As outlined in an earlier post, while many shoppers are looking for helpful advice and informative messages from brands during the COVID crisis, a significant portion are looking for something else – led by messages of compassion and solidarity. Building on this, here’s a more detailed look at some of the top things customers want to hear from brands they use during this time.
Figure 1. What customers want to hear from brands they use right now
Three notable things off this list are worth exploring further right now:
- Show that you care and are doing what you can to help. It may go without saying, but that is the most important and first step to reassure customers right now.
- A commitment to fair prices is significantly more important than sales and promotions at the moment. Wide-scale reductions in sales & promotions appears to be happening now, and this could have an impact on perceptions of price fairness over time.
- Approximately 1 in 3 customers are looking for ideas and inspiration around health & wellness. In our recent BrandSpark/ACA Marketers Survey, health & wellness was anticipated to be the most-impactful-trend over the next 10 years, ahead of even e-commerce. Brands associated with helping Canadians live better or have more fulfilling lifestyles have a strong opportunity to deepen connections with customers now.
If you’re interested in learning more, please contact us here. BrandSpark has been conducting Shopper Polls since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada. We are maintaining a continuous dialogue with shoppers in order to capture new insights that can help brands and marketers navigate the current landscape, and what will come after. We’re happy to share the information we have, and can easily ask custom questions (with a rapid response time) if there’s something else you need to know.