San Francisco, June 17, 2021 — MoEngage, the insights-led customer engagement platform, today revealed the results of a global survey focused on consumers’ expectations of how brands should use data to improve the customer experience.
The report, The Personalization Pulse Check Report 2021, polled 1,000 consumers across four of the top global markets — U.S., U.K., Canada and Germany — to learn more about what consumers want when engaging and receiving communications from brands. The results underscore the increasing role that personalization and omnichannel marketing will have in the post-COVID recovery period for brands to better engage customers and differentiate themselves against competitors.
The MoEngage survey indicates that overall, consumers have moved on from the question of brands collecting information about them, and instead are focused on when and how brands use this data to present offers that are consistent, relevant, and timely. In fact, nearly one-third (26%) of consumers across all four global markets indicated that they want companies to personalize their experiences based on previous purchase history data. Further, 21 percent of consumers indicated that they expected personalization based on known interests. Not only do consumers expect brands to know who they are and what they want to buy, but they also notice when brands fail to create a unified experience across channels.
- Twenty-seven percent of all respondents said that they are “most frustrated” when brands send inconsistent messaging on different channels, whereas another 27% of consumers indicated they are most frustrated by receiving irrelevant content or product messages.
- The majority of consumers prefer weekly communication from brands (37%) more than daily or monthly messages; however, 14% said that frequency doesn’t matter as long as the information is relevant.
- Consumers chose email (33%) as their favorite communication channel, however, websites (18%), social media (14%) and mobile SMS/app channels (12%) are gaining traction. In fact, mobile apps were indicated to be the most frequently adopted new digital channel during COVID-19 to communicate with brands, according to the majority of respondents (21%).
“The results of this consumer survey are certainly eye-opening for marketers who have been struggling to create a consistent omnichannel experience for their customers,” said Raviteja Dodda, CEO of MoEngage. “The research confirms our belief that the average consumer is well aware that brands are collecting information about them. All they are asking for in return is a more personalized customer experience from brands, regardless of which medium is used to communicate with them. Now is the time for brands to deliver on that promise.”
The MoEngage report also sheds light on:
- What kinds of personalized messages consumers prefer to receive from brands, on what channel, and how often
- A breakdown of consumer preferences by global region, showing some variables based on country
- Consumers’ future expectations of customer engagement as the world moves into a post-pandemic recovery phase
- Consumers’ indications of future shopping behaviors, including how many consumers have shifted from in-store to online shopping
- How global consumers intend to shop (online vs physical stores) in the future as the world moves into a post-pandemic recover phase
A free version of the full report is available at www.moengage.com/industry-reports/personalization-pulse-check-2021/.