Evaluating Tech Brands On Trust, Potential, And Adoption
Consumers' increasing propensity to value price over brand has hit the device industry hard. Trust in device brands fell nearly across the board between 2003 and 2005, in contrast to rising consumer trust between 2001 and 2003. Only Apple Computer and TiVo saw trust among regular users of their brands increase, and mobile providers saw price loyalty drive churn among 24% of mobile consumers.

In a recent study, we analyzed how consumers felt about 22 PC and consumer electronics (CE) brands. We evaluated:

• Trust. We asked consumers how much they trust each PC and CE brand they use on a scale of 1 (do not trust at all) to 5 (trust a lot), and we compared this with responses to the same question in 2003.

• Potential. Brand potential counts aspiring brand users -- those who want to use the brand in the future -- and subtracts brand users at risk for abandoning the brand in millions of US households.

• Adoption. Brand adoption is the number of US households that regularly use each brand today and the change in regular brand users since 2003.

Bose, Dell, and Sony Score Highest Overall
What causes a PC or CE brand like Bose to be successful on our scorecard, while others like Gateway fare poorly? While many brands evoke relatively high levels of trust from their regular users, those that garner even higher consumer trust do better. Bose -- the most trusted brand on our scorecard -- has the most brand potential, with 17.5 million US households wanting to use its products regularly. Bose also has a low level of at-risk users; the high-trust, high-potential combination offsets relatively low levels of consumer adoption, putting it ahead of far more popular brands like Sony or Microsoft.

Improving Your Own Brand Score
A higher brand "score" can translate into longer-lasting power for your brand in the marketplace and increased sales. To boost your brand's score:

• Connect with technology pessimists where they shop. Tech pessimists are less likely to research and purchase products online and are more likely to prefer to deal with in-person or over-the-phone sales and customer service representatives. To reach these consumers, increase your brand's offline presence in big-box retailers where you are more likely to connect with tech pessimists, as Sony has done with its Sony Store @ Target.

• Enlist users in the brand experience. As socially minded consumers lean increasingly on peers and less on institutions for media, information, and advice, brand loyalty loses rank to price loyalty. Involve consumers in the brand experience and direction with spaces for social and brand interaction, such as a branded blog. These techniques are currently employed by companies like Vespa, GM, and Stonyfield Farm.

• Become a customer advocate. Consumers who believe that a company puts their best interests ahead of the bottom line are more likely to be loyal to the brand. Financial brands like USAA and GEICO that have a customer advocacy message are more likely to retain and up- or cross-sell current customers.

Research Referenced In This Issue Customer Advocacy 2006: How Consumers Rate Their Banks, Brokerages, And Insurers (34610) Interactive Marketing Channels To Watch In 2006 (106960) Plasma Or LCD HDTVs? Consumers Don't Know (39371) Segmentation Versus Personas: Where Should B2B Marketers Start? (39550) Social Computing (38772) The 2005 Technology Brand Scorecard (38694) The European Mobile Landscape 2006 (39557) The Forrester Wave™: Rich Media Content Delivery, Q2 2006 (38786) The Marketing Vendor Cribsheet (39417) Toward DVR Ubiquity (38009) Understanding The Broadband Have-Nots (39574) Who's Winning And Losing Mobile Subscribers (36437) Why Technographics Still Works (36030)

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