WASHINGTON DC: Millennials are often regarded as being more idealistic than previous generations but their brand choices are more likely to be motivated by value and service and, to a lesser extent, by general ethics, rather than any political positions a brand adopts.
Morning Consult polled 2,202 adults across the US for its report, What millennials expect from your brand and found that that “Millennials, like older generations, just want reliable, well-priced goods”.
Respondents were questioned on the factors that contributed to brand loyalty. The top three: reliability and/or durability, cited by 68% of millennials, quality (54%) and good customer service (50%).
“Factors like ethical standards or transparency are important to some, but don’t rank atop the most significant contributing factors,” the report said.
And when asked if certain actions would make them like a company “much more”, paying employees well garnered the most positive result (51%), ahead of being a good place to work (40%) and giving some of their profits to a good cause (40%)
Poor customer service was the easiest way for a company to lose a millennial customer (74%), followed by a failure to pay staff well (70%) and the use of unethical labor practices (69%).
But when Morning Consult explored the impact of brands taking a political stance – something that several have actively chosen to do in Donald Trump’s America – it found that most millennials were not that bothered.
Just 15% of this age group said they paid a great deal of attention to ethical and political matters relating to companies they bought goods and services from, although an additional 38% paid some attention; and 29% indicated they would not buy goods or services from companies if they were aware the company had political positions different from their own.
Support for civil and gay rights were the least controversial political positions brands could take, generating net support of 56% and 31% respectively; advocating stricter gun control gained 18% net support.
Abortion, however, remains deeply divisive, the report noted; with the 26% liking a business more if it backed stricter policies cancelled out by the same proportion liking it less .
Morning Consult polled 2,202 adults across the US for its report, What millennials expect from your brand and found that that “Millennials, like older generations, just want reliable, well-priced goods”.
Respondents were questioned on the factors that contributed to brand loyalty. The top three: reliability and/or durability, cited by 68% of millennials, quality (54%) and good customer service (50%).
“Factors like ethical standards or transparency are important to some, but don’t rank atop the most significant contributing factors,” the report said.
And when asked if certain actions would make them like a company “much more”, paying employees well garnered the most positive result (51%), ahead of being a good place to work (40%) and giving some of their profits to a good cause (40%)
Poor customer service was the easiest way for a company to lose a millennial customer (74%), followed by a failure to pay staff well (70%) and the use of unethical labor practices (69%).
But when Morning Consult explored the impact of brands taking a political stance – something that several have actively chosen to do in Donald Trump’s America – it found that most millennials were not that bothered.
Just 15% of this age group said they paid a great deal of attention to ethical and political matters relating to companies they bought goods and services from, although an additional 38% paid some attention; and 29% indicated they would not buy goods or services from companies if they were aware the company had political positions different from their own.
Support for civil and gay rights were the least controversial political positions brands could take, generating net support of 56% and 31% respectively; advocating stricter gun control gained 18% net support.
Abortion, however, remains deeply divisive, the report noted; with the 26% liking a business more if it backed stricter policies cancelled out by the same proportion liking it less .
Sourced from Morning Consult; additional content by WARC staff
