A recent survey has revealed that only 1 in 6 people are very likely to be influenced by marketing activity this Christmas.
The survey, which was commissioned by partnership marketing agency Cherry London, asked 1000 adults what they think will influence their Christmas shopping.
Of those surveyed, only 15% said it was ‘very likely’ that marketing activity would influence their Christmas shopping – just under half the amount of people that said marketing has no impact whatsoever – and exactly the same amount of people said they weren’t influenced by marketing activity, but by recommendations from someone they know.
The survey also threw up some equally shocking facts including as people’s income increases the influence of marketing activity on their Christmas shopping decreases - 45% of those earning over £40k said marketing activity had no effect (or so the survey said). And as people get older the same thing happens.
But it isn’t all bad news, the survey revealed that for the other two thirds marketing does have an impact. And of all those surveyed 47% said that rewarding them for their custom did make a difference, and 49% also declared that demonstrating you care about a customer and understand them influences them when it comes to Christmas shopping.
Tamara Gillan, ceo and founder of Cherry London, says: “Although these results are pretty shocking they are not entirely unexpected. These days customers are a very savvy and demanding bunch, and it’s becoming harder for brands to cut through and stand out.
“Enticing and engaging customers isn’t just about being liked, it’s about going above and beyond and creating a relevant and motivating emotional bond at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way, just take the John Lewis’ campaign as great example. There is finally recognition that purchase decisions are driven more by the emotional than the rational. And the results are evident, John Lewis took £101million in the week after The Bear and the Hare first aired – the earliest it has ever topped £100million in the Christmas build-up - 10.7% up on last year’s figures.
“O2 Priority Moments is another great example of a brand getting to the heart of what their customers need and want and creating that emotional bond, not just at Christmas but all year round. They consistently make their customers feel special, exclusive - the priority, rewarding them with things they love. They then harness the power of technology to always be in the right time in the right place. The results speak for themselves, O2’s churn rate is less than half that of its competitors, and that’s worth millions of pounds to the business.”