Member Article

Top Trends Driving Consumer Behaviour

Sue Benson, Managing Director at The Market Creative shares three trends driving consumer behaviour.

In our latest report ‘Top Trends Driving Consumer Behaviour’ we took a deep dive into behavioural economics to help marketers create meaningful and impactful brand experiences and communication that drive growth, acceptance, commitment and action.

Here are three trends that offer the opportunity to have the greatest impact on your business in the coming years:

#1 Engage me Brands that find new and entertaining ways to win people’s attention will also win their custom.

It’s been argued that we’ve reached ‘peak attention’. This means the amount of information, content and messages we voluntarily and involuntarily subject ourselves too has reached a point where we can’t feasibly compute any more. The result of this, as we know all too well, is that people have even less time and patience for marketing messages and content. And the messages that don’t cut through the noise go unnoticed.

Brands need to push the boundaries to be heard and think outside the box to break through. Traditional channels won’t cut it and it’s more necessary than ever to be crafty with your choice of medium to find unexpected ways to get your message through to your desired audience.

#2 Surprise me Selfless brands that give more than they take will win people’s hearts. More and more people are becoming fatigued, bored and at times resistive to the push and sell of marketing, that’s traditionally asked for more than it gives.

We can all learn from brands that are surprising and delighting people by shifting their marketing focus from selling a product to creating value. They break the cycle of sameness to make room for a ‘post marketing era’, which connects them to a desired audience through value adding tools, services and experiences.

By using this branded utility, a customer’s life is made better in some way through marketing that doesn’t feel like the traditional kind. This is down to selling indirectly, brands becoming themselves or making a product an indispensable ally, which potentially increases loyalty and acts as a constant reminder that it exists.

#3 Nudge me Brands are starting to encourage people to do more of what they know they should be doing. We all know we should save more, buy less, eat more healthily and get more exercise, but we don’t. And it’s forward thinking brands that are showing they’re a cut above the rest by tackling this and showing they care about their customers.

Going beyond just selling a product to customers takes your relationship with them to another level. The smarter brands entertain, support, stand by and help their customers. As a result, they’re rewarded with recognition and loyalty that surpass those of their competitors. Taking it one step further, over the past few years, some brands have tried to positively change the decisions and behaviours of their customers, which is no mean feat.

So why undertake a challenge that has baffled some of the brightest brains in the field of psychology and economics for years? Well, because it stands out, it shows you care and it can make a difference to your customer’s world by going beyond what they were initially expecting from your product. And we think that surpassing expectation is a pretty brilliant way of winning ongoing customers and advocacy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by The Market Creative .