More than 80% of consumers feel ‘in charge’ of their relationship with brands
Fewer than one in five people believe marketers are still in control of the relationship between brands and consumers, according to independent research commissioned by marketing services company Acxiom.
The survey question defined ‘in control’ as people feeling they ‘receive only the information they require, when and through which media channel they want it’.
Responses from consumers revealed a huge disparity between what the professionals believe people think of their marketing, and how consumers actually think about it … with 82% of individuals feeling ‘in control’.
For businesses, the findings mean that ‘push marketing’ – where brands broadcast messages to the mass market – has well and truly been replaced by ‘pull marketing’, with the individual in charge of how they receive information and interact with brands.
Other key findings in the Acxiom’s report Tug of Love; how technology is changing the relationship between consumers and brands – and what marketers can do about it include:-
- One in four consumers still say they receive ‘inappropriate’ marketing communications while marketers generally have a much higher opinion of their industry work
- Some 71% of consumers are happy to receive mail from organisations they are already customers of. Additionally some 57% also felt postal contact was appropriate for prospective customers
- Only 9% of customers felt SMS marketing was appropriate to them, whereas marketers guessed 25% of customers would welcome text messages
- And just 4% of customers approve of contact through social media. Marketers were also cautious about using these channels … with 5% estimating that customers would like it
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