Consumer Confidence: It’s a Bit Murky Out There
As small business owners in a recession, we eagerly await any news that consumer confidence is rebounding to normal levels. But looking at consumers as one undifferentiated mass is a big mistake. As the latest BIG Research Consumer Intentions & Actions survey uncovered, consumer optimism may be on the rebound among some groups, while it’s falling among others. Knowing what your customers think is key to successfully marketing to them.
BIG surveyed consumers in four age brackets:
- Silent (born 1945 or earlier)
- Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964)
- Gen X (born 1965 – 1982)
- Gen Y (born 1983 – 1993
Gen Y (there are various “definitions” of the age of this generation) was the most likely to be feeling confident that the U.S. economy is going to return to its pre-recession days. More than one in three (36.7 percent) of Gen Y felt this way. At the same time, Gen Y was also the most likely to feel uncertain about the future of the economy (37.5 percent).
Generation X was close behind its younger cohorts, with 35.8 percent feeling that the economy will bounce back, and 33.9 percent feeling uncertain.
More pessimistic were the Baby Boomers and Silents. Only 29.5 percent of Boomers and 26.8 percent of Silents felt that the economy will bounce back to its former days. In contrast, 39.3 percent of Silents and 37.9 percent of Boomers believe the economy will never recover. (33.9 percent of Silents and 32.5 percent of Boomers were uncertain.)
Least pessimistic? Generation Y—just 25.8 percent felt the economy will never recover, and only 30.3 percent of Gen Xers felt the same.
What’s the reason for the different attitudes? And more importantly, how can your understanding of them help you market to the different age groups?
Silents: Silents lived through or were closely affected by periods of hardship. Some lived through the Great Depression, and all grew up in the shadow of World War II, so they are used to saving and sacrificing. So their pessimistic attitudes may reflect the attitudes they were raised with. To market to this generation, focus on value—not just cost savings, but products and services that are worth the price.
Baby Boomers: Born and raised in unprecedented economic good times, Boomers have taken hard knocks in this economy. They’ve seen their retirement plans decimated and since many of them are caring for aging (Silent generation) parents, they’re shouldering their parents’ financial burdens as well. Add to it the return of adult children to the nest, and Boomers are feeling pretty squeezed. But Boomers still want to treat themselves, so marketing to them should focus on how your product or service can save them time or money, how it can enable them to enjoy life (the way they feel they deserve) or how it can give them a well-earned break.
Generation X: Generation X is in the throes of marriage and parenting and are at the prime of their work careers. This is the stage when consumers, no matter the economy, have to make lots of big purchasing decisions—buying homes, planning weddings or gearing up for babies. Gen X has high expectations for success but a lower budget to achieve it. Target these stressed-out consumers with products and services that help them feel good about themselves without breaking the bank. And be aware that they’re fully tapping the power of the Internet to find and share the best businesses and the best deals.
Generation Y: While they may be the most optimistic, Gen Y has less money to spend than the other groups, simply due to their life stage. However, because they have fewer commitments, they may have more disposable income. Target them with products and services that help them connect to their peers while still being affordable for their limited budgets. One option that can work well for Gen Y is offering different price packages for your product or service. Pricing at a basic level, mid-level and premium levels can appeal to their budgets as well as to their beliefs that eventually, the premium level will be within their reach.
Learn to target the different generations in your marketing, and you’ll see sales that will have you feeling a lot more optimistic about the economy.
Stormy Economy Photo via Shutterstock
Consumer Confidence: It’s a Bit Murky Out There
Is Your Site Mobile Friendly? Google Can Tell You
According to one statistic, half of all local searches are performed on a mobile device. With more people accessing websites using their smartphones, making sure you website is readable on a phone is not something you can ignore. Load times, readability and images often render differently on a smaller screen. If a website is less functional when viewed on a phone versus a regular PC or laptop, many mobile users will simply leave a site.
Now Google wants to help make sure your website is mobile friendly. Its GoMo site, launched last November, lets you test the functionality of your website on a mobile device. The site uses a tool called GoMoMeter, created by Mullen Advertising, and powered by Keynote Systems‘ MITE product, which allows users to see what their websites would look like on a mobile device. It also provides tips for improving mobile readiness of your site, as well as resources for building the mobile version of your website.
Why Being Mobile Friendly Matters
According to Google, 60% of users expect a mobile site to load in three seconds or less. More than half of users wouldn’t recommend a business with a bad mobile site. So even if you don’t think you need a mobile version of your site, you could, in fact, be losing customers without one.
According to Nisheeth Mohan of Keynote systems, mobile users will be spending even more time browsing the mobile Web in 2012. ”Consumers are beginning to expect a desktop experience with their mobile devices,” he said, “With increased spending for mobile advertisements and marketing as well as the use of mobile for commerce, businesses must be mobile ready to leverage mobile to reach existing and new customers. Optimized mobile websites will be critical components in driving revenue moving forward.”
How the GOMO Meter Works
You go to the site, enter your URL, and the GoMoMeter will display what your site looks like on a mobile device. Answer a few questions about readability and whether you could click the links with a thumb, and you’re taken to a page that gives you your page’s loading speed, info on images displaying correctly and text size. You’re given the option to download a free customized report with suggestions for improving your site’s mobile functionality.
Here are a few general tips from Google for making sure your site functions well on a mobile phone:
- Keep loading times fast
- Simplify navigation
- Be “thumb friendly”
- Design for visibility
Is Your Site Mobile Friendly? Google Can Tell You
What’s the State of Green Business?
What are corporate sustainability leaders worrying about these days? Are businesses still investing time and money in green initiatives like they did a few years ago?
GreenBiz recently unveiled its State of Green Business 2012 report. The 84-page report goes into great detail about the current climate for business sustainability and outlines some emerging green business trends.
Though there’s a general perception that it’s been a grim few years for sustainability given the down economy, the report says that’s not exactly true. Companies continue to “make, meet and even exceed” their sustainability goals, it says, and invest in clean energy.
That said, it points to some disconcerting signs: Carbon and other toxic emissions continue to climb worldwide, despite efforts to curtail them. E-waste, the recycling of electronics, continues to pile up in landfills.
The report looks at what’s happened to a wide range of key sustainability indicators over the past year or two.
Here are some of the interesting findings:
- Clean-tech venture capital investments dropped by one-third in 2011 over 2010. (This was partly due to the economy, but also the high-profile failure of solar panel maker Solyndra that caused political backlash, the report says.)
- Prices of solar panels are falling, installations going up.
- Clean energy patents grew by 24% in 2011, up to 2,331.
- Nearly half of all S&P 500 companies now report their non-financial environmental indicators.
- The percentage of people carpooling and taking public transit to work fell slightly in 2011, according to U.S. Census data.
- People working from home at least three days per week grew slightly, to 8.6 million, accord to IDC Research.
- Energy use per dollar of U.S. gross domestic product rose by 4.5% in 2010 – the first increase in more than half a century of declines – according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. (The reason? The bad economy in 2010 led to fewer companies making energy-efficiency improvements to offset the growth in energy consumption.)
- 2.44 million tons of electronics were discarded in 2010, and only about 25% of that was recycled.
- The number of building owners pursuing LEED in 2011 dropped slightly from 2010.
Though the tough economy has certainly made it more challenging to devote resources to sustainability efforts, the report says companies would be hurting themselves by not trying:
“For companies, the risks and potential costs of doing nothing are rising … Addressing sustainability issues is no longer an optional, nice-to-do activity. It is an expectation, no more PR-worthy than safety, quality, employee retention, or customer satisfaction.”
Green Photo via Shutterstock
What’s the State of Green Business?
