NEW YORK: Google, Amazon and IKEA are among the brands regarded as being the most "simple", intuitive and innovative by consumers, according to a new global report.
Siegel+Gale, the agency, asked 6,026 people in China, India, Germany, the Middle East, UK and US to assess whether leading brands were easy to understand, transparent, caring, innovative and had "useful" communications.
Google, the online giant, retained the top spot, having come first on the Siegel+Gale report in 2010, posting 955 points. The firm was praised for offering users an efficient way to view "mindboggling" amounts of information.
Sarah Negugogor is a senior information architect for the Siegel+Gale, said: "Google presents one easy point of access for all of the different content on the Internet. When it focuses on its core strengths – search and email – it provides simple services that just do what you want them to do."
Amazon, the ecommerce site, was in second place on 885 points, up 5% year on year. It beat IKEA, the furniture retailer, which scored 882 points, and McDonald's, the fast-food chain, on 867 points.
Apple, the electronics firm, scored 861 points, a 25% annual lift. The analysis noted that participants awarded PCs, email and traditional phones hit 8.4 points in terms of simplicity of use, as smartphones yielded 7.9 points and tablets logged 7.5 points.
Completing the top ten were Nokia, the telco, on 859 points, Pizza Hut, the restaurant chain, on 853 points, Marks & Spencer, the retailer, on 844 points, LG, the electronics expert, on 843 points, and Starbucks, the coffee house group, on 842 points.
Some nuances did emerge by country, with Netflix, the video platform on 910 points in the US, surpassing Google's 875 points. Similarly, Amazon topped the poll in Germany, scoring 995 points to Google's 992.
The greatest variation came in China, where Baidu, the search engine, led on 1,085 points, beating eHi, the car services firm, on 1,079 points, Apple on 1,076 points, and 360buy, the ecommerce site, on 1,018 points.
Globally, consumers would typically be willing to pay a premium for simpler experiences, reaching 6.3% for appliances, 6% for fashion and general retail, 5.5% for grocery shopping and 5% for utilities.
In the US alone, the incremental revenues this could supply stood at $20.1bn, with the UK and Germany accounting for an extra $10bn.
A further 81% of the panel said they would recommend a brand performing well in this area, peaking at 91.1% in China and 87.7% in the UK, but falling to only 68.2% for Germany.
Siegel+Gale, the agency, asked 6,026 people in China, India, Germany, the Middle East, UK and US to assess whether leading brands were easy to understand, transparent, caring, innovative and had "useful" communications.
Google, the online giant, retained the top spot, having come first on the Siegel+Gale report in 2010, posting 955 points. The firm was praised for offering users an efficient way to view "mindboggling" amounts of information.
Sarah Negugogor is a senior information architect for the Siegel+Gale, said: "Google presents one easy point of access for all of the different content on the Internet. When it focuses on its core strengths – search and email – it provides simple services that just do what you want them to do."
Amazon, the ecommerce site, was in second place on 885 points, up 5% year on year. It beat IKEA, the furniture retailer, which scored 882 points, and McDonald's, the fast-food chain, on 867 points.
Apple, the electronics firm, scored 861 points, a 25% annual lift. The analysis noted that participants awarded PCs, email and traditional phones hit 8.4 points in terms of simplicity of use, as smartphones yielded 7.9 points and tablets logged 7.5 points.
Completing the top ten were Nokia, the telco, on 859 points, Pizza Hut, the restaurant chain, on 853 points, Marks & Spencer, the retailer, on 844 points, LG, the electronics expert, on 843 points, and Starbucks, the coffee house group, on 842 points.
Some nuances did emerge by country, with Netflix, the video platform on 910 points in the US, surpassing Google's 875 points. Similarly, Amazon topped the poll in Germany, scoring 995 points to Google's 992.
The greatest variation came in China, where Baidu, the search engine, led on 1,085 points, beating eHi, the car services firm, on 1,079 points, Apple on 1,076 points, and 360buy, the ecommerce site, on 1,018 points.
Globally, consumers would typically be willing to pay a premium for simpler experiences, reaching 6.3% for appliances, 6% for fashion and general retail, 5.5% for grocery shopping and 5% for utilities.
In the US alone, the incremental revenues this could supply stood at $20.1bn, with the UK and Germany accounting for an extra $10bn.
A further 81% of the panel said they would recommend a brand performing well in this area, peaking at 91.1% in China and 87.7% in the UK, but falling to only 68.2% for Germany.
Data sourced from Siegel+Gale; additional content by Warc staff
