that was slow and unresponsive. Issues with an app would lead to 27 percent abandoning it altogether rather than try again and 26 percent said a poorly designed app would reflect badly on the retailer and send them to a competitor. Additionally, over half of respondents (53 percent) said they mostly use apps to browse products but 27 percent said they want retail apps to offer more than just display products, and 43 percent believe payment methods could be improved.
A recent survey from Ipsos Loyalty, New York, covered seven sectors and assessed more than 10,000 "critical incidents," which are defined as moments of truth in the customer experience that can make or break a relationship. Overall, the study found that 52 percent of consumers who had a bad experience with a brand told their friends, family or colleagues about it. But more consumers (56 percent) indicate they have shared a good experience with others. The study also found that consumers who had both bad and good experiences shared their views on a social media platform: 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Sixty-six percent of respondents said that personal experience has a lot of influence on how they make decisions about which brands to do business with. Following a negative experience, 24 percent used the brand less or stopped using it, while 17 percent started using the brand more after a good experience.
More than half of the U.S. population will use Facebook this year, according to eMarketer's latest social network usage forecast. In 2016, 50.3 percent of Americans of all ages will be on Facebook at least once a month, up from 49.3 percent in 2015. EMarketer also forecasts that Facebook will remain the dominant social network by a wide margin through at least 2020. This year, 162.9 million U.S. Internet users will log on to the site at least once a month. Facebook-owned Instagram, the second-most-used social network, will have 89.4 million U.S. users this year, or 27.6 percent of the population. Twitter will have 56.8 million users this year, representing 17.5 percent of the U.S. population. Additionally, more than half of U.S. mobile phone users will be Facebook users. In 2016, 52.9 percent of mobile phone users will log on to Facebook at least once a month from their mobile phone.
These reports were compiled from recent issues of the Daily News Queue, a free e-newsletter digest of marketing research and insights news and information delivered each business morning. Not already in the Queue? Sign up here!