Consumers are increasingly concerned with ethics, quality and good service from brands and prioritise these factors over competitive pricing, a report by I-COM has found.
The Manchester digital marketing agency questioned more than 500 shoppers to find conclusive evidence regarding the value of a strong brand voice. It found that 26% of respondents would follow brands on social media because of an affinity with their ethics and values, while 84% of people believe quality is one of the top five reasons for trusting a brand.
Other key motivators for trust are good reviews online (according to 51% of respondents), customer service (69%), ethics (42%) and being aligned with the consumer’s lifestyle (30%).
This follows previous research undertaken by I-COM around the use of slang terms when speaking to consumers, with 64% of people claiming to dislike it when brands use slang when they speak to their social media followers and 55% of people disliking brands using trending hashtags in order to market themselves.
Mindy Gofton, Head of Marketing Strategy at I-COM, said: “We all know that marketing is valuable to a company, but businesses often struggle to justify the time it takes to develop their brand voice and to form meaningful bonds with potential customers across their social channels. But we can now see that investing the time in these activities can actually increase the likelihood of making a sale and brings real tangible business benefits.
“Consumers want brands to communicate in a way that demonstrates that they genuinely understand their customers. To ensure they capture the one-in-four consumers who follow brands on social because of their values, brands need to stop focusing on price and think about what they can offer people that is genuinely useful – and reflects a shared interest.”
The findings support research from the Harvard Business Review stating that emotionally connected customers are 52% more valuable than the average satisfied customer, suggesting that businesses can become more profitable if they are able to tap into their target audience and forge strong connections.
Some brands might be tempted to offer discounts and special deals in order to increase their social followings, and 72% of those surveyed by I-COM said they would be likely to follow companies who run competitions and giveaways, however that does not always lead to purchases in the future.
Mindy said: “Consumers who are looking for cheap or free stuff are far less valuable over time to brands than consumers who feel an emotional attachment. While brands still need to cater to those people, they should focus the main substance of their marketing efforts on developing relationships with people in order to build a core of loyal customers who will support their business over the long term.”
