According to research from Experian Hong Kong consumers are suffering from information overload and no longer respond to blanket marketing.

As a result of poorly targeted communication, 47 per cent of Hong Kong respondents have stopped engaging with four or more brands. A further impact of this is four out of ten consumers (41 per cent) said they now ignore the emails, direct mail and social media messages they receive from brands.

The research of 1,046 consumers in Hong Kong, which explored how effectively the general population responds to and engages with marketing efforts, reveals a clear disconnect between the communications they want from brands and the way they are being targeted by marketers. Over a third of all respondents have actively taken the upper hand when it comes to managing the consumer-marketer relationship, with 35 per cent creating a separate email address to avoid being personally targeted by brands.

Key findings from the research “The future of multichannel marketing” are:

Consumer frustrations

  • 23 per cent of consumers in Hong Kong named “inability to unsubscribe from unwanted communication (email, newsletters, direct mail, SMS alerts, social media messages)” as their number one frustration.
  • 19 per cent of respondents think “receiving content that isn’t relevant or helpful” is their biggest annoyance.
  • At the same time, 17 per cent of consumers feel that “receiving content that comes through at the wrong time of day” frustrates them most.

Preferred channels – it’s not all about social

  • Hong Kong consumers agree that a company website is the most valuable source of information they use to look for information about a brand, with 78 per cent stating that it is a relevant or very relevant source.
  • Some 68 per cent of consumers rate print media as a relevant or very relevant channel. However, it has been demoted by marketers to the bottom of the ladder, who ranked it as one of the least important ways (39 percent) that they see consumers getting information about their brand.
  • Search engines (62 per cent) and social media (61 per cent) are also valued sources of information, ranking third and fourth respectively.
  • Mobile apps (48 per cent) and LinkedIn (26 per cent) are perceived as the least important channels for obtaining brand or company information.

Brand Engagement

  • Giveaways and incentives (39 per cent) is the number one way for brands to engage the Hong Kong consumer.
  • Brand experiences, stunts and interactive content (18 per cent) are the next favourite means of engagement closely followed by social media (15 per cent).
  • The least preferable means of engagement were mobile apps (3 per cent) and telephone marketing (1 per cent).

“Consumers are telling us that print media is still a very relevant channel and a more valuable source of information than some digital channels marketers are turning to,” said Beardsell. “The medium is just as critical as the message when it comes to engagement. Consumers want to have a dialogue with brands and know that a brand values their view and provides an intelligent and timely response via their preferred channel. It’s really important that marketers align the delivery of the message with their desired audience via the most appropriate channel at a relevant time. Only then will they succeed.”

Source:  Experian Hong Kong