Trendwatching - Mass Mingling

Another great briefing from the team at Trendwatching, this month on Mass Mingling. The days of being resticted to a fixed connection are gone and consumers are out there consuming online media and keeping in closer touch that ever before - all whilst they are on the go.

MASS MINGLING | Thanks to the online revolution, hundreds of millions are now actively searching for, finding, connecting/signaling, and staying in touch with likeminded souls in the virtual world. Constant updates, GPS and mobile online access is now bringing this explosion of dating, networking, socializing and mingling to the real world domain.

Click here for the link to the full briefing.

How much of your life do you live online?

10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010

2010 is just around the corner and Trendwatching have just released the following trend forecast for the coming year, summarised below, or read the full report here.

Business as usual
Forget the recession: the societal changes that will dominate 2010 were set in motion way before we temporarily stared into the abyss.

Urbany
Urban culture is the culture. Extreme urbanization, in 2010, 2011, 2012 and far beyond will lead to more sophisticated and demanding consumers around the world.

Real-time reviews
Whatever it is you're selling or launching in 2010, it will be reviewed 'en masse', live, 24/7.

[F]luxury
Closely tied to what constitutes status (which is becoming more fragmented), luxury will be whatever consumers want it to be over the next 12 months.

Mass Mingling
Online lifestyles are fueling and encouraging 'real world' meet-ups like there's no tomorrow, shattering all cliches and predictions about a desk-bound, virtual, isolated future.

Eco-esy
To really reach some meaningful sustainability goals in 2010, corporations and governments will have to forcefully make it 'easy' for consumers to be more green, by restricting the alternatives.

Tracking & alerting
Tracking and alerting are the new search, and 2010 will see countless new INFOLUST services that will help consumers expand their web of control.

Embedded Generosity
Next year, generosity as a trend will adapt to the zeitgeist, leading to more pragmatic and collaborative donation services for consumers.

Profyle Myning
With hundreds of millions of consumers now nurturing some sort of online profile, 2010 will be a good year to introduce some services to help them make the most of it (financially), from intention-based models to digital afterlife services.

Maturaialism
2010 will be even more opinionated, risqué, outspoken, if not 'raw' than 2009; you can thank the anything-goes online world for that. Will your brand be as daring?

Trendwatching: Transparency

I've just been reading trendwatching.com's recent report on Transparency and the following reminded my of my earlier post on the importance of your site's content. This further highlights the importance of injecting your website with content that complements your business via recommendations from your existing customers. If you are doing thing well, tell your customers. If you have products, invite feedback and reviews from your customers.
 
From Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 online consumers from 50 countries:

"Recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally. The Nielsen survey shows that 90% of online consumers worldwide trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trust consumer opinions posted online."  

This shouldn’t come as a surprise: just as with other trends, what’s unfolding now is a ‘forever need’ among consumers, one that's now being satisfied in a superior and previously unattainable fashion. In this case, the need is for trusted advice and recommendations—for feeling in control, for knowing the facts, for avoiding mistakes and disappointments—in order to make that perfect purchase. Which has become even more pressing as choice-overload continues: never before was there so much to choose from, in mature consumer societies, and thus such a need for reviews.

The article goes on to cover the areas of;
Deluge - there are litterally billions of people out there viewing, reviewing and rating

Truthiness - the danger that in the deluge of posts and reviews will seek to neutralise any fake reviews posted by businesses or particularly malicious customers.

Everything Reviewed - from Health, Recuitment, Airports and Printing - almost everything these days is being reviewed.

Real time - daily reviews or to the minute if you prefer, and for this there is no better example than Twitter.

Mapmania - for instant visual recognition, combining reviews with maps provides another dimension for readers to associate with a product. Best seats on a plane - done, see www.seatguru.com of course.
Reviewer trumps Review - who are these people behind the review and should we be taking their 'perspective' on board.

Right of Reply - businesses and brands who choose not to talk back in the face of all this reviewing are not taking full advantage of their right of reply - or opporutnity to diffuse a situation in front of a larger audience. There are some great links to forward thinking company's eg Tripadvisor's Management Repsponse feature.
 
There is a host over other great stuff in this briefing, which you can discover for yourself here.

Don't be afraid to open up a conversation with your customers via social media, beit your blog, forums or even Twitter. Dealing with any negative feedback in a straightforward, honest and transparent manner is far more likely to win you fans and retain customers than ignoring issues or negative feedback your customers may have.