INSIGHTS APPLIED The latest thinking from New Zealand and the global Kantar network
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WELCOME Welcome to our first edition of what will be a quarterly publication by Kantar New Zealand (formerly Kantar TNS). We want to share with you the latest thinking in insights locally and globally and capture it in one easy to read publication for you. For our first issue we focus on the findings of our first self-funded thought leadership piece of the year that we launched recently to a number of clients, about how Kiwis are connecting with brands online and the trust challenges that brands need to grapple with. What makes this research particularly interesting and exciting are the wide number of ways it can help your business. While we found that New Zealanders are sceptical when it comes to information they read on social media, potentially creating a headache for brands and business, Kiwis are still using these platforms. We have unpacked the findings of this research to help you navigate the digital trust labyrinth to ensure you connect with the people you want to. We have focused on four key areas: • Encouraging a joint focus on online security • Exploring changing levels of trust in online platforms • Avoiding the pitfalls of personalisation, and • Meeting expectations on responsiveness. If you have any questions about what you read here please do get in touch. Regards David Thomas Managing Director Insights Division David.Thomas@kantartns.com 2
CONTENTS Welcome
1
Encouraging a joint focus on online security
2
Exploring changing levels of trust in online platforms
3
Avoiding the pitfalls of personalisation
4
Meeting expectations on responsiveness
5 3
DRIVING DIGITAL TRUST
Encouraging a joint focus on
online security
A clever strategy is required to encourage consumers to translate their concern about online security into meaningful action.
4
ONLINE SECURITY It’s no surprise that consumers want brands to interact with them in an open and honest way. One area where this has particularly come to the fore over the last decade is data handling and online security, driven by the detailed coverage of several high profile data breaches. Regardless of the causes, these security lapses can have a major effect on consumer levels of trust in a brand, which can in turn can have a significant impact on a business’s bottom line. For example, when internet service provider Yahoo! suffered a data breach in 2014 in which 500 million users had their personal details stolen, this reportedly wiped $350m off the company’s valuation prior to its sale. Our own recent research suggests that news about security breaches may be leading to increased consumer concern about their own personal security. 46% of New Zealanders told us they are worried about how easily their home network could be hacked, rising to 58% of those aged 60+. While brands are expected to be reliable custodians of customer data, this can present a real challenge when the vast majority of data breaches are caused by human error (88% of the cases reported to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office in the last two years).
Consumers themselves therefore have an important role to play in securing their data, but our research suggests that New Zealanders could be much more diligent when it comes to taking steps to protect themselves. Only half of New Zealanders are using anti-virus software, six in ten are using the same passwords for the different sites and services they use, and only two in ten are changing these passwords regularly. There’s no evidence to suggest that the heaviest internet users are more security savvy either, with similar levels of inactivity reported among this group.
So how can brands genuinely help in this area? Certainly these findings suggest there may be a need for further education (when asked directly, only 36% of New Zealanders claimed to know ‘a lot’ about online security and the actions they can take to protect their information, while 50% would like to learn more). A more pressing concern, however, may be general complacency. Most of those who were not taking actions did recognise that they should do them, or do them more often. 5
ONLINE SECURITY Unfortunately, standard reminders are unlikely to work. Consumers are already bombarded with notifications and we’ve become primed to filter out anything that doesn’t immediately catch our attention. Prompts to review security settings are unlikely to stand out, especially for those who have not yet suffered the consequences of a security hack or virus. Equally, consumers don’t like being forced to do something at a time that doesn’t suit them, so processes which interrupt a browsing experience are also unlikely to yield a positive response. This means that brands wishing to promote good online security behaviour and gain any reputational benefit need a different strategy to help the message cut through. One successful example of how consumers can be persuaded to adopt positive behaviour through more subtle behavioural nudges comes from a campaign run by Fire and Emergency NZ in which the desired behaviour (checking smoke alarms are clean and operating properly) was linked to another relatively mundane task that people were more likely to complete (altering their clocks at the beginning and end of Daylight Savings Time). By effectively piggy-backing on established 6
behaviour, the campaign had its desired impact: post-testing showed a clear increase in testing smoke alarms among those who saw the campaign. This approach may offer clues of how best to prompt positive online security behaviour. It is likely to require a cleverly articulated message delivered with the right tone, but achieving this could lead to a considerable reputational boost for the organisation involved.
I’m not that aware of what’s available or what I need to be doing to protect myself online.
7
DRIVING DIGITAL TRUST
Changing levels of trust in
online platforms
Brands must be aware that negative coverage is eroding trust in online platforms and information sources, but this is not yet impacting on consumer behaviour.
8
ONLINE PLATFORMS Over the last few years, both traditional and online sources of information have come under greater scrutiny. Crowd-sourcing of news content through less strictly regulated channels is becoming increasingly common, while politically polarised opinion characterised by President Trump’s coining of the phrase ‘fake news’ has increased confusion over what can and cannot be accepted as an established fact. Our research reflects this increased scepticism. Only 19% of New Zealand consumers told us that they trust the information they read online. This is a key challenge for brands looking to interact with customers online in a way that builds trust, not suspicion. To understand the extent of this challenge it is necessary to consider how trust in general compares between online and offline brands. In our survey, we presented participants with a list of organisations and asked whether they trusted each one.
Proportion of NZ consumers trusting each brand
Main bank
85%
Insurance provider
72%
Electricity provider
70%
59%
Government
58%
Samsung
54%
District Council
53%
Apple
46%
29%
16%
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ONLINE PLATFORMS Topping the trust charts in New Zealand are traditional service providers – banks, insurance providers and utility companies all engender high levels of trust. Conversely, online platforms and technology companies tend to appear much lower down the list, even though many of these firms have experienced exponential growth over the last decade or two. The low levels of trust in Twitter and Facebook are particularly interesting given that these are common platforms that New Zealand brands might be using to communicate with or promote to customers. However, while trust levels are low, we did not see any evidence to suggest that this is having any impact on consumer use or engagement with the platforms. Global data released in January showed that Facebook recorded a rise of 9% in monthly active users, with the total figure reaching 2.32 billion. This is coupled with another year of substantial revenue growth. Our survey results for New Zealand consumers are consistent with these buoyant figures. In spite of the low levels of trust, 71% of New Zealanders are using Facebook daily, placing it comfortably ahead of its closest rivals, YouTube (41%) and Instagram (30%). The proportion 10
of daily users is even higher among the youngest cohort, so even among a group widely reported to be moving to alternative social media platforms, this seems to be in addition to rather than instead of Facebook. Equally, there’s little evidence of digital detoxing or movements like #deleteFacebook eroding their reach. In our study, consumers were asked whether they were using each platform more or less than they were a year ago. 19% are using Facebook less frequently now, but 34% are using it more. Among the major social media platforms, only YouTube recorded a more positive net result (9% using it less, 39% more). Additionally, we found no link between levels of trust and usage patterns, so those who don’t trust Facebook are no less likely to have increased their use. So far then, in spite of a series of data and privacy scandals, Facebook appears not to be suffering any genuine adverse effects when it comes to engagement levels. This could reflect the unique position of a service where the lines between content hosting and content ownership are somewhat blurred. Certainly, social media platforms are likely to remain an important
ONLINE PLATFORMS part of the digital media mix, but it’s advisable for brands to monitor overarching consumer attitudes. In more typical circumstances, there is a risk that a lack of trust in the vehicle used to deliver a message can be transferred to the message owner by association.
I find that the information you submit to certain websites is saved somewhere and then you start getting advertising and promotional things which makes me think that it’s no longer a secure place to work.
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DRIVING DIGITAL TRUST
Avoiding the pitfalls of
personalisation New Zealanders want efficient, relevant online experiences, but brands need to be aware that consumers are reluctant acceptors of brands collecting and using their data.
12
PERSONALISATION Personalisation is a critical pillar of brand trust, with consumers favouring brand experiences where they feel like they are being treated as an individual. In online interactions, where personal contact is more limited, personalisation can be delivered by tailoring content based on a combination of previous preferences and machine learningbased recommendations.
Our survey of New Zealand consumers illustrated this desire for relevant content, with 41% wishing they were able to use the internet more productively rather than aimlessly browsing.
Delivering more personalised, tailored content seems like an obvious solution which would enable a more time-efficient browsing experience, but this generally requires consumers to share their data with brands or websites in some form. The majority of consumers were aware of the different ways that social media sites, websites and search engines can collect or mine personal data to deliver tailored content. But when those who were aware were asked how they felt about their data being used in this way, only a third or fewer were happy for this to happen.
Awareness and acceptance of the common ways that online data can be mined Social media sites collecting information on your posts to tailor advertising Search engines keeping a record of your search history
82%
36%
Websites being able to pinpoint your approximate location using your IP address
30%
Sites placing cookies on devices to determine your preferences or save your previous basket
30%
Sites allowing third parties to place cookies on your device which can be used by marketers or advertisers
19%
Internet service providers collecting and selling browsing history data, with permission
19%
Aware that this can happen
83%
30%
79% 76% 68%
60%
Happy for this to happen
13
PERSONALISATION Similarly, when consumers were asked to trade off directly, only 19% expressed a willingness to give websites access to their data in exchange for free content tailored to them. While younger internet users were more willing to share their data (29%), there was still a considerable amount of resistance to the idea. The group most open to trading data for tailored content were the heaviest internet users (45%), a cohort who are also amongst the most likely to want to find more productive ways to use the internet. Heavier internet use is also linked to increased use of ad blocking software which may limit the effectiveness of message targeting efforts. Our research showed that consumers tend to react positively to overtly tailored content when they have initiated the engagement with a brand (e.g. a supermarket asking whether they’ve forgotten to add common items to their online shopping basket). However, delivering personalised content in communications initiated by brands needs to be a lot more subtle in nature, to prevent it feeling like a hard sales approach. A brand which gets this right will be the most effective in delivering a positive tailored experience while also maintaining and growing levels of trust. 14
I think you should have a say in where your personal data goes. It’s personal data, not public data.
15
DRIVING DIGITAL TRUST
Meeting expectations on
responsiveness Digital channels have completely changed consumer expectations, but brands also need to be aware that in some quarters there is evidence of a backlash against online channels.
16
RESPONSIVENESS
The internet is increasingly being utilised as a quick and simple method of interacting with brands. However, expectations can be difficult to meet because digital customers are becoming more and more impatient - recent research by Brand Embassy illustrated that 32% of consumers expect a response to social media queries within 30 minutes. This means brands have to work much harder to deliver a quick response.
This presents a clear challenge. The “always on� aspect of the internet means that putting the infrastructure in place to enable a consistent, rapid response to queries is far from simple. Some brands have adopted AI solutions such as chatbots, but while these may be an effective way of dealing with simple queries, this can feel like a less personalised approach: our own research consistently tells us that New Zealanders prefer to deal with real people. 17
RESPONSIVENESS Consumers who feel they are spending too much time searching for information or getting a resolution to an issue can quickly become frustrated. This is reflected in our research, which showed that over half (54%) of 18-29 year olds would like to reduce the time they spend online, with similar levels recorded for those aged 30-39 (55%). For some, wishing to spend less time online might relate to frustration with specific sites or processes, but for others it may reflect a desire to break the cycle of being compelled to check social media feeds so often throughout the day. In this way, spending time online can resemble something closer to an addiction. Academic research conducted in 2017 illustrated that just seeing the Facebook logo can spark cravings among more frequent social media users. The increasing amount of time spent online can start to have wider health impacts on consumers. In our recent research, 34% of New Zealanders stated that the amount of time they spent on electronic devices was impacting on the quality of their sleep. This figure increased further to 51% among the heaviest internet users. 18
While there is no evidence to suggest that New Zealanders are turning away from the internet in large numbers, it is important for brands to recognise that the wellbeing of each online user is likely to have some effect on their reaction to online stimulus. Regardless of the quality of the message, creating a positive emotional connection with a consumer at the level necessary to build brand love is likely to be difficult if they are feeling tired and frustrated. Focusing on clear communications that reflect customers’ online preferences and streamlined, clearly signposted website design offers an important opportunity to limit frustration among a group of consumers who are starting to feel the effects of long periods of screen time.
33% of New Zealanders have changed the screen settings on their devices to try to stop them interfering with getting to sleep.
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INSIGHTS APPLIED David Thomas Managing Director Insights Division Kantar 46 Sale Street, Auckland New Zealand David.Thomas@kantartns.com
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