Indian consumers demand brands get personal, reject labels and stereotypes: Adobe research

Rejecting age-based stereotypes, the majority (80%) of consumers in India want to be treated as an individual with unique interests and preferences, as per a new research by Adobe.

As per it, almost two-thirds (77%) consumers are saying they feel negatively towards brands that interact with them based on assumptions and labels, including age-based stereotypes such as “Millennial” and “Gen-Z”.

Adobe has announced the results of the new research revealing the growing importance of brands understanding customers at a personal level - and interacting with them as individuals, in real-time.

Adobe’s research shows the emergence of a new consumer who is not defined by age, refuses to be stereotyped, and expects to be understood as the unique person they are today.

Brands seeking to meet consumer’s new expectations must ensure they are equipped with the latest customer data platform technologies, creating a complete single view of every customer capable of delivering personalised experiences in real-time.

Some of the key highlights of the research are:

• Time to get personal

The survey of 5,000 APAC consumers (2,000 Indians, 2,000 Australians, and 1,000 Singaporeans) reveals that the vast majority (86%) of consumers want to be seen and treated as individuals based on their unique interests and preferences.

Three times as many APAC consumers feel closer to people who share their passions and interests (62%), than those of a similar demographic (19%). 71% Indians felt closer to people with similar interests (71%) than those in their generation (20%).

• Change is constant

Adobe found that consumer preferences and tastes are constantly evolving, reinforcing the need for brands to move away from simple groupings based on age or other fixed demographic factors. Most consumers across APAC see themselves and their peer group differently from how they were pre-pandemic, and 79% have adjusted their preferences and tastes even further in the past three months.

The brands’ ability to keep pace is a significant expectation for Indian consumers. When asked, 55% of Indian consumers said they have changed their favourite brands as their tastes and financial situation has changed. Real-time visibility and delivering experiences in line with emerging preferences is vital to keeping even the most loyal customers on side.

Francis Rodrigues, SVP-E-Commerce and Digital Marketing, HDFC Life, said, “The key element for any business to chart success today is to understand the changes that a customer is going through and add value to their experience at each step of their journey with a brand. The new age consumer is more discerning than ever. An insurance customer for instance, who would earlier rely only on their financial advisor to choose the best possible policy option, today wants to acquire enough knowledge to decide on the best possible option for himself/herself. To continue to stay relevant in such a demanding scenario, brands today need to keep reinventing their engagement models. Further, to remain relevant to the needs of the customers, brands need to be accessible, easy to engage with and at the same add value and be problem solvers for their customers in the real sense of the term."

• Individuality is key

Today’s consumers have high expectations for the brands they engage with – they expect brands to see them as unique people, keep up with their changing habits and interests, and respect their privacy preferences. Almost two-thirds of APAC consumers (65%) now expect businesses to have a clear understanding of who they are as individuals, and only contact them with information relevant to what they are interested in at any given moment. Interestingly, 83% of Indian consumers believe they will advocate for brands that offer consistent, personalised experiences confirming that brands can win customer loyalty with personalised experiences.

Three-quarters of APAC consumers (75%) say they expect personalised experiences from brands they share data with, with more than two in three (67%) wanting real-time offers relevant to them. 

However, Indians believe that brands are inconsistent in keeping up with their personal preferences with 52% saying that they expect brands to pay more attention to their needs. Regular efforts to engage consumers with bespoke offers related to their current interests is of the highest importance – more than three times as many people want frequent, thoughtful gestures (62%) over bigger one-off moments (21%).

• Meeting consumers where they are

Adobe Real-Time CDP empowers brands to continually meet members of this new generation where they are. This customer data platform allows organisations to view and manage customer profiles, make updates in real-time, and activate customer insights through Adobe Experience Cloud applications across the entire customer journey – ideal for the sort of frequent, relevant and personalised connections today’s consumer now expects from brands.

“In India, customers are calling on brands to demonstrate that they know them and will help them in the moments that matter - not some, but all the time,” said Anindita Das Veluri, Director - Marketing, Adobe India. “To meet this expectation, brands need to work out preferences in real-time, use customer data intelligently and deliver purposeful and personalised experiences at the right moment – all this while respecting customer privacy.” 

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