63% of consumers are concerned about targeted advertising based on their search history. And these privacy concerns and a reluctance to be monitored are driving the uptake of privacy tools like ad blockers and VPNs.
"With search journeys now spread across AI, social media and search engines, consumers are looking for answers, validation and community. As privacy concerns make tracking less effective, brands must build trust to stay relevant."
Joe Birch, Senior Technology and Leisure Analyst
63% of consumers are concerned about targeted advertising based on their search history. And these privacy concerns and a reluctance to be monitored are driving the uptake of privacy tools like ad blockers and VPNs. With half of all consumers now using these tools, businesses face limited targeting capabilities. The new battleground in search is earning consumer trust to develop direct data relationships.
AI is transforming search engines into decision engines. This means brands need to shift from traditional SEO to Answer/Generative Engine Optimisation (A/GEO), ensuring AI easily understands their content. To build trust, AI brands should cite their sources to address user concerns about accuracy.
In this changing landscape, brands can win out with authenticity – consumers value peer opinion when searching for product recommendations, as well as community forums such as Reddit. Finding a place in genuine conversation brand advocacy will also play a role to engage authentically with consumers across various communities, creator channels and platforms.
One of the biggest challenges we face is the need to get smart on a business or category real quick.
We are talking to clients who live and breathe their category every day and the expectation is that we will be able to get caught up very quickly, and bring the thinking that can help them.
We need to do that often in a matter of days, so it’s not a small ask. Mintel gives us a very articulate view of category conditions and does so at the speed we need it.
Working in a customer-obsessed organization means that data and insights have to be at our fingertips. Mintel’s reports help us support anecdotes with real quantifiable insights. The summary sections (which I really like) helps save time by giving a birds eye view of the content before spending time combing through the pages.
Our business review discussions are strengthened by the relevancy of the reports to help us better understand our customers. In addition, the customer service received from the team (especially in crunch periods) makes the process of understanding customer behavior even better.
At Jackman, we believe that powerful strategies are based on human insight. Mintel’s leading-edge reports and insights into consumer attitudes and behaviors are an important input as we develop and execute strategy.
Mintel helps us when we want to know something quickly – it provides fast answers to our questions. If we need to get a view of what’s going on in a particular market it’s very useful.
When carrying out background research, I find Mintel an excellent starting point.
The fact that it covers so many markets is a big plus for me– instead of having to buy specialist products in each area we are interested in, especially when we only require a brief view on a particular market, we can go to Mintel for help as a one-stop shop. I find Mintel a useful and valuable resource.
We’ve found it so useful working more closely with Mintel. They helped support our recent flagship event for our top suppliers by providing a really unique viewpoint on the future of online retailing.
Nick Carroll from their Retail Team was also an excellent panelist, sharing useful and actionable consumer insights. We definitely look forward to working with Mintel again on future projects.
