Consumer Insights Archives

Singapore – Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, latest research from YouGov Surveys reveals that more than one in three (36%) Singapore residents follow F1 motor racing.

Data from YouGov’s survey also states that the highest proportion of F1 followers in Singapore are from Gen X, and that men are also more likely to tune in to F1 than women, especially among Gen Z.

When asked about this year’s Singapore Grand Prix, about 32% of F1 followers in Singapore said that they will be watching the race on-site. Notably, about 18% of attendees are attending the race in-person for the first time.

Talking about reasons for attending physically, 59% of this year’s attendees attribute the opportunity to meet up with friends to watch the race together with attending the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix in person, while on the other hand, 57% say that they just generally enjoy a trackside view of the race.

Furthermore, about half of race goers also cite being a fan of one or more F1 drivers who will be competing in this year’s edition as one of the reasons they are getting tickets, while 39% will attend since they’re a fan of one or more artists who will be performing at this year’s entertainment lineup.

On the other hand, 58% of Singaporean F1 followers say that they won’t be attending due to ticket prices being out of their budget this year. Notably, ticketing costs are by far the most common reason among past attendees who are not catching the race on site this year as well.

54% of fans also prefer catching the race via television broadcast, as do almost two-fifths among past attendees. The next most common reasons, following at a distance, are not being able to secure race tickets in time and not being interested in this year’s entertainment lineup.

Lastly, it is also worth mentioning that the survey also revealed Britain’s Lewis Hamilton as the driver with the largest fan base in Singapore, and when it comes to the performing artists, Robbie Williams is the most popular artist performing at this year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

APAC – Latest data from audience intelligence tool YouGov Profiles reveals that 46% of all APAC consumers are drawn to socially-conscious brands that display values aligned with their own and that 48% are drawn to brands that get involved with issues of wider societal interest.

According to the data, more than half of APAC consumers are most likely to consider a brand’s values when making purchase decisions and appreciate brands that engage with social issues.

Information provided also delves into the appeal of brand messaging amongst APAC consumers, as well the appeal of other efforts such as sustainability actions and valuing the locality and nationality of brands.

On brand messaging, Brands that have a moral message are also more likely to appeal to three out of five APAC consumers. Regionally, 54% of Indonesian consumers and 45% of Thai consumers consider whether a brand upholds values that align with their personal outlook before making a purchase and are also most likely to appreciate brands that engage with social issues. These brands have the widest appeal in Indonesia (80%) and Hong Kong (60%), although just under a third of consumers in the latter like brands that get involved with social issues.

When it comes to sustainability, the data reveals that about 48% of APAC consumers try to buy from brands which are socially and environmentally responsible, and 53% prefer those that engage in fair trade processes. Notably, the majority are also willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. Buying from socially and environmentally responsible companies is a priority for most Thai (62%) and Indonesian (55%) consumers, but for roughly only a third in Singapore (33%) and Hong Kong (34%).

Looking out for fair trade products is something close to two-thirds of consumers in Indonesia make an effort to do, but only two in five consumers in other key APAC markets say the same. Indonesian consumers are also most open to spending more for eco-friendly products (72%), ahead of Thai (51%) and Australian (50%) consumers, while less than half of Singaporean (41%) and Hong Kong (38%) consumers would.

Lastly, around half of all APAC consumers are also concerned with large online and multinational enterprises driving out small businesses in their community, with over half of APAC consumers choosing local community shops over foreign ones and making efforts to support local businesses.

Specifically, consumers in Indonesia are most likely to conscientiously support local businesses (82%), followed by Australia(68%). On the other hand, Singapore is the only market where less than half of consumers say they make an effort to support local businesses and prefer shopping close-by.

Singapore – Around 3 in 5 Singaporeans have been reported to be willing to change their existing travel habits in search of better travel deals, according to the latest data from travel agency Skyscanner.

The allure of a great price offer emerged as the top reason for Singaporeans to travel, with 62% of respondents considering it as their primary motivation.

Despite the prevailing concerns about rising living costs, 89% of Singaporeans remain committed to allocating a portion of their budget for travel, with 23% identified as avid travelers who prioritize exploration regardless of their financial situation.

Furthermore, nearly 80% of Singaporeans strategically plan quick getaways during extended public holiday weekends to escape the hot weather and fast-paced lifestyles. Bangkok, Bali, and Kuala Lumpur emerge as the top destinations for these spontaneous trips.

Additionally, Singaporeans are thrifty celebrators, with securing a good deal being the primary motivation for booking trips, and they typically spend at most a week finding favourable deals.

In a statement from Skyscanner’s Travel Trends and Destination Expert, Cyndi Hui said that the report had revealed the fascinating opportunistic nature of Singaporeans when exploring new places.

Finally, while Gen Z travelers seek to enhance their social media presence through travel, a significant percentage of respondents across various age groups prioritize mental relaxation and stress relief as the primary benefits of traveling.

Singapore – With many mass consumers experimenting with the potential of generative artificial intelligence (AI), a new report from Capgemini Research Institute reveals that 73% of consumers globally trust content generated by AI, more specifically in assisting in financial planning, medical diagnosis, and relationship advice.

The research notes that 53% of consumers trust AI-generated content for financial planning, 67% for medical diagnosis, and 66% using generative AI tools for seeking advice from in terms of personal relationships or life and career plans.

However, it is also worth noting that consumer awareness around the ethical concerns and misuse of generative AI is low. The data notes that 49% of consumers remain unconcerned by the prospect of generative AI being used to create fake news stories, and just 34% of respondents are concerned about phishing attacks.

In addition, only 33% are worried about copyright issues and only 27% are worried about the use of generative AI algorithms to copy competitors’ product designs or formulas.

In terms of businesses adopting generative AI tools, 43% of global consumers are keen for organisations to implement generative AI throughout customer interactions, and 50% consumers have a positive reception to the highly immersive and interactive experiences that this technology can enable.

For Niraj Parihar, CEO of the insights and data global business line and member of the group executive committee at Capgemini, awareness of generative AI amongst consumers globally is remarkable, and the rate of adoption has been massive, yet the understanding of how this technology works and the associated risks is still very low.

“Whilst regulation is critical, business and technology partners also have an important role to play in providing education and enforcing the safeguards that address concerns around the ethics and misuse of generative AI. For example, our role at Capgemini is to help clients cut through the hype and leverage the most relevant use cases for their specific business needs, within an ethical framework,” Parihar said.

He added, “Generative AI is not ‘intelligent’ in itself; the intelligence stems from the human experts who these tools will assist and support. The key to success therefore, as with any AI, is the safeguards that humans build around them to guarantee the quality of its output.”

Singapore – Around 64% of respondents in the Asia-Pacific region are willing to engage with brands collecting data directly, with 57% of respondents open to sharing demographics data. This is according to the latest data from customer engagement platform Twilio.

According to the data, respondents appreciate the benefits of personalised experiences, with 65% acknowledging that personal data usage enhances their interaction with brand websites. Over 57% are comfortable or indifferent to social media platforms sharing their personal data with other brands or businesses.

Moreover, 60% of respondents expect clear and comprehensible information about data usage, emphasising the importance of transparency in building consumer confidence.

However, only 15% were comfortable with all their data being shared with another brand. This figure has more than doubled to 34% amongst those who were generally aware how their data is being used, rising to 46% for those who had full knowledge of how organisations use their data.

The data also showed that 76% of respondents either accept all cookies or allow selected cookies, reflecting a willingness to engage in data sharing. This widespread acceptance appears to be mainly due to pragmatism, not ignorance, however. Most survey respondents understand that cookies are widely used to provide personalised experiences on a website or app. But they also say they would prefer that they are not used.

In fact, 72% of respondents believe consumers should avoid websites that collect cookies, indicating caution towards cookie practices. An overwhelming 90% agree that site owners must disclose their use of cookies and provide the option to opt out, or risk losing consumer trust. These findings underscore the need for brands to balance personalised experiences and consumer privacy, maintaining trust while offering tailored engagements.

Nicholas Kontopoulos, vice president of marketing for Asia Pacific & Japan at Twilio said, “Today, consumers expect brands to protect their data and be upfront about how their data is being used. The combination of scepticism towards third-party data and the willingness to share data with trusted brands is fueling new opportunities and forging the pathway to a healthy and sustainable data-sharing ecosystem across the region.”

Singapore – Super apps – mobile applications that can offer multiple services within a single app – are here to stay, with around 51% of Singaporeans reported to have used them at least a couple of times every week. This is according to the latest data from Qualtrics, with support from SAP and Center for Experience Management in Singapore.

According to the data, the most frequent use cases are shopping for general items, buying groceries, ordering food and ride-hail services, paying for items in-store, and arranging for items to be delivered.

In terms of which super app features are mostly used, digital wallets come out on top. Around 59% of respondents said they have used a digital wallet to make a physical purchase in the last 12 months, and 64% said they intend to use a super app to make a physical purchase in the next six months.

Meanwhile, it is also revealed that consumers have less intent to use a super app for listening to music, messaging friends, playing games, and buying insurance.

When it comes to factors that would increase super app usage, feedback suggests overcoming consumers’ concerns with privacy and security is one of the main areas to address. The study also revealed that consumers are looking for improvements in mobile app ease of use and payment options, across many of the brands and apps that they interact with.

“Equipped with the right customer insights, brands can tailor how they deliver services via super apps to ensure this new channel complements their customer experience for the people that are using them, while maximising the investments they’re making in the space. And simultaneously, by knowing what customers aren’t using super apps, organisations can take important action to ensure no-one is left behind by the change underway,” the research noted.

Singapore – Google’s year-end rankings in Search for Singapore in 2022 have revealed that Singaporean consumers are seeking to be in control of their identities, lifestyles, and what they value.

The report has identified three key consumer trends based on search behaviours by Singaporeans that marketers can leverage to optimise their marketing strategies. These are ‘soul searching’, ‘value hunting’, and ‘finding joy’.

According to the report, Singaporeans sought more information on the well-loved travel destination Japan, as search interest in ‘Japan culture’ rose by 20%. The report also showed that the search interest in ‘gender inequality’ grew by 50%, signifying Singaporeans’ support of diverse identities.

In terms of value hunting, the search interest for ‘inflation’ grew by 160% as Singaporeans increasingly reassess what they consider to be of value and give attention to economic trends. Keywords like ‘recommendations’ and ‘top rated’ were also amongst the top searches, as consumers consider trust in brands even more.

Moreover, the report found that Singaporeans are looking for more ways to treat themselves and endeavour in post-pandemic revenge travel, with keyword ‘flight tickets’ gaining a 430% increase in search interest.

It was also unveiled that Singaporeans are looking more into convenience, with the virtual clinic ‘doctor anywhere’ gaining a 260% search interest.

Singapore – Following Charles & Keith’s response to the viral TikTok video of Singapore-based Filipino teenager Zoe Gabriel, it’s revealed by research firm YouGov that consumer impression and purchase consideration towards the brand sharply increased.

In a recent trending incident, Gabriel was bashed online by several users after posting a TikTok video of her purchasing a Charles & Keith bag and sharing that it’s her ‘first luxury bag’. An additional caption read, “Thank you dad.”

As a response, the brand invited Gabriel and her dad to its headquarters in Singapore and were given more gifts. Charles & Keith later on praised Gabriel for her ‘grace and humility’ despite the online bashing.

According to YouGov, the brand’s ‘Buzz’ score–pertaining to measurement of positive and negative sentiments of the brand in media–soared by 19.7 points: from 7.9 on January 8 to 27.6 by January 16.

Meanwhile, the brand’s ‘WOM Exposure’ score–which tracks the percentage of consumers who are talking about a brand in the past two weeks–also rose by 12.3 points – from 8.4 on January 8 to 20.7 by January 16.

In terms of consumer perception metrics, Charles & Keith’s net ‘Impression’ scores–which measure whether more consumers have a positive or negative impression of a brand–gained 13 points: from 8.2 on January 8 to 21.2 by January 16.

Lastly, the brand’s ‘Consideration’ scores–which track the percentage of Singapore residents who would consider buying from the brand when they are next in the market for a fashion product–increased by 8.3 points – from 11.5 on January 8 to 19.8 by January 16 – indicating that more consumers are interested in shopping for Charles & Keith products following the incident.

Following the incident, the trending topic also sparked quite a conversation within Singapore’s politics, with deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong using the incident as an example of questioning what is truly deemed as a ‘luxury’.

Singapore – Superapp Grab in Singapore was under fire in recent weeks following its decision to shorten the grace waiting period. In the new decision, users will be automatically charged a waiting fee of S$3 per five-minute waiting block if they keep the driver waiting for longer than three minutes. Meanwhile, a S$4 fee applies if a passenger cancels a booking more than three minutes after accepting one.

This decision has angered some consumers, leading to Singapore’s Transport Minister S. Iswaran questioned in Parliament on the Government’s supervision over ride-hailing platforms.

This was evident with the latest data from the latest YouGov BrandIndex that shows that Grab’s Buzz, Consideration and Customer Satisfaction scores among Singapore residents who say they are very to somewhat likely to use transport providers all significantly declined shortly after its new grace waiting period came into force.

In terms of media metrics, net Buzz scores, which measure whether consumers have heard more positive or negative things about a brand in the past two weeks, fell from 17.9 on 18 July to -2.6 by 1 August, indicating that more consumers heard negative than positive things about the brand.

Meanwhile, Grab’s Consideration scores, which track the percentage of Singapore residents who would consider using the platform in the next month, lost nearly 20 points from 47.1 on 18 July to 27.3 by 1 August, while the brand’s net Customer Satisfaction scores, which measure whether Grab’s current customers are generally satisfied or unsatisfied with the brand, dropped 14 points from 27.4 on 18 July to 13.0 by 1 August.

Lastly, data from YouGov BrandIndex shows that Grab’s Buzz, Consideration, Customer Satisfaction scores all started on an upward trajectory in the days after the parliamentary statement. Notably, net Buzz scores returned to positive territory of 1.4 by 4 August. However, the platform’s net Corporate Reputation scores, which improved from 2-3 August, declined again from 3-4 August.

Singapore – The business of marketing is nothing but a pursuit of innovation that seeks to replace ‘older’ problems with ‘better’ ones. While the internet has blessed us with an ecosystem that generates overflowing data, the ‘better’ problem now is how do we strategically and intelligently translate this marketing data at hand into solutions that are a win-win for both the brand and consumer?

In the recently concluded webinar by MARKETECH APAC and Vase.ai, the latter’s CEO, Julie Ng, gives a presentation to discuss the three things that boggle marketers’ minds the most in the midst of transforming marketing intel into groundbreaking marketing.

These are (1) Ensuring ROI, (2) Getting signals rather than noise, and (3) Conducting consumer research with minimal resources. At the heart of putting in place an effective ‘consumer insights system’ is this simple yet compelling framework which is called the Consumer Insights Loop.

The ‘loop’ is so straightforward that upon learning it, brands can go ahead and apply it right away in their most immediate marketing concerns.

The Consumer Insights Loop consists of three steps: Feedback – Action – Outcome.

Julie said that the same strategy is being adopted and embraced by top Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Uber. And what these companies have found as most effective is first, treating consumer insights as a feedback mechanism in everything they do (feedback). The second is directing that feedback to tie it to a new business action (action), and then lastly, to close the loop, measuring the outcome of the new action (outcome) and then repeating the process all over again – using the consumer insight extracted from the new action as the baseline feedback to start and develop a new business action.

As an example, Julie uses the case of a telecom whose objective is to look for a promotional campaign idea to increase roaming usage data.

As a starting ‘feedback’, the telecom found that roaming prices are currently a big hurdle to consumers, and that insight revealed that the audience, prone to sharing their experiences online, would use data 71 times more if charged at a lower rate. With this, the telco created a campaign that charged lower roaming tariffs and a messaging that played around the theme of ‘holiday spam’. When measured, the campaign had actually resulted in a 90% increase in the telecom’s social conversation volume and off-the-chart brand metrics.

In the presentation, Julie also shared insights on how to identify and acquire ‘signal’ from ‘noise’ in a trove of overflowing data. She said that in order to successfully distil a ‘signal’, you have to be intentional, targeted, and specific on the type of data you’d like to obtain.

Furthermore, in order to confidently say that a consumer insight is indeed a signal that leads to an action and is not a noise, we need to meaningfully close at least one round of the loop. However, even if it is indeed a signal, you would need to close the loop at least twice in order to get meaningful business results.

Learn more about what Julie has to say with regard to refining and optimising your consumer insights strategy through the on-demand webinar.

The webinar, with the theme Consumer Insights Power-Up 2022, gathered marketing leaders in SEA to discuss how brands are building and implementing their best practices in consumer insights. The industry discussion saw Jia Nina, the Country Marketing Head of BigPay, and Tanushri Rastogi, the marketing lead of Popeyes for APAC gracing the panel, while Neeraj Gulati, partner at Accenture Song, joining the discussion for a fireside conversation.