More than two-thirds of consumers being sent irrelevant messages by retail brands

With the high street reporting negative sales for the first time in more than two years, it’s clear that retailers are continuing to face a challenging and competitive environment.

Yet, at a time when positive and personalised experiences are more critical than ever, new findings reveal many retailers are not meeting the mark, with over two-thirds (69%) of consumers reporting that they receive irrelevant messages from brands and 41% saying they do not feel valued when it comes...

3 July 2023 | Best Practice

Complaints about nuisance calls saw freak drop of 57% in 2022

A telephone off the hook.

The number of nuisance calls and texts reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) dropped by 57% in 2022, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from technology company Quadient has revealed.

The ICO received 56,015 complaints about nuisance calls and texts in 2022, less than half the 131,491 received in 2021 and fewer than in any year since 2019. Overall, there were 32,317 complaints about live calls (down 35%), 13,790 about automated calls...

14 June 2023 | Best Practice

Gen Z exposed as the worst data hoarders

Ones and zeros representing data.

Veritas Technologies, the leader in secure multi-cloud data management, today released results from a survey “In the Cloud, Out of Mind”, revealing the environmentally aware Generation Z is not necessarily conscious of how their personal digital footprint from online accounts and applications is negatively impacting the environment.

Over half of data stored in predominantly fossil-fueled data centres by businesses is waste data. Unwittingly contributing to this are the 63% of...

12 May 2023 | Big Data

70% of UK consumers hide their personal data when online 

While many online advertisers are preparing for Google’s 2024 third-party cookie switch off, a new study from Nano Interactive reveals the rise of private browsing is already significantly impacting advertisers’ ability to target users online.  

The Tipping Point report, which surveyed 2,000 UK consumers to understand their online privacy habits, reveals 70% are accessing the internet in ways which mask their personal information on a weekly basis, such as browsing in...

9 May 2023 | Big Data

Consumers abandon firms that waste energy storing data 

A power plant.

Almost half of consumers (44%) in the UK think it’s the responsibility of the organisations that store their information online to delete it when it’s no longer needed. This is according to new research from Veritas Technologies, the leader in secure multi-cloud data management.  

And these consumers are prepared to vote with their feet if businesses don’t cut back on data-related pollution: 42% said they would stop buying from a company if they knew it was...

4 April 2023 | Best Practice

1 in 4 consumers switching to more sustainable companies

A box of water.

British food and grocery brands are on notice - ignore the push to be more sustainable at your own peril.

According to the 2022 UK Brand Sustainability Benchmark Report one in four consumers have already changed brands based on sustainability perceptions and consumers are switching to brands with the strongest sustainability credentials at twice the rate of the average brand.

The report is the first in-depth look into the UK Food and Grocery Industry’s sustainability...

8 December 2022 | Best Practice

How retail marketers can empower back-to-school campaigns in a cookieless future

School pupils studying.

Cookies have long been a lunchbox favourite. However, when they’re of the ‘third-party’ variety, they leave a bad taste in the mouths of consumers everywhere, including those getting ready for back-to-school shopping. According to Cheetah Digital’s 2022 Digital Consumer Trends Index, 64% of U.K. consumers say they believe cookie tracking is “creepy”.

Google and other browsers have taken note, cementing plans to comprehensively cease third-party cookie tracking within...

18 August 2022 | Campaigns

Amazon tackles fake review fraudsters on social media

Amazon boxes.

Amazon has filed legal action against the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that attempt to orchestrate fake reviews on Amazon in exchange for money or free products.

These groups are set up to recruit individuals willing to post incentivized and misleading reviews on Amazon’s stores in the U.S., the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan.

Amazon will use information discovered in this legal action to identify bad actors and remove fake reviews...

26 July 2022 | Ethical Marketing

89% of people feel social media negatively affects their mental health

Social media logos.

89% of social media users believe it is damaging their mental health, according to a study by The Cybersmile Foundation.

The organisation recently unveiled Digital Wellbeing 2022 - its second bi-yearly study conducted by the charity to learn about the impact that social media use has on 16- to 24-year-old users.

The Digital Wellbeing 2022 study asked 1000 participants aged 16-24 across the UK a series of questions relating to the way that their social media use affects...

22 June 2022 | Customer Experience

Metaverse: What’s the impact on data privacy?

An array of lights depicting a person's body.

The metaverse, which will merge physical reality with the digital world by way of virtual reality, augmented reality and the Internet, is coming. But the question is — are we ready?

According to Chris Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower that spurred a massive overhaul of privacy practices and legislation across the globe, the answer to the above question is a resounding no.

In fact, it might be best to start pumping the breaks on the metaverse now before it...

8 March 2022 | Ethical Marketing