Cable news networks rank as the top source of political campaign information among Americans, with 36% saying they regularly get their political campaign news from this source, ahead of local TV news (32%), network news (26%), the internet (25%), and the local paper (20%), according to [pdf] a survey released in February 2012 by the Pew Research Center. Read More »

Although men and women report equal awareness of QR codes (77%), men who are aware of them are 75% more likely than women to have used one (28% vs. 16%) to access product information, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International, in association with Better Homes and Gardens. Looking at age groups, 18-34-year-olds (85%) display the highest awareness of QR codes, with 30% of those having used one. 35-49-year-olds are next, with 80% having heard of QR codes, and 23% of those respondents having used one.
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57% of consumers who have completed a customer satisfaction survey said they did so in order to share a good experience, while half did so to improve the company, according to [download page] a survey released in February 2012 by Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB). And although a significant proportion have more selfish motives, such as obtaining discounts (45%), entering into a raffle or sweepstakes (40%), or receiving a free gift (28%), many also complete surveys to praise a specific employee (39%) and to receive better service or products from the company (37%). Read More »

2011 saw a 300% growth in barcode scanning compared to 2010, and a 1000% increase over 2009, according to [download page] a report released in February 2012 by Scanbuy. In fact, Q4 2011 alone saw more scans than 2009 and 2010 combined. Mid-November through December proved a significant period of new user activation, serving as the driving force behind the more than 3 million new ScanLife users activated during the quarter, a 360% growth from Q4 2010.
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66% of global consumers reported switching providers in at least one industry in 2011 due to poor customer service, representing a rise of 3% from 64% in 2010 and 12% from 59% in 2009, according to [pdf] a survey released in January 2012 by Accenture. Surprisingly, consumers switched providers even as they reported increased satisfaction across a variety of service characteristics evaluated: for example, the proportion who were very or extremely satisfied with the politeness and friendliness of employees rose 7% points over 2010 to reach a majority, 54%. Read More »

51% of Millennials (born between roughly 1977 and 1995) say that recommendations from strangers through user-generated content (UGC) on a company website is most likely to influence their opinion when making a purchase, compared to 49% who say that recommendations from friends and family is most influential, according to [pdf] survey results released in January 2012 by Bazaarvoice. Read More »

The use of blogging has dropped to 37% of the 2011 Inc. 500, representing a 26% decline from 50% in 2010, and an 18% fall from 45% in 2009, according to a study released in January 2012 by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Other platforms experiencing a year-over-year fall in usage among the Inc. 500 include message/bulletin boards, from 33% to 15%, online video, from 33% to 24%, and podcasting, from 16% to 6%.

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Magazines’ use of mobile action codes, including all 2D barcodes, QR codes, Microsoft Tags, and watermarks, exploded in 2011, rising 439% from Q1 to Q4, according to [download page] a January 2012 study from Nellymoser. The total number of action codes in the top 100 US magazines by circulation jumped 64% quarter-over-quarter in Q4, rising from 1155 to 1189. November’s 681 action codes was the most of any month in 2011, up from 278 in July and 88 in January.
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Half of women in 2011 said they regularly influence friends and family to buy or not buy a particular product or service, representing a 61% jump from 31% who responded that way in 2008, according to [pdf] a white paper released in January 2012 by Fleishman-Hillard in partnership with Hearst Magazine. Millennials (61%) were the most likely to say they influence their friends and family, followed by Gen X women (46%), Boomers (36%), and Seniors (29%). In fact, a majority in each age group except for Seniors reported feeling it their responsibility to help friends and family make smart purchase decisions, led again by Millennials (73%).
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32% of “informed publics” in 20 countries around the world say they trust traditional information sources a great deal, representing a 10% rise from 29% in 2011, and remaining ahead of online sources, which rose 18% from 22% to 26% of these respondents, according to survey results released in January 2012 by Edelman. Social media showed the largest growth in trust of the various media sources, with 14% citing a great deal of trust, up 75% from 8% in 2011. Read More »