More than half (55%) of consumers around the world are willing to pay more for simpler experiences, according to Siegel+Gale’s latest annual “Global Brand Simplicity Index” report [download page]. Willingness to pay for simpler experiences remains high, though it appears to be more subdued this year than last.
The study, based on a survey of more than 15,000 consumers in nine countries, revealed that Internet Search leads in industry simplicity, being the top industry in each of the markets globally. This includes China, which last year ranked Electronics as the top industry for simplicity. Electronics ranked second in all markets except Japan.
Internet Search’s Simplicity Index Score remains unchanged from last year’s 950. However, the second and third positions have changed somewhat with Electronics (756) and Internet Retail (753) filling those spots. Globally, the top three brands were Netflix, Aldi and Google.
On the other end of the spectrum, of the 25 industries measured, Car Rental (433), Health Insurance (329) and General Insurance (279) ranked lowest in simplicity.
The report ranks the top industries by Siegel+Gale’s proprietary Simplicity Index, based on:
- The industry’s contribution to making life simpler or more complex;
- The pain of typical interactions with companies/ organizations within the industry; and
- How the industry’s typical communications rank in terms of ease of understanding, transparency/honesty, communicating that customer needs are being cared for/making the customer feel valued, innovation/freshness and usefulness.
Lyft Makes a Giant Leap in the US
Within the US the top industries after Internet Search included, Restaurants, Internet Retail, Retail Grocery and Appliances. These rankings differ only slightly from the prior study.
Notably, while Netflix was the top brand globally and ranked second in the US just last year, it does not even rank within the top 10 brands in the US in the current survey. Instead, the on-demand transportation company, Lyft, takes the top spot followed by Spotify, Amazon and Costco. In addition, Google’s ranking dropped as the top brand last year to the number 6 this year.
Netflix’s absence is interesting given the accolades it has been picking up this year. As the second-highest ranked brand by customer advocacy in the US and the second-fastest growing brand by value this year, Netflix has the best word-of-mouth among US Millennials and is the 4th-leading brand by customer loyalty.
The full report is available here.
About the Data: The study is based on a survey of 15,570 consumers across 9 countries: US, UK, Germany, Sweden, China, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Japan. During the study, respondents rated a total of 800 brands. The brands were selected as a representative set that respondents would be most likely to know and/or use in each country.
The Brand Simplicity Score was calculated with the following inputs:
- The simplicity/complexity of its products, services, interactions and communications in relation to its industry peers;
- How consistently the brand experience and communications were rated across respondents (the standard deviation of the ratings);
- How aligned non-user and user perceptions were privileging aligned perceptions; and
- The Simplicity Score for the brand’s industry or categories.
