10 BRANDING STATISTICS YOU NEED TO KNOW IN 2022
Your BRAND is your chance to tell your customers a STORY.
Branding is not just the logo you design, the font you use, or the products you sell. It’s all these things & much more. It’s the customer experience you provide. It’s the philosophy you embrace & the culture you adhere to. A brand is a feeling that a business evokes in customers—it’s what makes your business unique.
And when it comes to online businesses, branding is no different. Have you ever visited a website & were INSTANTLY confused? Maybe you weren’t sure what they were selling or what service they offered. A lot of companies have a hard time trying to explain what they do, and how they do it. Nobody wants to buy what they don’t understand.
Your brand strategy should guide how & what you communicate with your customers. Your brand can help differentiate your business from competitors. It can help set you apart & market your distinctive qualities.
But, a brand isn’t built overnight. It takes time. And more often than we might think, it needs a little push in the right direction from our side. That's where KDE Technology comes in! We can help you pull all of your wants & needs for your business branding together!
Your brand shapes your business, & how people view it. And there are many factors that shape your brand. So if you’ve been curious about why branding matters, & what your customers think about it, we’ve got you covered. Let’s jump into the top 10 branding statistics that you should know about in 2022.
1. Authenticity Is Important for Brands
It’s the age of authenticity & brands need to get real if they want to connect with their audience. 88 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like & support (Stackla, 2021).
Consumers want brands to be honest. So it’s not surprising that consumers expect the companies they buy from to be authentic in the way they present themselves & carry out their business. But brand authenticity is a relatively recent concept, mainly pushed forward by millennials, who tend to be more vocal about their demand for authenticity.
This demand extends to Gen Z as well. Millennials and Gen Z consumers expect businesses to care about more than just their profits, & if they fail to see that from a brand, they won’t hesitate to look for another brand that does.
Brands can start being more authentic by being transparent & consistent in their branding & messaging by having values that they can stay true to, &, most importantly, by being honest. This way, they’ll be able to build long-lasting relationships with their customers & prospects.
2. Consumers Buy Based on Trust
When consumers buy from brands, they are essentially placing their trust in them. According to a survey, in the United States, 46 percent of consumers say that they would pay more to purchase from brands they can trust (Salsify, 2022). As a matter of fact, the percentage of consumers that feel this way is similar across other major markets, including Great Britain & France.
It’s safe to say that when brands build trust, consumers reward them. This can be in the form of building long-lasting relationships with them & sticking to the same brand through thick or thin. Consumers today care about more than just the product experience. They also have growing concerns about the customer experience that brands promise, &, increasingly, about a brand’s impact on society.
In the long run, if brands are able to build trust with their customers, they will gain their attention as well. So, as we saw with the first branding statistic, the same logic applies here. If brands are honest & authentic with customers, it’ll help build a trust-based relationship.
3. Color Matters for Brand Recognition
Colors matter when it comes to marketing. Choosing brand colors wisely can impact how people perceive your brand. In fact, using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent (Reboot, 2018).
Colors have a unique way of making you feel certain emotions. It’s for the same reasons that when colors are selected in marketing, they can have a drastic effect on what consumers associate with your brand. If you’re thinking about your brand image, & how you want to represent your business, you could use the right colors to enhance your brand’s visual representation.
Let’s take a look at currently established brands. Take a moment and think about which brand you most associate with red & yellow, or with the colors blue & yellow. Did you think about McDonald’s for the first one, & IKEA for the second one? We did too! Use colors to your advantage to express your brand in the best possible way.
4. First Impressions Matter for Your Brand
It takes 1/10th of a second to form a first impression of someone. But we know that people are way more than just their first impressions. When it comes to your brand, it’s better not to risk it. It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your website (8ways, 2019).
How many times have you stumbled across a website & had a feeling that it hadn’t been touched since the 90s? We’re guessing more than a few.
If you've got an online store or your business exists online, it’s how you present yourself to people virtually. If you don’t take care of your website, chances are you’re losing your customer's attention.
So what can you do to make sure you nail your brand’s first impression? To start with, make sure you carefully choose your colors, spacing, font, amount of text, & structure. Think about the content on your website. Is it optimized? Or is there room for improvement? Are you happy with how your logo looks or how it’s positioned? Maybe you can make improvements to the images on your website? Try to make sure people have a comfortable experience when they visit your website. Make it easy for them to search for what you have to offer. Present them an easy navigation menu. Make sure the time they spend on your website is an enjoyable one. (PSST - KDE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP TAKE CARE OF ALL THAT FOR YOU!!!)
5. Importance of Brand Consistency
Brand consistency is making sure that your brand values, image, & messaging are consistent across all channels. Customers appreciate it when a business has a consistent brand. In fact, consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent (Lucidpress, 2019).
Consumers want to know your business, & one of the best ways is through your brand. Keeping a consistent brand image helps customers position you as a business, & makes it easier for them to remember you or associate with your brand.
When customers know your brand, they will be able to trust your brand. Utilizing brand guidlines to keep your brand voice consistent across all channels gives your customers a consistent experience with your brand. In a way, they’ll know & feel that your messaging is true because you’re sticking with it. This way, your customer remembers you. When they see your logo or your branding, they’ll know what to expect, & what to feel. To create a relatable identity, you can’t ignore brand consistency.
Having a strong brand will not only improve your chances of getting new customers, but also increase employee motivation, & provide your business with a unified direction. For you to succeed in building a strong brand image, you need to understand your customers. And in doing so, you need to humanize your brand. You need to think of your brand as something your customers can relate to & identify with.
6. Your Brand Needs to Be Transparent
With trust comes transparency, & vice versa. According to a survey, 66 percent of consumers think transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand (Accenture Strategy, 2018). This includes transparency in where the brand sources its materials, how it treats employees, & what it cares about beyond the profit motive. People are increasingly curious about what happens behind closed doors, & we can’t blame them. Brand transparency has never been more important.
Brands need to be clear & authentic. If brands support each & every cause that they don’t even feel strongly about, they might end up being perceived by consumers as inauthentic. Consumers don’t appreciate insincere attempts from brands showing that they care. Companies need to establish an emotional connection with their consumers & be true to who they are as a business. That’s why transparency not only helps to maintain current customers, but it also helps to attract potential customers.
In the era where people tweet, leave reviews, & share all their thoughts with a click of a button, people can find out everything they want to know about a brand. This puts brands in an increasingly important position to embrace brand transparency.
7. Consumers Want Brands to Be Vocal About Social Issues
Most consumers want brands to take a stand on social or political issues. As a matter of fact, two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers around the world said that they would buy from a brand or boycott it solely because of its position on a social or political issue (Edelman, 2019).
But that also doesn’t mean that brands should be vocal about matters that they don’t truly believe in. As we’ve mentioned, it’s important to stay realistic & to be transparent. Customers see through brands who are faking their interest in social issues & are also keen to follow up on any promises that a brand makes—publicly.
Some brands might see this as a tricky situation, as taking a stand can mean alienating a certain group of consumers. But in the social era that we’re living in today, they also risk putting themselves in danger if they turn a blind eye to social matters. That’s why, in any case, we refer back to our previous statement about the importance of being transparent.
8. Customer Service Helps Brands to Stand out From the Crowd
With competition levels soaring, it seems difficult to stand out from the crowd. As a brand, you can take a few extra steps to make sure you’re being remembered fondly by people. Offering extraordinary customer service is one of the things you can do. A survey shows that 73 percent of consumers cite customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions (PWC, 2018). Good customer service makes consumers feel heard and appreciated.
Customer service can include many different aspects of the customer’s buying experience. This could mean for you as a brand to provide exceptional convenience, a friendly service, & approach customers in a helpful manner. You can go a long way if you add a human element to your customer service, by remembering your customer’s needs & personalizing your approach to deal with each customer in the way that suits them best. But customer service doesn’t just end here. There’s an endless amount of things you can do as a brand to meet this need. It could also include post-purchase coordination with customers by helping them with any refund or return queries they may have.
Customers prefer if you would understand their buying habits, & their needs, instead of just nailing their names in the subject lines of the emails you send out to them. If your brand can customize the experience for individual customers, you’ll have a higher chance of winning customers. The aim should be to personalize with purpose & not just for profit.
9. Being Meaningful Is Good for Business
We’ve previously covered that it’s important for a brand to stand for something other than a profit motive. And here’s another statistic to back that up: 77 percent of consumers buy from brands that share the same values as they do (Havas Group, 2019). The purpose of a brand is to make it easier for customers to make decisions. And to build a brand strategy, it’s important to understand your target audience. Understanding what is meaningful to them is the first step toward forming a meaningful brand.
You may be wondering, what makes a brand meaningful? A meaningful brand is defined by its overall impact. This includes the impact they have on their direct customers, as well as the surroundings. The relationship between a brand & its audience has changed rapidly over the years. It’s no longer enough for a brand to care solely about its customers. In fact, brands need to also address what their customers care about. Customers want brands to be genuine & care about purposes that are broader than just products or services.
Businesses need to work on humanizing their brands, by speaking in the way that would most appeal to their audience. A great place to start would be for brands to represent their company & values clearly to their audience. Maintaining a consistent brand image & messaging is important for customers to understand what the business stands for.
10. User-Generated Content is Crucial for Brands
The impact of influencer content has been declining in favor of user-generated content. User-generated content includes any type of content such as images, comments, reviews, videos, & so on that have been posted by users on online platforms such as social media.
In fact, 79 percent of people say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions (Stackla, 2021). This makes sense as consumers today have more ways than ever before to discover & research new brands & products.
Increasingly, consumers are finding more ways to carry out their own research online by looking at what other consumers have experienced & shared. For instance, visual content is highly valued by customers when it comes to travel or dining experiences.
It’s also interesting to note that the same research claims that celebrities have less influence on consumer decision-making. Only ten percent of customers consider influencers’ content to be authentic & just nine percent say it impacts their purchasing decisions.
Conclusion
A brand is a STORY. It’s a FEELING. A PERCEPTION. But most importantly, a brand is what your business shapes it to be.
Your brand should stand for what your business feels.
Building your brand image & working on your brand strategy should be something you have in mind all throughout your journey as a business owner. Make sure that you establish trust & authenticity through your brand. Let your brand convey your values & beliefs, & do it in a way that your customers believe you, & trust in you.
As we’ve said before, your brand is your chance to tell your customers a story. Let KDE Technology help you make it one that COUNTS!
Summary: Top Branding Statistics You Need to Know in 2022
- 88 percent of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like & support.
- 46 percent of surveyed consumers say they would pay more for brands they trust.
- Using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent
- It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your website.
- Consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent.
- 66 percent of consumers think transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand.
- Two-thirds (64 percent) of consumers around the world said that they would buy from a brand or boycott it solely because of its position on a social or political issue.
- 73 percent of consumers cite customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions.
- 77 percent of consumers buy from brands that share the same values as they do.
- 79 percent of people say that user-generated content highly impacts their purchasing decisions.