Consumers Want Transparent & Authentic Companies That Care About Social And Environmental Issues
The future brands need to adjust to their stakeholders’ expectations
Consumer expectations are changing and quality and affordability aren’t all that matter. Companies’ social and environmental practices are also being closely watched. Brands that want to thrive in the future need to adjust to their stakeholders’ expectations by finding their collective purpose and communicating it well. Let’s find out about the expectations of today’s consumers.
Some companies bet on business strategies focused on (low) price. Others choose to have higher prices instead and deliver products with higher quality. There are still the ones that bet on developing and marketing unique products for different customer segments. These are widely recognized business strategies but there’s one thing that they don’t truly consider — that brands’ purposes, beliefs and how they put both into practice are now re-defining companies chances of success.
A recent survey from Accenture shows that consumers are paying real attention to how companies’ position themselves regarding social & environment issues. If there’s a match between both sides (company and customer) purposes then the consumer will engage with the company and feel part of the corporate tribe. If there’s no match, 42% of consumers will step away from the brand and 21% will most likely never come back and won’t give these companies a second chance.
Accenture’s study brings out data showing that transparency and authenticity are becoming increasingly important. Why? Because they allow consumers to understand and eventually identify themselves with the companies’ values — which helps them decide whether they’re buying for them or not. In fact, in San Francisco, 69% of the surveyed people said their buying decisions are influenced by brands’ ethical values and authenticity and 72% said they were buying goods and services from companies with beliefs similar to theirs. And what kind of values are American citizens looking for? 67% said they expected companies to stand up for social, cultural, environmental issues.
Original Source Article https://youmatter.world/en/consumers-expectations-transparent-companies-social-environment/
