Even with innumerable personal tech products pouring into the market, only 20 percent of shoppers report feeling they have too many devices. So with consumers hungry to buy and a market flooded with options, communicators need to break through the noise to capture their share of consumer consciousness.
New research from PR and marketing agency Matter Communications makes it clear that strong, earned online reviews and a library of “how-to” videos and digital content are a smart place to start.
The firm’s 2018 Consumer Technology Survey reaffirms key digital marketing trends in PR, social and digital marketing, and dispels a few misconceptions regarding why shoppers buy the latest in personal tech. Details of the survey data and best practices for building brand awareness and lifting purchase intent can be found in Matter’s latest e-book “4 Ways to Get Shoppers to Tune into Your Brand.”
Key findings include:
Word of mouth and media still rule
- 71 percent of consumers learn about new products through friends and family
- The top media channels consumers use to find out about new technology products are:
- Television (38 percent)
- Technology news sites like CNET, PC Mag, The Verge, etc. (36 percent)
- Social media (26 percent)
- Mainstream lifestyle magazines and sites like GQ, Buzzfeed, etc. (14 percent)
Reviews upstage celebrities
- The survey also looked at purchasing habits and found that once consumers become aware of a product, online reviews steer most purchasing decisions:
- Product reviews are the most important factor in deciding to purchase (88 percent), even over brand name (71 percent), social influencers (10 percent) and celebrity endorsements (5 percent)
- 56 percent of consumers read reviews on their mobile devices while in-store to purchase a product
Videos drive decisions
- 62 percent of respondents watch consumer technology videos on YouTube, so brands should invest in adding mobile-friendly videos to their content mix
- Having product “how-to” videos available on YouTube are nine times more important to shoppers than celebrity endorsements
- Of the consumer tech video content, the most popular include:
- “How-to” videos (52 percent)
- Product reviews (26 percent)
- “Unboxing” videos (25 percent)
“The data revealed in our consumer technology survey affirms the need for marketers to understand how to creatively communicate to digitally-savvy consumers in an ever-growing market,” said Elise Ouellette, vice president at Matter, in a news release. “Core to developing that strategy is finding partners who truly understand how to elevate and amplify your brand in the right channels to reach the right audience. From headphones and SD cards to cameras and smartphones, Matter has extensive experience designing and executing integrated PR, social media, creative and digital marketing campaigns on behalf of consumer technology brands.”
Matter collected responses from 1,000 US-based consumers in March 2018 via a third-party provider to determine the findings of its 2018 Consumer Technology Survey.
