Consumers' Biggest Frustrations With Brand Messaging Today

Speaker 1: Hey, marketers. Do you know what the top five frustrations are with consumers in the US when it comes to messaging channels such as email, SMS, in- app notifications, and other owned channels? Well, I'm going to share them with you right now and hopefully level up your relationship marketing efforts. Here are a few more quick stats from the 2022 Consumer Trends Index Report, published in March of this year, that reveals over 90 trends related to what, when, and how consumers want to be engaged by brands, retailers, and consumer- facing companies. I'll tell you how to get the full report for free before this quick video is over, but here are the stats for today. We asked over 1, 000 US consumers: When thinking about all the brands that have communicated with you regularly in the past six months, have you experienced any of the following frustrations? And here's how they responded. 55% of US respondents said they are frustrated with irrelevant content or offers from brands. Now, this includes 39% of Gen Z respondents sharing this frustration and 48% of Millennials sharing the same sentiment. Now, this issue, I believe, is really a product of the cast- and- blast mentality. Brand marketers are far too eager to create one- size- fits- all offers and messages they believe will drive engagement and ultimately, sales. But I've said it before, and I will say it again: Consumers don't give a damn about your marketing plan. So start personalizing messages to individuals, rather than lumping consumers into segments and blasting all of them with calls to action that are designed to meet your selfish needs and not theirs. Now, good news. You can download the free Zero- Party Data Playbook on our website to learn how to execute on that strategy, along with case studies from brands, both large and small, that are seeing great success with implementing a personalized relationship marketing strategy. All right, cool. Next stat: 35% of US respondents said they were frustrated with messages that didn't recognize my shopping or loyalty program history. An example of that might be getting ads for products or emailing offers for products that they had already purchased. Look, knowing who's sniffing around your product category with searches and browsing, along with knowing who actually bought and converted, is a must- know data point today. This isn't rocket science, but it does require a unified data feed into a single source of truth, which is a platform that can listen, understand, and act or suppress on critical customer signals. Do you have a platform that's siloed? Is it restricting your multiple realtime data feeds? Or do you have a NextGen platform that utilizes real time decisioning and next- best offer or experience journeys, using machine learning or AI? If you're not, you're already behind the curve, and your competitors may pass you by as they implement these critical relationship marketing tactics, meeting consumers' demands in real time. By the way, Millennials led that age group with this frustration, as 41% claimed it irked them, and 37% of Gen Z respondents were on board. That was the second largest age group. So not recognizing purchases, loyalty actions, both transactional or emotional, along with other consumer actions with your brand. It's not a Boomer issue, but it's one that's top- of- mind for younger consumers and will continue to grow. So make those investments now in the technology that can deliver better experiences, based on your current customer signals, as well as unknown consumers that want to be your customer. Okay, moving on. The next gripe from consumers was," I receive messages that don't reflect my wants and needs." 44% of respondents claim this is an issue that turns them off. Much like the irrelevant offers and content issue I mentioned earlier, this stat also shows that brands are not building stronger relationships rooted in learning about their audience as individuals, and they're continuing to talk at their audience, rather than with them. Now, Millennials led the charge in this group, with 48% of them. That is a massive amount of consumers from a highly- coveted age group who are frustrated that brands are not collecting psychographic zero- party data to personalize offers and communications. I don't know about you, but if I put myself back in a brand marketer seat, which was just a short two- plus years ago, this is something I'd invest in fixing immediately. But also, good news. For those of you who feel that you might be part of this issue, you can download the full Consumer Trends Index, to not only learn how to fix it, but also download that Zero- Party Data Playbook I mentioned, and learn how other brands are crushing it in this area. The last stat I want to share today is one where consumers said," I receive messaging based on information about me that I hadn't shared directly with the brand." 39% of US respondents said this is off- putting, with Gen Z and Millennials coming in at 35 and 39%, respectively. Boomers landed at 45%. Now, our Consumer Trends Index also revealed 16 more stats that respondents felt were creepy, including topics around cookies, tracking, and what they thought were misuse of personal data. But looking at this particular frustration, you need to ask yourself how much of your marketing effort is based on bought, bartered, or acquired data to reach people. Are you marketing to your audience in a way that you'd market to your own grandmother? We can't dispute it. Personalization is the key to relationship marketing that actually drives revenue. But you must gather that data, not only in a lawful and compliant manner, but also in a transparent and equitable way, to get consumers engaged. The full Index also shares stats and tactics related to the value- exchange economy, which shares how to gather that critical personal and zero- party data, and also how to make it actionable in a way that benefits both brand and consumers alike. All right, that's it. Those are the stats for today. Now, be sure to download the full 2022 Consumer Trends Index Report, which outlines consumer attitudes and trends over the past three years, from over 5, 000 consumers. There are nearly 100 data points and expert advice for executing against them to help you build a better relationship marketing strategy, ultimately lift your customer lifetime value. So get to consumertrendsindex. com. Download the free 90- plus page report, plus access free infographics, multiple free webinars with analysis from relationship marketing experts, as well as commentary and results from brands such as American Airlines, Vans, The North Face, and others. So I hope this was helpful. I'll see you next time with more Consumer Trend data points and tips for better relationship marketing.