Study: Consumers Saying ‘No Thanks’ To Relationships With Brands
NEW YORK–Despite marketers' enthusiasm for 1-to-1 and “customer relationship” marketing, a
new study from Impiric, an integrated marketing solutions company, reveals that many
consumers don't feel the same way.
Findings in the “Brand Partnership: What Consumers Want From 1-to-1 Marketing” study
include:
- Only a few brands have earned true “relationship” status in consumers'
minds. Just 35% of consumers claimed to have a solid, growing
relationship with any of the 40+ brands they use in seven major
categories. The rest (65%) indicated they either have no relationship
or a problem-plagued relationship with these brands. - Consumers' expect more from the brands they have relationships with.
They expect “relationship-worthy” brands to do two things: meet their
needs better than others, and treat them in a way that demonstrates
they know and value them as customers. - Consumers cited a few brands as relationship “winners,” while many
disappoint. Among the strongest “relationship brands” are Dell
Computer, American Express, Palm and Walmart. Among the worst:
Priceline.com, local cable companies and Sprint.
“There has been a great deal of talk about customer relationship management by
marketers, so we decided that it was time to talk to the consumers themselves,” says David
Sable, President & CEO, Impiric New York.
Impiric says the study is a nationally representative survey of 1660 US adults. Designed
by Impiric's Strategy & Insights group, the study polled Americans about their bonds with
a wide range of brands, as well as the factors and channels that drive them. Harris
Interactive conducted fieldwork for the study.
More findings from the Impiric study include:
- Consumers were asked to rate the strength of their relationships with over 40 brands in
seven technology, service and e-commerce categories: credit cards, airlines, retail
stores, websites, Internet service providers (ISP), telecommunications, home PCs, and
consumer electronics. Overall, 35% indicated that they had strong relationships with the
brands they used, 18% reported “problem” relationships that will probably endure, 6% had
a “troubled” relationship that probably won't endure, and 41% said they “just used”
the brand and had no relationship. - The credit card, retail store and ISP categories had large percentages of consumers
reporting solid, growing relationships, while for the most part consumers slammed
airlines, websites and telecommunication providers. In several categories there were both
relationship “winners” and “losers.”In the Internet service provider category, AT&T Worldnet scored among the highest % of
consumers with “”solid/growing” at 65%, while Juno was significantly lower at 16%. Among
retailers, Walmart (45%) beat out Kmart (30%) and Sears (29%). Delta Airlines (47%)
surpassed United (21%), and e-tailer Amazon.com (39%) reports significantly stronger
relationships than Priceline.com (10%). - The majority of consumers are reluctant to bond with brands because their expectations are
not being met. Two distinct factors were identified as necessary for consumers to have
relationships with brands.The first, which the study calls “Performance Advantage,” measures how strongly consumers
feel the brand meets their needs in contrast to the competition. The brand is a “power
player” in delivering a basic benefit. Sony, for example, an R&D and product innovation
leader, performs strongly on this relationship-building factor. First USA has neither the
highest performing credit cards when compared to American Express or Discover. As a
result, it has very low performance advantage ratings.The second key factor consumers look for in potential brand partners is “Experience
Advantage,” which measured whether the brand treats customers in a way that demonstraRead next
