• by Ray Schultz , February 17, 2023

Consumers badly want to influence brands, judging by Collaboration & Consensus: Do Consumers Feel Heard?, a study from Ruder Finn, conducted with Full Spectrum Insights. 

Of those polled, 57% desire to engage directly with brands. And they want to be heard by them: 78% wrote an online review, while 56% reached out to a brand and 22% have boycotted a firm that disappointed them. 

Not to worry: 48.7 have done so to provide positive feedback, and only 12.4% engage to say something negative. 

Moreover, 55% have a better opinion of a brand post-engagement, while a mere 8% have a worse one.  

But generations differ on how easy it is to reach brands, with Gen Z finding it most difficult: only 38% say it is easy, versus 53% of millennials and 58% of Gen X.   

Overall, 93% want brands to show they listen and that they react to public opinion. They cite these actions as meaningful: 

• Invite feedback and dialogue — 49% 
• Support a charitable cause — 38% 
• Issue a statement to explain the brand’s position — 38%
• Take a public stance on an issue — 36% 
• A public statement or interview by the brand’s leadership — 33%
• Create open forums for opposing view to be impressed — 32%
• I don’t think that brands should react to public opinion — 7%

How do consumers know if brands are listening? They say:

• The brand took an opposing stance to what I agree with but demonstrated that they heard my point of view — 43%
• The brand didn’t take a chance but demonstrated that they heard my point of view — 41% 
• The brand took a stance that I agree with without explanation — 36% 
• The brand took an opposing stance to the one I agree with without explanation — 19%

Ruder Finn, collaborating with Full Spectrum Insights and using a Pollfish sample, surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers.