The research conducted by American experience management software company Qualtrics around the middle of this year reveals that 95% of the respondents agree that brand actions during the pandemic impact trust. Eighty-eight percent said that the impact matters a lot to them.

The research was aimed at learning how consumers’ preferences, behaviors, and expectations of the brands they engage with has shifted during the first six months of the pandemic in the Philippines.

Similar to Qualtrics’ earlier study, the drivers of brand trust are consistent. Not taking advantage of a crisis to maximize profits remains the most important (41%), followed by maintaining reasonable pricing (40%), and taking care of customers (34%) and employees (23%).

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“Being able to identify, understand, and respond to rapidly changing expectations is business-critical during the pandemic, and long after it,” said Lisa Khatri, Research and Brand Experience lead for Qualtrics in the Asia Pacific and Japan. “The fact that preferences toward the message and the medium have changed and yet the importance of actions remains hugely important reveals brands cannot afford to stand still in how they engage consumers.”

Where we start to see a shift is in communication preferences, and the messages people in the Philippines want to receive.

Medium

Updates on how brands are responding to the pandemic are joined by messages on safety and hygiene protocols as the top brand communications people want to receive right now. Information into products and services is down one place to the third most desired message, (50%), followed by sales and promotion emails (45%), and information on reward programs.

When it comes to the medium, while Facebook remains the most popular channel, people in the Philippines are increasingly choosing online media, email, and TV advertising for the preferred engagement platforms.

“As we move forward through the pandemic preferences and attitudes will continue to shift,” Khatri said. “This is why it is hugely important businesses use technology like Qualtrics to have an ‘always-on pulse’ of consumer sentiment and behavior tracking. Insights delivered by Qualtrics help identify the lead indicators businesses need to design and deliver the brand communications and experiences people want, and which ultimately cultivate the trust needed to succeed.”