The COVID-19 crisis is changing consumer behaviors. Brands whose promise includes a clean, safe and trusted experience are on particular notice. But all brands will face new marketing norms.
Clean is safe
People are experiencing a lack of control trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from an invisible threat. To be safe, cleanliness is paramount. We are cleaning every surface imaginable and using protective barriers like gloves and masks to try to control our interactions.
Apart together
Social distancing will be on the minds of everyone returning to stores, restaurants, public transit, and events. People will be looking for ways to create space and minimize contact.
Home as hub
Remote working will become even more prevalent in the future. We’ll continue our new habits of having online hangouts with family and friends. And, we expect our shopping habits to be altered permanently as we’ve become used to purchasing as much as we can online.
Social deepening
A return to what matters. Consumers are no longer over-scheduled, and they like it. They are interacting in new and better ways with their families.
Brands that can convey how they provide a safe, clean sensory experience will earn the consumer trust necessary to restart and deepen relationships. Here are some emerging design principles that can build trust and instill confidence:
- Prove It’s Safe: Clearly signal how a shared environment or a shipped good is kept clean and safe.
- Make It Cleanable: Plan design choices so products can be cleaned easily, thoroughly and confidently.
- Create Space: Adapt environments to allow people to create personal distance and reduce the risk of exposure.
- Go Contactless: Transition consumers to voice or gesture solutions for touchless product control.
- Rethink “Touchpoints”: Re-imagine service journeys that minimize touches or link to a consumer’s phone
- Engage Remotely: Equip consumers to learn more about your offer through automated or mediated channels
- Go Direct: Find ways to warmly and efficiently deliver your product or service directly to the consumer.
Lextant has a deep knowledge base of insights around consumer expectations for Clean and Trust as brand attributes. Our expertise draws on findings from across industries with consumers in the US and abroad about what they desire from clean, safe and trusted experiences. We have translated those insights into sensory cue guides for products, services and environments.
We’re here to help you jumpstart your thinking and planning for the post-COVID-19 world. Our nimble research approaches help quickly discern what matters most to consumers and then translates those insights into actionable product and service innovations and predicts in-market viability.