Study Reveals 79% Of Consumers Only Buy From Brands That Prove They Care About Earning Their Business

A Commpro News UpdateIn a world and marketplace seeing an increase in need for transparency and decreased trust, brands must prove they’ll commit to earning their customer's business. Today leading global digital agency, Wunderman announced results of a survey that shows that 79% of consumers ages 18-65 in the US say brands must actively demonstrate "they understand and care about me" before they consider purchasing. Brands need a new approach to consumer engagement identified by the research as "Wantedness" if they want to survive and thrive in this climate.The agency defines Wantedness as “the degree to which a brand proves their commitment to earning a customer's business across every touchpoint and throughout the entire path to purchase.” In the past, marketers have focused primarily on developing customer loyalty, but this new research shows what consumers are focused on is a brands commitment to them, exceeding their expectations every day.In addition, the research identified that the competitive landscape has changed with 87% of US consumers now evaluating most brands against leading major companies who have set new standards of excellence- such as Amazon, Uber and Netflix."With expectations at an all-time high, brands are required to operate in consumer culture and not just within their own category," says Jamie Gutfreund, Global CMO of Wunderman. "It used to be that brands had the luxury of customers conforming to their business models, which worked for many years. But the tables have turned. Today, consumers expect businesses to adapt to their needs and our findings are consistent across all generations, geographies and genders."The concept of Wantedness therefore requires a data-driven approach to understanding what consumers expect in order to drive engagement and sales.According to the research, brands today must do more than just provide a good quality product or service. Simply being "at par" is not enough; 88% of American respondents say that brands must "push boundaries" in order to be considered.Other key findings from the study include:

• 90% of American consumers believe mobile empowers them to make better purchase decisions.
• 89% of American consumers say that they are loyal to brands that share their values.
• 74% of consumers in the US say that brands can set a new standard by how they serve customers (in other words they don't have to just offer a new product).

For more on Wantedness and to view a copy of the full report, please visit: wantedness.com/.