• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, June 1, 2010

A recent study Epsilon revealed that a large majority of recent purchasers reported that they would not purchase the same brand again. Less than 60% of consumers indicated a strong likelihood of repurchase. Auto insurance purchasers reported the highest likelihood of repurchase of the brand; Credit cards had the lowest reported likelihood of re-selection.

The study gathered data across seven product categories including televisions, computers, hotels, auto insurance, mobile devices, communication services and credit cards. How consumers perceive and interact with marketing communications is driving specific behaviors and attitudes, says the report.

In the key findings from Epsilon's survey:

• Net promoter scores were also low, reflecting that consumers are not likely to recommend brands or products; Communication services and credit cards had the lowest net promoter scores
• Friends and families were the number one source of information to support decisions
• Many consumers relied on product review websites to aid in their purchase decisions
• Relatively few cited unstructured user generated content as a valuable source for marketing information (i.e. blogs, social media networks);
• Where permission exists, consumers state the preferred channel to receive information was email
• For acquisition marketing, postal mail was the channel preferred by the highest percentage of consumers for communications services and mobile phones, and the second most in many categories (e.g., computers, credit cards, insurance, consumer packaged goods)

In March 2010, Epsilon embarked on a listening exercise by conducting a quantitative and qualitative study to explore the concept of Customer Experience Marketing, to understand the consumer point-of-view.

The study found, across the board, that a large majority of recent purchasers were not satisfied with marketing communications and a shockingly high percentage of recent purchasers said they would not purchase the same brand again. This demonstrates a disparity between expectations and the reality of the way marketers are interacting with these consumers. There is clearly a huge opportunity for improvement.

If people won't repurchase, they won't recommend either, concludes the study. The study explored the factors that drove purchase decisions, the influence of marketing communications consumers received, and the influence of marketing information consumers collected from their own sources.

More than any other source people use friends and families to help them make decisions about what they should purchase. Additionally, many consumers are using product review websites (e.g., consumerreports.org, cnet.com). Somewhat surprisingly, relatively few (0-1.5%, depending on category) stated that information they got from Facebook or Blogs strongly influenced their decisions.

In most cases where a permission-based relationship already existed, the preferred channel to receive information about each product category was email. A high percentage of consumers said that communications that they receive in the mail are influential, too.

The report summarizes by noting that:

• Consumers appreciate a sense of control and trust from email today, which has become the key to consumer experience marketing that consumers accept and value
• Consumers are seeking validation from multiple sources. Marketers are featuring product testimonials or links to objective third-party reviews
• Search marketing and optimization are important topics today, but the best marketers realize they only want a consumer to search for their products once, since each search needs to result in an engaged consumer

Please visit Epsilon here for more information, or here for additional in-depth information and analysis from this study are available in a special report from Epsilon that can be found here.