During the recent Thanksgiving shopping weekend, consumers were on a mission to find the best products at the best price and it appears they were more than willing this year to visit new websites to achieve their goals.
Regardless of whether they are a first-time visitor or a repeat customer, today's consumers are not shy about speaking up about their experiences particularly on social, which is nothing new of course, says Stephen Boidock, director of marketing and business development at
Drumroll.
"That said, now more than ever, social has become a much more essential resource during the shopping process," said Boidock. "Stronger social networks combine with the typical bombardment of promotions, meaning consumers often rely on social research for reviews and recommendations. From a brand perspective, it's also a nice reminder why brand experience is playing a bigger and bigger role when it comes to consumer appreciation and preference."
To measure just how much positive and negative feedback was exchanged during the shopping rush, Drumroll created an algorithm to monitor over 3 million tweets. The top 10 most loved brands according to Drumroll's data were:
1. HyperX
2. Microsoft
3. Sephora
4. Rawlings Sports
5. Vizio
6. BJ's Wholesale
7. Samsung
8. Sony
9. Bose
10. Sam's Club
Top 10 most talked about brands according to Drumroll's data were:
1. Etsy
2. Amazon
3. Ebay
4. Bose
5. Victoria's Secret
6. Xbox
7. Walmart
8. Target
9. Best Buy
10. Apple
Like so many peak shopping seasons before it, sites that could not handle the traffic influx not only missed out on sales, but also received social backlash. According to Drumroll, the brand that saw the highest volume of negative sentiment was J.Crew when their site
crashed in the middle of Cyber Monday.
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Image source)
Knowing consumers' propensity to use social to voice their opinions, brands should not only monitor their
inbound social mentions and respond accordingly, but also consider more than just cost this holiday season.
"During Black Friday/Cyber Monday, many of the same products can be found for the same price at multiple retailers and yet fans can walk away having drastically different levels of brand affinity," said Boidock. "Brands that realize their customer perception and loyalty is based on many touchpoints that occur before, during and after a purchase will be better positioned to stand out during the busy holiday shopping season and much more likely to create new lifelong customers vs simply getting a one-off discounted purchase."