It wasn’t long ago when consumers wanted to know everything about brands—the purpose mandate that became a huge purchase influencer years ago demanded that brands share their views on societal matters and actively take a stand, even on highly divisive issues like abortion rights, gun control, and politics. But as election vitriol heats up, it appears that most of us are hearing plenty of it elsewhere, and new research from customer reviews destination Sitejabber finds that most want brands to put their soapboxes away..
The firm’s new survey results indicate that a brand’s political stances don’t strongly influence the majority of consumers’ purchase decisions anymore—nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of consumers care very little to not at all about a brand’s political affiliation, and only 30 percent have boycotted a brand over political reasons in the past 12 months. As we approach the 2024 election, 41 percent of buyers prefer companies keep their political positions private.
Brandstanding is more media hype than reality
“At a time when our country feels so divided, it’s refreshing to see that political sentiments might not have as much impact on purchasing decisions as the media would lead us to believe,” said Michael Lai, CEO and co-founder of Sitejabber, in a news release..
Other key findings from the report include:
- Consumers generally refrain from writing politically motivated reviews—80 percent say they have never left a public review or comment about a product or service specifically because of the company’s political stance. And 78 percent report they are unlikely to mention a company’s political affiliation when writing a review.
- Many customers believe they are savvy enough to remain impartial when reading politically-motivated reviews, with 44 percent being aware of the practice of “review bombing” and 34 percent reporting that a sudden influx of negative company reviews would not affect their purchasing decision.
Beware of review bombing
In recent years, the practice of review bombing—coordinated assaults on a brand, often fueled by disgruntled customers, competitors or even online trolls for various reasons including political motivations—has become an increasingly challenging issue for businesses across industries. This form of attack can be devastating to a business’s online reputation.
“Given our current state of politics, businesses have become less outspoken on hot-button issues in an effort to avoid consumer backlash,” said Lai. “However, it seems as if the political temperature is starting to drop, at least when it comes to deciding which brands and products consumers want to do business with.”
MarketSight conducted the survey, which included 1,000 online responses from consumers aged 21+ across the United States.
