Nina Glynn

We’re all guilty of projecting an idealised self-image into the world. Be it on social media, dating profiles or consumer surveys, the gulf between who we are and who we say we are can be vast.

And when brands and marketers rely so heavily on consumer insight to optimise their products and services, this can present a problem. There’s no point in creating products that are aimed towards the illusory consumer, rather than the real-life individual. 

So, how do brands cut through these barriers to really get to the heart of consumer truths? For more and more global brands, the answer lies in always-on, mobile customer insight communities, where they can truly penetrate the daily lives of their customers. We caught up with Amoné Redelinghuys, Bulbshare’s Associate Research Director, to find out more…

Always-on communities

The first step in conquering the ‘say-do’ gap is building an always-on consumer community that gets inside the home of the consumer through their mobiles. Online communities are the portal into the minds, habits, and behaviours of your consumers.

By engaging your consumers continuously through these communities, you don’t just ensure brand loyalty by entering into a more personal relationship with them, you also guarantee consumer truth. The brand is not just more visible to the consumer, the consumer is also more visible to the brand. By simply getting to know your consumers in a more long-term, symbiotic way, you brush aside any pretences and delve deeper into what is really going on behind the scenes.

Amoné agreed: “When an insight community is always-on, we can catch the consumer close to the moment and avoid reliance on memory and recall. Humans have a tendency to sugarcoat. If you ask someone about a frustrating experience in the moment, they’ll answer with unadulterated honesty about their frustration. Ask them a week later and those emotions will have faded.”

Moving away from traditional, transactional relationships with the consumer

This more meaningful relationship is a significant step away from transactional market research. Unlike the erratic nature of one-off focus groups, online communities offer a consistent consumer perspective that can inform your brand decisions more reliably. Building an emotional connection with the brand is facilitated through ongoing communities, and the consumer feels they can trust and confide in the forum the brand provides.

Moreover, when it comes to consumer truth, group settings are fraught with bias: it isn’t just your introverted consumers whose answers will be affected by that of their fellow participants, it’s everyone. Hearing others’ opinions may influence the discussion of the group, even though when it comes to actually buying a product, they will likely be alone. Asch’s conformity experiments examine these very issues.

Amoné elaborated: “There are three levels to why digital customer communities are more effective than traditional focus groups when it comes to accessing consumer truths. Firstly, online customer communities allow people to really be honest. When looking someone in the eye in a focus group, you’re more likely to say what you think they want to hear. But if it’s just you and your keyboard, you are more likely to give rich, truthful insights.

“The second level,” she continued, “is that group conversations can so easily be dominated by a more vocal person. When online, you can have the best of both worlds – people can give responses that are uncorrupted by other opinions, but interaction is also possible.

“Finally, there’s the scalability of online. It’s easy to go from a 10 person group to 100 people without needing more resources. When it comes to infield work, you have to account for a venue, travel, and supplies when scaling up.”

Online communities provide a fine balance between the anonymity that is so desperately needed when forming one’s answers, and the opportunity to be known more intimately by the brand, to feel part of something big, and to share one’s views on social media and beyond.

Our blog, ‘Online communities vs traditional focus groups: Building emotional brand connections in 5 steps’, has more on this topic…

Video is king

The ‘holy grail of insights’, video allows your users to create unique and in depth qualitative content – showcasing attitudinal responses in an infinitely more nuanced way. The opportunity to use video enables creativity in your users and introduces you to your customers on a more personal level. Instead of asking them to write down what they have for lunch, asking them to film their fridge unlocks the next level of insight: not only do you hear what they’re planning to eat, you see what sauces they own, what brands they’ve bought, what items they’re most stocked up on. Through AI analysis of the video and auto-translation, rich consumer insight has never been more accessible.  

As Amoné says, “If you rely on recall, you’re asking them to tell you what they did. If you’re in the moment, you can get their instant response without any filters. If we can go with them on a shopping trip and they take videos of what they’re buying, it’s far more accurate than asking them a week later what they thought of that shopping trip or what they buy in their weekly shop generally. Getting as close as possible to actual behaviour is key.”

Consumer truth = authentic advocacy 

When you get real consumer truths, you guarantee authenticity in peer-to-peer recommendations and UGC that genuinely promotes your brand. 84% of our customer panel prefer the recommendations of friends and family over that of paid influencers, and the authentic, trustworthy word-of-mouth advocacy that is driven by customer communities makes a world of difference. When a customer loves your brand, they’ll promote it without being endorsed. In fact, 74% said they’d promote a product if they liked it enough. Moreover, 39% of our consumer poll said that customers have become advocates since Covid, rather than just being a passive audience. This wave of authentic advocacy is one to tap into: your customers are your best influencers.

The steps to success

When asked what methods are the most effective for ensuring accurate answers, Amoné told us, “The key is to include a mix of different questions, methods and techniques that bring up real answers. Projective techniques are effective and less exposing for the person answering. Instead of asking someone why they don’t have insurance, you might ask a hypothetical question, such as ‘Imagine you have two friends, one has insurance and one doesn’t, what do you think of their decisions?’. This way you get more thoughtful, honest answers that avoid any defensiveness.”

Two way street

But it isn’t just your brand that benefits from these communities, it’s also the customers. Overwhelmingly, our global research communities have told us they want to be involved in the brand decisions: 88% of our global users said they want to be included in the decisions brands make, 76% said they enjoy helping product development processes, and 86% said that products developed using consumer collaboration were better.

And lockdown hasn’t in any way diminished this, with consumers being more keen than ever to connect online. 84% of our participants said they prefer online communities to traditional focus groups. Those surveyed said that the convenience of online insight groups was far superior to in-person methods.

To find out more about why customers want to be involved in online communities, discover our blog ‘Product development in a locked-down world: Why 88% of consumers still want to be involved in your brand decisions…’.

Brand toolkit

1. Always-on is always better. To truly understand the motivations behind consumer decisions, you need to be there in the moment with them. By being always-on and omnipresent, you avoid the bias that reliance on memory can threaten. 
2. Honesty in anonymity.  As opposed to traditional focus groups, a consumer can be completely transparent online. Without the pressure of others’ presence, the participant can avoid sculpting their answers to fit what they think is the ‘right thing to say’. 
3. Video tells all. Video offers a more detailed insight into the lives of your consumers. However, it is also an outlet for creativity and ripe with opportunities for creating user generated content and marketing material.

After months of restrictions, lockdowns and uncertainty, the world is yearning to open up once again. And in the UK, the coming months signal that long anticipated freedom – as well as a whole new breed of consumer trends.

If all goes ahead as planned, the next month will see an end to all legal limits on social contact and a reopening of clubs and theatres. With such a momentous day approaching – one that, for many, symbolises a victory over months of turmoil – we wanted to pulse check our UK community’s feelings about reopening.

Would they be returning to normal life and all that involves? Would they be eager to socialise, party and spend? Or would they be cautious and concerned about safety?

And what of the predicted ‘Roaring Twenties’? Will we really see a time of exuberance, decadence and hedonism? Will it be spend, spend, spend after nearly two years of restrictions? Or will frugality, caution and concern continue to characterise the remainder of the decade? Here’s what our UK community had to say… 

Spend, spend, spend

Our UK community are loosening their purse strings this summer, with 36% admitting they’ll spend more than they did over the last few months post-lockdown, and 21% saying they’ll spend more than they did in lockdown.

Their money will be divided across travel, socialising, drinking, eating, spending time with family, partying, shopping (online and in-store) and beauty appointments. Amongst all this celebration and bacchanalia, there was little money left over for gym memberships and exercise, with 74% confessing their money would not be going on keeping fit.

A flight to nowhere 

The travel industry has been one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, with the UK’s stringent traffic light system leaving little room for hope for a holiday. That being said, 56% of the community were still keen to travel. 18% are hoping to jet away, and 31% are considering a staycation. 18% are holding out for a last minute booking and 33% are staying firmly on home ground this year.

Booze is back in business

After months of closure, the hospitality industry is hungering for clientele again. Thankfully, our community are willing to oblige. 73% will be dining and drinking out. 62% said they will be going to bars and pubs and 54% are headed to restaurants and cafes. For 11% a bottomless brunch is even on the menu!

A return to commutes and suits

As offices reopen and flexi-working becomes the norm, the food-to-go category can finally claw its way back from obscurity. With 59% saying they’ll buy lunch on the go again, the meal deal can make a return. Despite this, our community are reluctant to invest in seasonal train tickets, with only 30% intending to purchase any tickets.

The health craze is a distant memory

With reopened restaurants, flowing drinks and celebrations, there was little time for the gym and exercise. Instead, community members are happy to spend their money on bottled beer and BBQs. Only 26% are going to buy a gym membership and 73% still intend to get takeaways.

Are we washing our hands of hand sanitiser?

In order to facilitate this new and wild lifestyle, our UK community still felt the need to maintain safety measures. When asked if they’d still be investing in sanitiser post-restrictions, 73% said yes – and half are still going to purchase masks. Many of those sampled said that they imagine masks are not gone for good, with mentions of winter foreboding more restrictions, and others saying that they will keep some measures in place till they are fully vaccinated.

What is the true meaning of freedom day?

68% said they will be socialising more and 65% said life will be irrevocably changed after lifting restrictions. Despite this relative optimism, only 30% think the UK has reached the finish line for the pandemic – and the other 70% think anything could happen. 32% still feel cautious about rushing back to normality and 35% feel life won’t get better after this date.

It’s no secret that the ‘influence’ of influencers is dwindling. With a growing awareness of influencer marketing meaning 96% of us now mistrust influencers [YouGov], what once seemed like a covert ‘cool stamp’ has now become more like a paid celebrity endorsement. And as gen Z consumers become increasingly savvy to the realities of sponsored content, the smart brands are looking elsewhere for promotional content with cut-through.

So then, if we really are seeing the beginning of the end of influencer marketing, what’s next?

In the race towards a post-influencer world, the answer lies in customer communities. According to a recent study by CMX Research, 85% of brands believe building their own online communities is a direct route to improving brand experiences and fostering consumer trust. These customer communities don’t just act as feedback loops for brands, but can be utilised for advocacy and brand promotion – with the inherent benefit of peer-to-peer authenticity, as opposed to paid promotion via influencers.

We asked our global Bulbshare community where they go for endorsements that count. Whether they think influencers are still relevant and what authentic brand advocacy means to them? Here’s what they had to say…

Real-life advocates

Who are the most powerful influencers of all? ‘Your friends and family’, say our global communities. 76% of our users said their purchases are affected by their family and friends’ opinions – compared to only 38% who were affected by influencer opinions. Moreover, 86% reported being more likely to make a purchase based on the recommendations of family or friends over that of an influencer.

Trust and authenticity sadly lacking

Our consumers felt they could trust people they related to more than they could influencers: 30% thought influencers couldn’t be trusted at all and 36% could only see them as authentic under certain conditions. Furthermore, 51% expressed a negative emotional reaction when asked about trust and influencers. 

Similarly, when asked what they thought about influencers in an open question, a fifth of our research communities mentioned money. Evidently, perceptions of materialism and greed polluted any faith our users had in influencers. Hence, the transparency and sincerity of peer opinion reigns supreme.

Influencers during Covid: masking reality 

This disdain at paid ambassadors was heightened during the pandemic. When asked whether influencers used their influence well during lockdown, our research communities answered that they felt the flaunting of wealth and flouting of rules was inappropriate. Terms such as ‘false lifestyles’ and ‘unrealistic images’ arose, as well as concerns about travelling despite restrictions. 

Some respondents mentioned that there were still good examples of influencers, with themes such as ‘spreading positivity’, ‘keeping [followers] company’ and ‘distracting’ them from ‘the real world’ coming up.

Cut through with quality

74% of our digital communities said that quality was the most important factor when it came to them recommending products – not the influencers associated with it (3%). They would happily promote a product that was made to a high standard. A genuine peer advocate talking about the quality of a product they have actually used is seen as the ultimate recommendation. 

Getting it right with co-creation

Our communities noted Nike, Apple, JD Sports, The Body Shop, Ben & Jerry’s, The Meatless Farm Company, Oh Polly, Budweiser, Lush and PlayStation as brands they would like to work with and advocate for. When asked why, they all stated high quality products as the reason.

Notably, though, the brands our users were most enthused about were the ones that considered their customers with compassion: 92% of our global community expressed a positive perception towards brands who ‘co-create with their customers’ – with anecdotal responses telling us this lent a sense of a brand that cares about its customers’ thoughts, opinions and ideas.

The solution to a post-influencer world

So, how do we harness the power of family and friend recommendations? The answer is consumer communities: everyday people reviewing products, sharing ideas and shaping brand decisions.

The future of brand advocacy means cutting out the middleman and getting straight to the consumers: invite them into your brand, become their trusted friend and give them a say in the products they consume. 

Real life, relatable brand champions

88% of our communities were enthusiastic about collaborating with brands and 76% said they enjoy reviewing products. When the average consumer has such capacity to become a brand ambassador, it leaves a question mark over the future of paid influencer marketing. With authentic, trusted, unendorsed voices shouting about your brand in customer communities, there is little need to pay for false, paid-for voices.