Your Audience’s Mood Drives Their Purchasing Decisions. Here’s How to Keep Up

We packed a lot into December 2022. The FIFA World Cup. Christmas. Avatar 2. But none with more anticipation than the annual agency Christmas cards. We hope you enjoyed our Vibe-Vent calendar experience.​

Sure, in the grand scheme of things these campaigns can be nothing more than the chance to show off our creative chops. But at MRM this year, we wanted to create a data-driven execution that could be used to inspire for the year ahead. Our focus was on exploring the relationship and the wide range of moods and emotions that the UK collectively experience in the lead up to Christmas. And figuring out the best way to identify and connect the moments that matter to our clients’ customers.

Real emotions, real insight

To build an indicative model of how Britain was feeling, we pulled in data signals from the likes of YouGov, Brandwatch, Ipsos, The Met Office – you name it, we plugged it through. What emerged was a wealth of insight into the moods expressed in the UK. Because our emotions are ever-changing – and never more so than at Christmas.

And so, the Real Vibe-Vent was born (in just under four weeks at that). While on the surface it was an advent calendar with playlists, donation links, shopping tips and Christmas-themed filters, the real-time data and cultural insights behind it meant each day’s content would be tailored based on the country’s collective Christmas cheer (or lack of it).

Turning mood into engagement

We gauged incredibly valuable insights from the data. Given the year we had, it’s no surprise that the prevailing mood is one of anxiety. Economic uncertainty and financial pressures will do that. But anxiety doesn’t exist alone. What feels like a steady decline in the national outlook has hardened peoples’ optimism – we’re keener than ever to look forward to something positive. Anticipation over-indexes as a mood just as anxiety does.

In fact, audience data from the Christmas card itself highlighted the importance of unlocking those moments of anticipation, giving audiences content when they’re receptive to it and are ready to engage with it. By tailoring our comms using mood as a bellwether, we saw a marked increase of how people engaged with us. Website dwell time was 20% higher for email recipients, and our email CTR increased more than fivefold.

So, do you know and react to the moments of anxiety or anticipation that your customers are experiencing? And can you track where moments of anxiety and anticipation land for your brand?

Building a sense of value

We’re entering a year where every pound we spend, every financial decision, every purchase is meticulously considered. Bills are going through the roof. Mortgages are going up. Financial uncertainty is at an all-time high. Whether it’s the weekly shop, a belated January Christmas present, or just some retail therapy, our perceived sense of value for each shopping decision has never been more pronounced. 

This makes identifying the moments to create confidence in your audience is as important as identifying the moments to sell your product or service. Ask yourself what value your business provides that customers are confident they can’t get elsewhere.

After all, at times like this, relationships count. Everyone wants trust in who they’re buying from. Our advent calendar wasn’t big, dramatic, or game-changing. But it showed we’re listening to the cultural heartbeat and listening to our clients – plus the results show they’re listening to us.

Are you just listening to your customers, or are you actively listening? Keep in mind that your measurement framework should drive consumer insight, and not just be post-campaign afterthoughts that concentrate on metrics that don’t matter.

It’s this mindset that will help brands in 2023. Building customer confidence when everything in the world is going as well as a Royal Family reunion party. A data-driven customer relationship management strategy is uniquely placed to gain customers’ confidence and address their need for . Investing in building your customer relationship could be the most effective way of maximising whatever the R in your ROI is. Particularly if your media budget isn’t stretching as far as it used to.

Unlocking brand loyalty through data

It would be utterly naïve to think that brand loyalty isn’t going to be severely tested by ongoing economic factors this year. How you evaluate your customer relationships in the year ahead is going to be crucial to unlocking the moments that matter to them.

Getting a deeper understanding of your audience is how you’re going to build and protect the loyalty that you need. A well-designed CRM strategy can give your customers confidence in times of anxiety, as you build a journey that enables moments of anticipation that your customers can’t wait to engage with. Now that’s a mood we can all get on board with.

So, to really drive customer confidence, let’s identify moments of anxiety as well as moments of anticipation by really scrutinising the data we have.