A new survey from Cohn & Wolfe – and discussed on MarketingCharts.com – suggests a possible sea change in the expectations of your customers as to the behavior of your company. We’ve seen some other similar surveys…and if you haven’t gotten clued in to this yet – well read on, the results may surprise you…
Do you REALLY know what your customers expect of you? Check out the results below…
We’ve said many times, and we’ll say it again – the customer is changing. Perhaps due to changing demographics, or the shifting of attitudes in reaction to core societal changes…customers have a new attitude – and you’d better get in tune with it or surely suffer the consequences. This shift in attitude has been reported in surveys conducted both in the business-to-business market (B-to-B), as well as the business-to-consumer (B-to-C) market.
So what are your customers’ expectation in how your company behaves? Perhaps you think they expect your brand to be popular among their friends. Or maybe you think they expect your company to be innovative. Or, you might muse, perhaps they expect your brand to bring truly unique products, services or ideas to the market? Nope! These aren’t their key concerns…
The top of the list of expectations…
These attributes were all on the list – but all were near the bottom. The number one expectation of the behavior of your company by the consumers participating in the Cohn and Wolfe survey was, “Communicates honestly about its products/services.”
How important is this expectation of honesty from your company? No fewer than 9 in 10 respondents rated it so! (91%) And almost 9 in 10 respondents also said they expect that your company, “Acts with integrity at all times.” (87%)
Strive to innovate? Not as many as you might think…
Only 43% harbored the expectation that your company “Has a relevant and engaging story.” And only 61% expects that your company “Has a product or service that I cannot live without.”
Slightly better than these attributes, but still lower than you might suspect – only 72% expects that yours is a company that “Strives to innovate.” Nope…honesty, openness, integrity…really, authenticity…blows all of these away.
How you treat your employees is a factor…
If we haven’t surprised you yet, then how about this – consumers care about how you treat your employees! Yep, 84% say they expect your company “Pays all levels and sexes of employees fairly.” And 77% say they expect that your company “Provides ample facilities and benefits to its staff.”
Still not surprised? How about this – the survey identified certain “green” or environmental concerns among consumers. Fully 87% of respondents said that they expect that your company “Communicates honestly about its environmental impact and sustainability measures.” And a total of 78% expects that your company “Ensures that it operates a sustainable supply chain, with an open sourcing policy.”
A whole new attitude from consumers…
Some of this trend appears to be generational in nature. Other surveys that provide age-range breakdowns (we didn’t see that in this specific one) shows that Millennials (roughly ages 18-34) embody a new attitude about corporate responsibility.
MarketingCharts.com, for example, refers to another study (we didn’t see this one ourselves) by Mindshare North America that appears to be in agreement with the Cohn and Wolfe study. In the Mindshare study:
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Trustworthiness and authenticity are 2 of the top 5 brand attributes for Millennials around the world, many of whom are skeptical about the ways in which brands market to them. [Emphasis added]
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Consumers want open and transparent communications from brands about how products are sourced and made, although few feel that brands are delivering in this area. [Emphasis added]
Going beyond your comfort zone…
Other studies have also documented the declining trust consumers have in corporations. Couple that with the always low – and maybe getting lower – opinion of advertising practitioners which, according to an early November 2014 study, ranked lower than car mechanics and lawyers…and barely above used car salespeople (14% vs. 9%).
The important thing to remember is that your company is painted by this same brush. We recommend you pursue strictly above-board business policies, careful weigh the accuracy of your marketing, and engage in as much transparency as possible. You’ll know you’re doing it right when you go well beyond your comfort zone!
For more on this study, see: www.marketingcharts.com.
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