Advertising, email, consumer trust: 5 interesting stats to start your week

We arm you with all the stats you need to prepare for the coming week and help you understand the big industry trends.

Brand recall most important factor for opening emails

Brand recall is more important than the subject line when it comes to consumers opening an email. While both are important, 68% of people say they will open an email based on the brand, compared to 59% who look at the content in the subject line.

Both brand recall and subject line have become more important to consumers over the past year, given brand was at 55% in 2019 and subject line was 48%.

The importance of relevance has also risen over the past 12 months, with 55% of people saying this is the leading reason they like brand emails. This beats discounts and offers on 53%, but deals are the main driver of people signing up to receive brand emails (48%).

Source: DMA/Validity

Quality beats social responsibility on consumer trust

Just 34% of consumers trust the brands they use, despite 36% saying they are more likely to engage with brands they trust. The vast majority (81%) say trust is a deciding factor when it comes to making a purchase.

The top three brand qualities to build trust with UK consumers are product quality (76%), value for price (72%) and transparency (62%). Fair pricing (61%) and no hidden costs (60%) also score well.

Social responsibility and environmental sustainability (both on 56%) and ethical (55%) come much lower down the ranking.

The research shows a correlation between trust and the level of consumer engagement, with people 30% more likely to engage with luxury goods and auto brands they trust. and 24% more likely when it comes to travel brands.

Source: Clear Channel/JCDecaux

Government was UK’s biggest advertiser in 2020

The Government was the UK’s biggest advertiser in 2020, as it upped spend significantly to deal with the pandemic. HM Government increased ad spend by 238% last year, hitting an estimated total of £164m.

Unilever comes in second with an estimated ad spend of £137.5m, a rise of 76%, while Sky is third having dropped spend by 31% to £124.2m, followed by Procter & Gamble on £117.2m, down 16%.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of McDonald’s (£89.7m, down 41%), Tesco (£81.1m, up 1%), Public Health England (£80.5m, up 796%), Reckitt (£75.1m, down 10.9%), L’Oréal (£72.4m, up 7%) and Amazon (£67.3m, down 40%).

Overall spend across the top 10 UK advertisers dropped 19% in 2020, with an estimated combined ad spend of £7.3bn. Five of the top 10 reduced ad spend, with just three brands, excluding the Government and Public Health England, increasing investment.

Looking at specific channels, spend was down across the board last year. TV remains the largest channel with a total estimated spend of £4.4bn, followed by out-of-home (£1.1bn), press (£969m), radio (£783m) and cinema (£54.9m).

Source: Nielsen

Brits’ interest in rental retail rises

UK shoppers’ interest in renting home products such as workout equipment, toys and tech is rising, with 84% interested in leasing goods over buying them, a 7% rise compared to last year.

Fitness equipment (39%), technology (35%), and toys and games (29%) are the most desired rental items.

The rest of the top 10 is made up of garden equipment (28%), clothes (27%), beauty (24%), furniture (23%) and fashion accessories (23%).

Renting spaces is also popular, with spaces to spend time with friends and family (38%) and space to work (32%), both increasing in importance as a result of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, 57% of UK shoppers say they are going to be more mindful of their online purchases due to the impact of distribution and packaging on the environment.

Source: Westfield

Majority of women feel discriminated again in ads

Just 9% of UK women feel well represented in advertising, with most women feeling discriminated against over their body shapes and how they present themselves.

Look beyond advertising at wider marketing communications and only 7% consider themselves well represented.

Just under half (45%) of women say they feel discriminated against due to their body, shape or size, and while over a third (36%) report discrimination because of the way they look, dress or present themselves.

Source: Getty Images/Dove/Girlgaze

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