Marketing research and insights news and information. This issue's keywords: product reviews; employment; social media; sustainable products and services; private and national food brands;
U.S. female Internet users said product reviews were the most credible source for information about products shows Research by New York engagement network SheSpeaks. Forty-three percent of women said they preferred reviews by people they follow on social media or people who were "like" them and 38 percent said they trusted any product reviews on shopping sites. However, only 7 percent of women said they trusted online product reviews conducted by journalists or analysts. The research also shows positive reviews had the potential to get respondents to spend more on their purchases, with 28 percent saying they would spend up to 10 percent more on a product that received a good review, 20 percent said they would spend 11 to 20 percent more and 9 percent would spend 21 to 30 percent more. Nine in 10 women sought out product information on Amazon, 55 percent through brands' sites and 52 percent from product review sites. Lastly, 77 percent of women were most likely to search for product reviews online for electronics, 72 percent for appliances and 63 percent for cosmetics.
Better family and lifestyle benefits like family-care assistance, a flexible work schedule and paid parental leave directly impact an employee's decision to take a job offer, according to a new study by Waltham, Mass., online care services provider Care.com. Sixty-two percent of employees say they would likely leave their job for one with better family and lifestyle benefits, with 83 percent of Millennials saying they are willing to do so. Additionally, 41 percent of working parents say a lack of family assistance benefits has negatively impacted their work performance. Ninety percent of employees say they have left work because of family responsibilities, with 39 percent saying they do so frequently, 47 percent doing so occasionally/often and 30 percent say they have cut back more than six hours per week for this reason. Thirty percent of respondents say they are "very satisfied" with their family and lifestyle benefits and about 9 percent say they aren't satisfied at all.
Many brands have yet to figure out the best way to share content on social media channels according to new research by U.K.-based content marketing firm Headstream Research shows. Twenty-nine percent of U.K. adults said their frustration with brands comes from too many updates, with 27 percent citing social updates that were irrelevant and not personalized to them as their main frustration. Additionally, 28 percent said they were unhappy when a brands' social media updates heavily focused on a product and came across as "too sales-y" and 20 percent were annoyed by content that they considered "too trivial," such as competitions.
More American consumers are buying products and services that have a less degrading impact on the environment and human health, according to a Harris Poll survey conducted for Philadelphia paper-products company SCA. The survey shows that 78 percent of American consumers say they purchase sustainable products and services, compared to 75 percent in 2014. The number of consumers who do not make green purchases has decreased to 22 percent this year from 25 percent in 2014. Millennials in the 18-to-34 age range (24 percent) are more likely than Americans ages 45 and up (13 percent) to indicate that more of their purchases are green. Nearly half (49 percent) of American consumers who buy green products and services do so because it is better for the environment. Twenty-five percent of Millennials are motivated by health benefits to purchase these products. Forty-six percent of U.S. adults are willing to pay more for products if they are guaranteed to have been manufactured with ethical and responsible practices, with 30 percent saying they would pay up to 10 percent more for these products and services than they do today.
Though 95 percent of consumers buy private-label brands, only 12 percent of those surveyed said they wholeheartedly trust the safety of the private and national food brands they consume and only 10 percent wholeheartedly trust the quality. The research, involving 3,000 shoppers across nine countries, was conducted by Trace One, a Boston-based SaaS firm serving the food industry. Twenty-seven percent of consumers do not trust the information on food product labels. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they chose private-label brands because of lower prices and 22 percent said they buy them because of the product's quality. Ninety-one percent of consumers said it's important to them to know where their food comes from but 62 percent said they're not provided with enough information about what's in their food and its origins. Eighty-four percent of respondents believe food retailers and manufacturers are responsible for private-brand food quality and safety and 36 percent believe they don't act quickly enough to provide timely information during health scares.
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!