Intuit has released a new report, “Brand Trust In the Age of Information Overload”, which focuses on the evolving relationship between brand and customer, consumer spending motivations, and how businesses can best connect with customers in today’s climate. Sourced from a survey of 10,000 consumers across nine countries—including 1,000 in Australia—the results revealed that brand trust and connection (46%) is a top factor that drives sales with Australian shoppers.
The report also identified other primary characteristics consumers look for when making purchasing decisions: free delivery (47%), regular discount codes and rewards (45%), excellent customer service (41%), free returns (38%) and quick shipping (38%). The results differed across the generations surveyed. For those aged over 65 the key purchase drivers were trust (60%) and excellent customer service (55%); while those aged 18 to 24 were also led by trust (40%), they were driven by other characteristics such as discounts (39%) and environmental impact (36%). Personalised marketing is especially well-received among 18-to-34 year-olds, too: Over half of this group in Australia (61% for 18-to-24s and 64% for 25-to-34s) believe that the future of personalisation means they won’t be searching for products and services, but the right products and services will be coming to them.
“As businesses continue to grapple with a challenging economic environment, it’s never been more important for Australian brands to build trust and engage with their customers. When brands deliver personalised messaging and targeted product recommendations, they demonstrate that they understand their customers on a deeper level—and our data says consumers increasingly see these kinds of tailor-made brand interactions as the future,” said Adam Anger, Chief Sales Officer at Intuit Mailchimp. “By embracing authenticity, transparency, and advanced personalisation, marketers can forge the kinds of deep relationships that transcend passing trends.”
While the report underlines a handful of insight-informed tactics to roll out, it also pinpoints marketing mishaps to avoid. Some of the top reasons that lead Australian consumers to unsubscribe from brand emails include repetitive or unimaginative emails (49%), unsubstantiated claims about brand purpose (43%), not being able to view an email properly on their device (43%) and biassed/partisan commentary on social or political issues (35%). Findings also reveal the quantity threshold: Australian consumers will unsubscribe if a brand sends more than three emails per week, the lowest number of all countries surveyed.