2023 Consumer Trends Index

In the past three years, consumers and marketers alike have seen more disruption and transformation in their habits and behaviours than probably in the past two decades.

 In 2023, a global pandemic thankfully seems to be slipping slowly into the rear-view mirror, but the effects will be felt for years to come. I share this year’s Consumer Trends Index, Campaign Monitor's fourth consecutive annual report, a potential recession hangs over the globe, threatening to bring more uncertainty to purchasing behaviours and, ultimately, the brand/consumer relationship.

 Ignoring the needs and sentiment from consumers can be an arrogant misstep that’s easily avoidable. Be armed with the statistics that matter when it comes to aligning with consumer needs. Building long-lasting relationships is the key to increasing customer lifetime value and fostering brand loyalty that helps grow your business. The science of relationship marketing is simple: you need to acquire, engage and retain customers in order to drive revenue on a recurring basis. The art of relationship marketing is a bit more nuanced and requires your brand to take a more human approach to the way you interact with your audience.

 Customers have shown they are open to spending more on the brands they love, but a strong loyalty offering is required to achieve that result.

 Key take- aways from this Report are:

 Email remains the most effective channel for driving sales, with over half of consumers (52%) purchasing a product directly as a result of an email they received in the last 12 months. This is a 4% uplift of 2022, and 108% higher than both SMS and banner ads.

 Brand loyalty is on the rise, with 59% of consumers prepared to pay more to purchase from their preferred brands. Over two-thirds of consumers (67%) cite the loyalty program of their favourite brand as critically important to winning their lasting loyalty.

 Consumers are loyal by nature but take them for granted and they will shop elsewhere. A third of consumers have switched away from a favoured brand in the last 12 months, citing a poor loyalty program, the online customer experience and data privacy issues as core problems.

 As privacy regulations become the norm and third-party tracking cookies edge closer to curtailment, the vast majority of consumers (67%) are cheerily unaware that Google will soon cease tracking activity online in this way. However, 31% are glad about this change, and a further 35% are optimistic it will improve their relationship with brands.

 The majority of consumers want to receive personalised content and offers from trusted brands and will readily share personal data in return for it. However, consumers are clear that they prefer brands that use data that has been explicitly shared directly with the brand. A sizable 61% of consumers feel cookie-fuelled ads are a creepy marketing tactic and definitely not cool.

 Consumers are incredibly concerned about current global economic uncertainty, with 60% very pessimistic about both the rising cost of living and economic outlook. Half of consumers are doing less impulsive purchases with most doing more research (50%), waiting for sales (47%) and relying on loyalty benefits (46%) when purchasing from their favourite brands.

 For the full report, click here.

 Love these trends reports, especially when every thing that we have known about personalisation, data driven messaging, and treating customers with respect has been the same since the invention of retail. But great to have empirical evidence to convince those that need it.

(Source: Marigold 2023 Consumer Trends Index – Campaign Monitor)