Almost all consumers want to hear from retailers and e-commerce companies. However, not all consumers agree on when they want to hear from them.
According to a recent survey from Emarsys, 81% of Americans want to receive advertisements from retailers and e-tailers; but only 57% say they want to hear from them when there’s a sale or promotion. Slightly fewer, 47%, say they want to hear from commerce companies when something they’ve been perusing drops in price. Other times Americans wish to hear from e-tailers and retailers:
- When something they’ve been looking at is close to selling out (26%)
- When a holiday is approaching (25%)
- After visiting a company’s website/social media page/store (23%)
- When they’re at home (17%)
- When they’re shopping in or close to their store (16%)
- When a loved one’s birthday is coming up (12%)
- After visiting a competitor’s store/website (10%)
- When at work (3%)
“This latest round of research confirms what we’ve known for years: that a vast majority of Americans want to receive advertisements from retailers and e-commerce companies,” Emarsys CMO Tomas Puig, said in a statement about the study, “they just want the right message at the right time.”
Even though the lion’s share of Americans welcome ads, the survey shows that 81% say they’d likely take steps to prevent unwanted email from retailers and e-tailers; for example, 65% say they’d unsubscribe immediately from all company communications. Other actions taken by respondents include:
- Contact customer service (18%)
- Shop at a competitor instead (14%)
- Complain to their family and friends (13%)
- Blacklist the brand and never shop there again (11%)
- Rant on social media to their followers (6%)
- Post/tweet directly to the retailer to complain (6%)
The survey—which polled 2,120 online adults—also reveals that the channel via which companies interact with consumers matters greatly. Almost half (48%) of respondents say that TV ads are most effective in persuading them to buy a product. Print ads (38%) ranked second, email (35%) third, social media (22%) is next, then radio (15%), mobile (12%), Internet banner ads (9%), and SMS/text messages (7%).
In addition to gauging perspectives on marketing and advertising, the survey also asked respondents which presidential candidate they think is doing the best marketing job. Donald Trump (37%), apparently, is conducting the best marketing campaign among the candidates; trailing him is Bernie Sanders (21%) and Hillary Clinton (20%). Eighteen percent of Americans think that Ben Carson is conducting the best marketing campaign, while 11% say Ted Cruz is the top candidate when it comes to marketing themselves.
