••• millennials research
With Millennials, trust opens doors
They’ll provide more personal data to net more relevant offerings
Millennials in the U.S. will respond to brands when brands use data specific to the Millennials to create a contextualized and personal customer experience, according to a new study by SDL, a U.K.-based customer experience management firm.
Millennial consumers are increasingly aware of the data that brands are collecting on them but reactions to the data-collecting differ around the world. In a global study by SDL, more than 40 percent of Millennials in the U.S. could identify the digital data brands are using to track their behaviors, setting the expectation that marketing touchpoints should be personalized, contextual and timely – a fair value exchange.
Customer data has become the currency for engagement with Millennial consumers:
• Give more to get more: Over half of the respondents in the U.S. (52 percent) have no issue with brands using data to provide a better customer experience.
• Privacy over purchase: Globally, Millennials had drastically different responses when asked if it’s OK for brands to use customer data to personalize their experiences, with only 37 percent of U.K. Millennials in agreement and an even smaller amount of 13 percent agreement recorded in the Netherlands.
• Transparency translates: 60 percent of U.S. Millennials will provide more personal data to a company they trust. If brands are using tracked information to better the customer experience, consumers will see how the data is being used and ultimately begin to trust the motives of the brand – fostering future engagements and ultimately purchases.
• Time is money: Additionally, 46 percent of Millennials, globally, are willing to provide more data to businesses if it means they aren’t forced to entertain offers that aren’t relevant.
Brands should practice greater transparency in their marketing efforts to customers, specifically to win over the Millennial generation. Showing consumers how the data is being handled and using it to offer them more will lead to brand loyalty, in the U.S., in the long run. “With the ability to understand what consumers in the Millennial generation want from brands, it is up to marketers to ensure they get it,” says Paige O’Neill, CMO at SDL. “Consumers in the U.S. do not want or expect the same as consumers across the globe and personal data that is collected by brands daily clearly states this. Big data, without sifting through to obtain the small portion relevant for customers, has no value when it comes to the customer experience. For success, marketers need to spend time focusing on what matters to the consumers in the region they are selling in and alter their strategies to align.”
The survey findings are featured in SDL’s second report of the Five Truths for Future Marketers series titled Your Data Trumps Big Data. This report examines the need for marketers to analyze customer data above all other data to gain a competitive edge in customer experience management, particularly when marketing to Millennials, and can be downloaded at http://sdl.com/fivetruths-data.
The study sampled more than 1,800 Millennials (ages 18-36) across the globe, with more than 300 respondents in each country including the U.S., U.K., Australia, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. It was conducted between January and April 2014. The first data set sampled more than 300 Millennials in the U.S. only.
http://sdl.com
••• employee research
40-hour workweek? Try 47.
Is it personal gumption or pay-structure function?
Adults employed full time in the U.S. report working an average of 47 hours per week, almost a full workday longer than what a standard five-day, 9-to-5 schedule entails. In fact, half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours, as reported by Lydia Saad of Princeton, N.J.-based Gallup.
The 40-hour workweek is widely regarded as the standard for full-time employment, and many federal employment laws – including the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare – use this threshold to define what a full-time employee is. However, barely four in 10 full-time workers in the U.S. indicate they work precisely this much. The hefty proportion who told Gallup they typically log more than 40 hours each week pushes the average number of hours worked up to 47. Only 8 percent of full-time employees claim to work less than 40 hours.
These findings are based on data from Gallup’s annual Work and Education Survey. The combined sample for 2013 and 2014 includes 1,271 adults, aged 18 and older, who are employed full time.
While for some workers the number of hours worked may be an indicator of personal gumption, for others it may be a function of their pay structure. Hourly workers can be restricted in the amount they work by employers who don’t need or can’t afford to pay overtime. By contrast, salaried workers generally don’t face this issue. And, perhaps as a result, salaried employees work five hours more per week, on average, than full-time hourly workers (49 vs. 44, respectively), according to the 2014 Work and Education survey.
Another factor in lengthening Americans’ workweek is individuals taking on more than one job. According to past Gallup data, 86 percent of full-time workers have just one job, 12 percent have two and 1 percent have three or more. However, even by restricting the analysis to full-time workers who have only one job, the average number of hours worked is 46 – still well over 40.
The amount of hours that all U.S. full-time employees say they typically work each week has held fairly steady over the past 14 years, except for a slight dip to just under 45 hours in Gallup’s 2004-2005 two-year average. Part-time workers have averaged about 20 hours per week less than full-timers, although the precise figure shifts more for part-timers. This is partly due to the lower sample size of this group, resulting in greater volatility in the measure.
Forty-three percent of U.S. adults in the August 2014 survey said they are employed full time, down from about 50 percent in the Work and Education polls conducted each August before the 2007-2009 recession. Meanwhile, the percentage who work part time has consistently hovered near 9 percent.
Shifts in labor force participation can reflect a number of underlying factors in addition to the strength of the economy, including changes in the demographic composition of the population.
The percentage of full-time workers in the U.S. has dwindled since the recession began in 2007 but the number of hours they say they work each week has held steady, at about 47. While four in 10 workers put in a standard 40-hour workweek, many others toil longer than that, including nearly one in five (18 percent) who work a grueling 60 hours or more. That translates into 12-hour days from Monday to Friday – or into shorter weekdays with lots of time spent working on the weekends.
Salaried workers, on average, work even more, with a full 25 percent saying they put in at least 60 hours per week. Thus, while workers earning a salary may enjoy greater income than their counterparts who are paid hourly, they do pay a price in lost personal time.
But this doesn’t necessarily mean that workers logging long hours are suffering. According to Gallup workplace management scientists Jim Harter and Sangeeta Agrawal, certain workplace polices – including the number of hours worked – can affect employee well-being. However, having an engaging job and workplace still trumps these factors in fostering higher overall well-being in workers. Highly engaged workers who log well over 40 hours will still have better overall well-being than actively disengaged workers who clock out at 40 hours. In other words, hours worked matters but it’s not all that matters.
••• health care research
Seniors face barriers in seeking dental care
Monetary, transportation problems get in the way
Research has shown that poor oral health can have a negative impact on seniors’ overall health and well-being, but for many, there are significant barriers to visiting a dentist, according to a new report in the American Journal of Health Behavior.
As reported by the Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health, via Newswise, lead study author Theresa Montini, assistant medical professor at the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at the City College of New York, and her colleagues provided oral dental exams to 184 older adult volunteers. The average age of the study volunteers was 75.
The researchers found that 89 percent of the participants, who frequented eight senior centers in New York City, needed some form of dental treatment, with an average of two cavities per person. Six weeks following their initial dental exams, 52 percent had sought dental treatment but 48 percent had not been able to access dental services. Seniors who had not received follow-up treatment had significantly fewer teeth and were more likely to have been referred for new dentures or to repair old ones.
Three months after their initial dental exam, those who didn’t get subsequent dental care cited three primary barriers – 60 percent noted financial issues, 31 percent said transportation was a problem and 20 percent needed someone to help make the appointment and find a dentist.
The authors note that their findings have several implications for policymakers, such as considering adding dental benefits to Medicare coverage and/or expanding Medicaid dental coverage.
Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Direction, agrees, noting the study clearly identifies unmet needs of older Americans who would benefit from more reliable, accessible and affordable dental care. “The primary barrier to accessing dental care for older adults appears to be a complete lack of attention – a lack of any kind of benefit from the Medicare program,” he says. “Not all seniors are eligible for Medicaid and obviously Medicaid benefits vary, but this wouldn’t be an issue if Medicare provided basic [dental] benefits for the population it serves.”
Salo says that one important barrier that isn’t addressed is having an adequate and responsive dental work-force. “We have found that dentists don’t always make accommodations for the unique challenges of the popula-tions that Medicaid and Medicare serve,” he says. “Not only are there not enough dentists, there aren’t enough dentists willing to work with low-income or challenging populations. Medicaid has struggled for decades to get dentists to participate and the problems go much deeper than payment rates.”
••• education research
Study chronicles the college-funding process
More out-of-pocket, less borrowing
Ninety-eight percent of families agree that college is a worthwhile investment but the way they covered the bill last year changed, according to How America Pays for College 2014, a new national study from Sallie Mae and Ipsos. The annual study, now in its seventh year, found that while the average amount spent on college was consistent with prior years, families spent more out of pocket (42 percent of college costs) while overall borrowing (22 percent of college costs) was at the lowest level in five years. Low-income students, in particular, reduced their reliance on borrowed funds when paying for college last year.
Families used grants and scholarships to cover 31 percent of college costs and contributions from relatives and friends paid another 4 percent. “American families truly believe in the value of higher education” says Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs. “One size, though, does not fit all. Indeed, families are very creative and diverse in their solutions to paying for college. Our persona analysis really shows the wide range of family-specific choices.”
Virtually all families adopted at least one measure to make college more affordable. This year, families reported the highest enrollment in two-year public colleges since the survey began (34 percent, up from 30 percent last year). In addition, students opted to attend in-state institutions (69 percent), cut back on entertainment (66 percent), or live closer to home (61 percent) or at home (54 percent), among other cost-saving measures, to help reduce the cost of college.
Thirty percent of students were the first in their family to attend college. These students were more likely to apply cost-saving measures (76 percent chose a school close to home and 72 percent lived at home), spent less on college overall and received less financial support from their parents.
The study found that fewer than half of respondents – 38 percent – created a plan for paying for all years of college before the student enrolled. In addition, only 40 percent indicated their family had a contingency plan to pay for college in case of unexpected events. Approximately one-third of families reported encountering unexpected expenses last year.
This year’s study also sought to understand more deeply the motivations, values and attitudes of families paying for college. It identified four main personas with distinct orientations towards higher education: American Dreamers, Determineds, Reluctant Borrowers and Procrastinators.
Of the four personas, American Dreamers represented 28 percent of respondents, many of whom were the first in their family to attend college. American Dreamers were driven by the aspirational values associated with a college education and relied heavily on financial aid to make it a reality. Determineds represented another 28 percent of respondents and were most prepared to meet college costs (80 percent had created a plan to pay for college, 85 percent had a contingency plan to pay). Reluctant Borrowers represented 18 percent of respondents and were disinclined to borrow or stretch financially, yet were more likely (73 percent) than others (38 percent) to have a plan to pay for college. Procrastinators represented 26 percent of respondents and were the least pre-pared financially and the most likely to have considered not attending college due to the cost.
For the study, Ipsos interviewed 1,601 individuals – 801 parents of 18-24-year-old undergraduate college students and 801 undergraduates – by telephone in the spring of 2014. The margin of error on percentages using the whole sample is +/-2.5 percentage points with a confidence level of 95 percent. The full study and a related infographic are available at www.salliemae.com/howamericapays.
••• behavioral research
Study examines the lies we tell
Can we trust results from a survey about lying?
Perhaps it’s a lie told to your parents about how you didn’t throw a party the weekend they went away. Or you engaged in a little obfuscation so that successful big brother or sister of yours thinks you’re earning more than you are. Or maybe you just can’t bring yourself to tell your best friend what you really think of his girlfriend. From white lies to whoppers, there are all sorts of, ahem, not entirely true things which inhabit everyday social interactions. But who are Americans most likely to lie to? And what lies are they most likely to tell?
For a Harris Poll of 2,097 adults surveyed online between July 17 and 21, 2014, respondents were asked which, from a list of topics, they had lied about to each of a selection of people. Overall, the highest percentages of Americans have lied about at least one thing to a parent (43 percent) or a significant other (41 percent). The lowest percentage (32 percent) have lied to a sibling or siblings – though a third still confirm doing so – and in between fall Americans’ likelihood to have lied to a doctor (38 percent) or a best friend (36 percent). But what lies are Americans telling to whom?
The same two topics top the lists of lies told to parents, spouses/significant others and siblings – spending/purchases (15 percent, 21 percent and 9 percent, respectively) and sexual experience (14 percent, 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively).
Other top subjects Americans lie to their parents about include alcohol and illegal substance use (12 percent each), physical health (11 percent) and cigarette use (10 percent).
As for lies told to spouses or significant others, other top fibs beyond the one and two spots involve eating habits (12 percent), physical health (10 percent), alcohol use (8 percent) and exercise habits (also 8 percent).
Among siblings, income/salary (7 percent) rounds out the top subjects of deception.
Sexual experience is the top subject Americans lie to their best friends about (12 percent), followed by income/salary (8 percent), political opinions (also 8 percent) and religious beliefs (7 percent).
At the doctor’s office, exercise (15 percent) and eating habits (14 percent) are the most commonly fibbed-about topics, followed by physical health (10 percent).
Men are more likely than women to have lied about, well, most of these things – to most of these people. The sole reversal this trend is in lying to best friends about eating habits. There, women (8 percent, vs. 5 percent of men) are the more likely culprits.
Looking at Americans by age, there’s little difference when it comes to likelihood to have lied to a spouse or significant other. However, 18-34-year-olds are quickest by far to lie to parents (61 percent), best friends (47 percent), doctors (also 47 percent) and siblings (42 percent).
Are there things you share with some of your closest friends and family but not with others within that same circle? You’re not alone. Americans were presented with pairs of figures in their lives and asked whether they agree that there are things they can be honest about with one of them but not the other – your mother but not your father, for example – and vice versa. The biggest “honesty gap” can be found between those who can be honest about some things with their spouse or significant other but not their family (50 percent). Thirty-one percent say there are things they can be honest with their family about but not their spouse or significant other. Women are more likely than men to say there are things they can be honest with their main squeeze about but not their family (54 percent and 47 percent, respectively).
Forty-nine percent of Americans say there are things they can be honest with a sibling about but not with a parent, while 35 percent say the inverse. Four in 10 have things they can be honest about with mom but not dad; 29 percent say the reverse.
Maybe it’s a guy thing – men are more likely to say there are things they can be honest with their father about but not their mother (34 percent men vs. 25 percent women).
It’s a closer call between spouses/significant others and best friends, with 48 percent saying there are things they can be honest about with their honey but not their bestie; 42 percent say the opposite.
From overdoing it while out with friends last night to not wanting to run into a certain someone at a cocktail party, there are plenty of reasons Americans might want to get out of a variety of engagements. Of course, often the truth is not the most diplomatic approach. But what are the numbers? Nearly four in 10 Americans (37 per-cent) say they’ve lied to get out of work, while a third (32 percent) have lied to get out of a social event and roughly a quarter have lied to get out of school (26 percent) or a family gathering (23 percent). Fourteen percent have lied to get out of a date, one in 10 to get out of a religious event or a doctor’s appointment and 7 percent say they’ve lied to get out of a speeding ticket or jury duty (6 percent).
Women are more likely to have lied to get out of a social event (36 percent women vs. 29 percent men), and – sorry, guys – to get out of a date (17 percent women vs. 12 percent men).
Either more people think their fellow Americans are dishonest than they actually are or fewer are willing to fess up to fibbing are actually doing so. Seven in 10 Americans (69 percent) think others lied when taking this poll but only 6 percent raise their hands (so to speak) when asked if they did so themselves.
Depending on your outlook, men (8 percent) are twice as likely as women (4 percent) either to have lied on the poll in the first place (shame on them!) or to have come clean about doing so (good for them!).
Looked at by age group, 18-34-year-olds are roughly three times more likely than their elders to say they lied when taking the poll (12 percent 18-34-year-olds vs. 3 percent 35-44-year-olds, 4 percent 45-64-year-olds and 5 percent among those aged 65+).
www.harrisinteractive.com/newsroom/harrispolls.aspx
••• reputation research
Ethics yes but not at any cost
While consumers care about corporate sustainability, price is still king
Eighty 80 percent consumers believe it is important for companies and brands to behave ethically, however the most significant factors when shopping are price, value and quality.
Research from online sourcing and optimization firm Trade Extensions on U.K. and U.S. consumers’ attitudes towards ethics and sustainability and how they affect purchasing decisions suggests consumers display a “Do as I say, not as I do” attitude towards ethics and sustainability in that they recognize its importance but are ultimately swayed by price.
The ethical behavior of companies and brands is relevant to consumers and, when asked in isolation, four out of five consumers regard it as important. But it becomes less so when ranked alongside other factors. When asked to rank the three most important attributes when shopping, the most important factor is price – 40 percent of consumers ranked this No. 1. The second most important factor is value for money – 30 percent ranked this No. 1. And the third most important factor is quality – 16 percent ranked this No. 1.
Convenience is more important for shoppers than ethics, with “easy to find/shop/have delivered” appearing in the top three rankings of 17 percent of consumers compared with ethics appearing in the top three of 12 percent of consumers. Choosing an ethical company or brand when shopping is the most important factor and ranked No. 1. for 2 percent of U.K. and U.S. consumers.
Despite consumers’ relatively low ranking of ethical and sustainability concerns, over 70 percent say they are more likely or much more likely to buy from companies with strong and proven policies on sustainability and ethics. U.K. and U.S. consumers also say they are willing to pay a premium for sustainably-sourced and ethically-produced goods and over 60 percent will pay up to 10 percent more. Not all consumers are willing to pay more for ethically-produced goods and of the 10 percent of U.K. consumers who say they will not pay any extra, 73 percent are men.
The opinions of U.S. and U.K. consumers are broadly similar although there are some notable differences. For example, nearly twice as many U.S. consumers, 14 percent against 8 percent in the U.K., say they will never buy a product or service from a company with a poor record on ethics or sustainability. Also, U.K. men are 40 percent more likely not to care about ethics and sustainability than U.S. men. And of the 5 percent of U.K. consumers who do not care about ethics and sustainability, 81 percent were men.
Consumers’ opinions also reflect a degree of skepticism regarding companies’ communication of ethical and sustainability policies, with only 2 percent of U.K. consumers always believing what companies tell them on these topics and approximately one-third feeling “a lot of companies just say stuff like this to impress but they don’t actually do anything.”
“It’s critical to understand the differences between what people think – their attitudes – and what they actually do – their behavior,” says Liz Nelson, a behavior change and research expert. “The fact they say they care about ethics and sustainability is important and it might make a difference given two otherwise equal choices. But this research shows that only a small number will actively go out of their way to act on those feelings. So the challenge for those trying to change behavior toward ethical purchasing is to find what can prompt a behavior change. To do this, businesses have to understand the emotional components of behavior, and that demands they develop a greater understanding of their consumers’ attitudes.”
The research was conducted by Fly Research during May 2014 and the aim was to gauge respondents’ awareness and views of sustainability and ethics issues. The survey was completed by a nationally representative sample of 1,010 U.K. consumers and 1,000 U.S. consumers.