Brands' social responsibility matters most to UK consumers

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 20, 2019

UK consumers are more focused on brands ‘doing good’ than those in the US and Australia are, a new study shows and social responsibility is becoming a priority when choosing which brands to support.

That’s important information for the fashion sector with more and more brands supporting charities that empower women in the UK and abroad, honing their sustainability credentials, celebrating LGBTQ consumers, embracing size diversity and inclusivity, and also using more models from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

The consumer study from cloud-based experience specialist InMoment said that UK consumers “are outshining their global peers” but also recognised the advances that have been made at companies and said that UK firms are “well aligned” with consumers, also ranking this as a major area of focus.

The company’s 2019 UK CX Trends study found that 42% of consumers say that brands’ support of environmental, social or political causes is becoming “more or much more important to their purchasing decisions.”

The same is true for a smaller 36% of US consumers and a very much smaller 18% of those in Australia.  

But that doesn’t mean a brand that makes all the right noises on sustainability, diversity and general social good will win over customers completely, because there are other priorities that they need to address.

The report said customers say the most important thing brands can do to improve their experience (and therefore their positive feelings towards them) is to “provide better service through their employees,” so it’s clear that even the most eco-aware brand also has to get customer service right.

And for many shoppers, getting it right means directly engaging with them. InMoment said that “brands prioritise mining digital data, social posts, and reviews over having direct conversations with consumers about important issues.” But 73% of customers say asking them directly is the best way to get to the most essential insights.

And even if they’re currently non-buyers, brand need to find ways of making consumers switch on to them. Looking at online casual browsers, the report said that 72% of customers who leave a website without buying are there to browse, compare or research, but aren’t working out how to get them to convert. “Most brands aren’t even thinking about how to create experiences to engage these pre-customers for the long-term,” it said.