••• technology research
Not much to talk about
Ownership, intent to buy remain low for digital home assistants
Though they are breaking new ground in many ways, digital home assistants (DHAs) such as Amazon Echo and Google Home are also leveraging consumers’ proven comfort with using speech to operate digital devices. New research from GfK shows that 76 percent of U.S. consumers (ages 13 to 64) have used voice commands on any device. Within this group, 69 percent say they have used speech to operate a smartphone. Tablets (21 percent), car radios and navigation (20 percent), PCs (18 percent), and TV sets (14 percent) registered much lower levels.
Less than two years after introduction, DHAs have yet to make more than a small dent in the U.S. market, with just 11 percent of consumers saying they own either an Amazon Echo/Dot (10 percent) or Google Home (2 percent). And, among non-owners, intent to buy a DHA is low (just 3 percent are “very likely” to purchase one in the next year).
The findings come from GfK’s Commanding Media report, one of an annual series of reports known as The Home Technology Monitor. The report shows that almost half (46 percent) of those who own DHAs say they use the devices at least regularly and two in 10 (19 percent) turn to them “all the time.” Playing music is by far the most common application for the assistants, cited by two-thirds (63 percent) of DHA owners.
Top 10 Ways People are Using Digital Home Assistants
- Play streamed or downloaded music
- Ask a question
- Get news/weather/traffic
- Get sports news
- Control lights/thermostat/fans
- Check/revise calendar/to do lists
- Play videos
- Search for/play podcasts
- Read/compose emails/texts
- Order products from Amazon or elsewhere
“The use of voice opens up new relationships between consumers, device makers, voice service providers, and advertisers that will need to be carefully navigated,” says David Tice, SVP Consulting at GfK. “With these devices integrated so closely into their lives, consumers will be especially sensitive to false steps – whether it be violating the privacy of conversations, prioritizing search results based on payments, promotion of certain shopping services above others or enabling intrusive advertising.”
••• health care research
Trouble on tap
Water worries top-of-mind for Americans
Access to clean drinking water and the nation’s water infrastructure are major concerns for Americans across the country, according to Perspectives on America’s Water, a new study. A total of 6,699 American adults shared their views on water-related topics in this online study conducted on behalf of Nestlé Waters North America by research firm PSB in May.
Water is viewed as the most important natural resource in Americans’ daily lives, more so even than clean air (87 percent compared to 81 percent). Yet 61 percent of American consumers and 66 percent of experts characterized water problems as a crisis or major issue for the United States.
The study found that two in three Americans (66 percent) believe their own community’s clean drinking water is at risk, while 59 percent say a major overhaul of U.S. water infrastructure is needed to avoid that possibility. City-dwellers are especially likely to fear their community’s clean drinking water is at risk (70 percent versus 63 percent in rural areas). There is almost universal agreement (96 percent) that if the United States does not proactively invest in the country’s water infrastructure system now, it will end up costing more in the long run.
Many American consumers and experts question whether the tap water in their home (36 percent and 30 percent, respectively) and schools (40 percent for both) is clean and safe. Parents with school-aged children under the age of 18 are more likely to worry; 45 percent of this group question the safety of the tap water in their schools. Government officials polled worry the least, with only 16 percent who say they question the safety of water in their homes.
There is also concern among Americans that water supply issues will become more pressing within the next decade. Forty-two percent of Americans surveyed believe water will become less available in the next 10 years and two-thirds (66 percent) believe water crises will have widespread consequences for individuals, businesses and the United States overall.
Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of respondents say climate change has had a great deal or somewhat of an impact on access to clean drinking water by reducing the overall amount (41 percent) and quality (38 percent) of water available. About half (51 percent) say the impact of climate change on access to clean drinking water will increase over the next 10 years, but improving infrastructure (59 percent) or developing innovations for purifying water (58 percent) could help mitigate this impact. Experts are especially likely to say climate change is impacting clean drinking water (76 percent) and are more likely than American consumers overall to say this impact will increase over the next 10 years (58 percent).
Americans surveyed support investment in infrastructure to address both the causes and effects of water-related issues. In terms of specific infrastructure improvements, Americans believe it is necessary to prioritize early detection systems that identify contamination in the water supply (64 percent), more efficient water collection and purification methods (52 percent) and infrastructure to increase water access, quality and capacity (48 percent).
To accomplish this, Americans expect cross-sector collaboration from government at all levels, as well as businesses and environmental organizations. American consumers expect local (71 percent), state (71 percent) and federal governments (65 percent) to play a role in ensuring people have access to clean drinking water, as well as consumers (39 percent) and businesses (35 percent). Experts are especially likely to see opportunity for consumers (45 percent) and businesses to be involved (40 percent).
PSB, on behalf of Nestlé Waters North America, conducted an online survey among 6,699 American adults in May 2017. The audiences included general population Americans (mapped to the U.S. Census on key demographics); an oversample of general population respondents in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia; opinion elites, health/environmentally-conscious consumers; government officials, academics, NGO employees, utility company business decision-makers and engineers.
••• higher-education
Why do students choose the major they do?
Study examines effects of showing future salaries
There are few questions as loaded as, “What are you majoring in?” Countless parents, even a president, have derided some major choices, most often for not being practical (translation: for leading to careers that don’t pay much). As any parent of teenagers knows, such derision can backfire – leading a student straight into an impractical major. But it begs the question: Why do students choose the majors they do?
“It may seem evident that students choose a major based on a range of factors, including but not limited to earning potential,” says Arizona State University Associate Professor of Economics Matthew Wiswall. “But the question is somewhat understudied.”
How much does earning potential matter to a student’s choice of major? What if the student is misinformed about actual earning potential – could accurate information change the student’s mind? Those are questions that Wiswall and his coauthor, Basit Zafar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, answered in their paper, “Determinants of college major choice: identification using an information experiment,” published in the Review of Economic Studies.
To answer their questions, Wiswall and Zafar set up an information experiment – a novel approach that would not just rely on observation to determine students’ preference but ask the students. The researchers recruited a group of first-year undergraduate students, sophomores and juniors from New York University. The students were sent a survey with questions about their perceptions of earnings and ability relative to five major categories: business and economics, engineering and computer science, humanities and other social sciences, natural sciences and math, and never graduate/drop out.
First, the survey asked students how much they think a 30-year-old working full-time with a bachelor’s degree in each of the five majors earns. “We have real data on earnings by major but students could be misinformed if they haven’t seen the data themselves,” Wiswall says. In many cases, students overestimated earnings, often by a lot. For example, students overestimated full-time earnings for female graduates in economics and business by 31.1 percent and male graduates in the same majors by 16.6 percent.
Next, the survey asked students how much they think they would earn working full-time at age 30 if they graduated with a bachelor’s degree in each of the five majors. A student’s answer to that question might be different than the first, Wiswall says, if the student sees herself as particularly exceptional (and likely to earn more than average) or not so great (and liable to make less). Given the high-ability sample of students taking the survey, it was not surprising that students predicted their future earnings would be higher than average.
Students’ perceptions of their earning potential followed the same pattern as their thinking about how much people today earn in those different fields. “Students believe their earnings will be highest if they complete a major in the economics/business and engineering/computer science categories and lowest if they do not graduate or graduate in a humanities and arts field,” Wiswall says.
After recording their answers to the two baseline questions, students saw actual earnings data by specialization. Then they were asked again about their outlook for their earning potential. The researchers’ goal: to see if accurate earnings data would change students’ outlook about their earning potential in a given major. It did. Students revised their forecast for future earnings with economics or business degrees downward by 12.12 percent on average, and upward by 33.42 percent on average for no degree.
Not only did correcting students’ misinformation about earnings by specialization change their beliefs about their own earning potential but it also changed many students’ minds about which major to choose. Two-thirds reported some likelihood that they would graduate with a different major than the one they identified at the beginning of the experiment. Some who had identified humanities/arts as a possible major at the outset switched to a higher-paying major. A substantial number said they were more likely than before to major in humanities or arts.
The study also reveals the extent to which earnings expectations and ability perceptions influence students’ choice of major. It makes clear that while earnings expectations and ability perceptions both play a significant role in the selection of a major, they are not the only factors that matter – or even the most important factors. “Even with our rich data on beliefs across a variety of [monetary] and [non-monetary] aspects of majors, major choices in our results are still primarily the result of taste,” Wiswall says.
Taste encompasses all the other factors that influence a students’ decision. It explains why even when students have accurate earnings information, some still choose lower-paying majors over higher-paying majors. These influential taste factors might include parents’ majors or other family influences, experiential influences before college, a student’s competitiveness or appetite for risk or plans for life beyond career.
The understanding that earnings perception influences students’ major choices, and that students do benefit from the accurate information, has important practical implications. For one, it suggests that school administrators and others could provide that accurate earnings information for students to help them make better-informed choices. “College major is a big decision, and an important one,” Wiswall says, “especially given the rising cost of higher education. In that environment, it’s hard to argue that providing misinformed people with accurate information isn’t a good thing.”
••• customer experience
Drowning in data, thirsty for insights
IT pros cite better data use as priority
While 88 percent of IT leaders believe their organization truly understands its customers, only 61 percent of consumers feel companies understand their needs, according to a study conducted by Talend, a Redwood City, Calif., software firm.
The study, which was conducted by Researchscape, reveals that despite a wealth of data available about customer behavior and purchasing choices, companies have a long way to go in terms of effectively using this data to better meet consumer expectations.
Sixty-three percent of IT respondents indicated that using data to better understand customers is a top business priority for 2017, with 80 percent of companies ranking it at an eight or above on a 10-point scale. Due to the strategic nature of customer-360 initiatives, many are being led by C-level executives: CEOs or COOs hold this responsibility at nearly half of participating companies (42 percent combined), followed by CIOs and CTOs (39 percent combined). Today’s IT organizations also recognize the importance of putting customer data in the hands of more employees, with 80 percent of surveyed companies indicating they’re making customer data accessible across multiple business units.
“Our survey shows most consumers are data driven, with 57 percent reporting they rely on data to inform buying decisions,” says Ashley Stirrup, chief marketing officer, Talend. “While the majority of companies recognize the importance of data in driving company strategy, many are just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding the dramatic impact customer-360 initiatives can have on increasing their share-of-wallet and inspiring lasting customer loyalty.”
Approximately 80 percent of IT respondents indicated their budgets have grown over the past five years. Under increasing pressure to improve the customer experience, many have invested that budget in a range of customer relationship management tools, including: live chat (66 percent); data visualization (60 percent); speech recognition (52 percent) and retargeting tools (58 percent).
Despite the seemingly heavy investment by IT in customer support tools, many businesses still do not systematically track basic customer feedback. Fifty percent or less of the surveyed companies are deploying elementary barometers of customer satisfaction, such as: online reviews (used by only 36 percent of respondents); social media sentiment (utilized by only 43 percent); and past purchase or communication preferences (employed by only 50 percent combined).
The consumer survey showed that online reviews have become the new word-of-mouth for many, with 40 percent indicating these forums have the greatest impact on large purchases – almost twice the weight of friend and family recommendations. Additionally, 57 percent of respondents listed “having a negative review unaddressed while continuing to receive offers for similar products” as the top reason they would break up with a brand. Other reasons cited by consumers for breaking up with a company include: if the company falls victim to a data breach (53 percent) and not providing live/real-time customer service support (42 percent).
Overall, the survey suggests there is still room for organizations to use data more effectively to better understand and address customer needs. The rewards for improvement may be compelling – industry research suggests businesses are losing $62 billion per year through poor customer service. As big data and cloud tools improve, customer acquisition and retention may become increasingly competitive. Companies can seize today’s window of opportunity by optimizing customer management tools and data to keep pace with constantly evolving consumer needs, deliver top notch engagements and maintain a competitive edge.