May 2024

New research from Quick Study shows people want more control in their interactions with brands. So how do you give it to them?

Let’s start here:

How many times have you accepted cookies today? Not literal ones (although I’ll take a chocolate chip if you’ve got extra), but the ones online. Privacy legislation (mostly from Europe) brought us to this place of infinite cookie acceptance popups a few years ago, and they have been a pervasive piece of website interactions ever since. The popups, as inelegant a solution as they may be, are a microcosm of a real struggle happening around us dozens of times a day. Every decision we make, particularly online but also many IRL, is a push-and-pull between consumers and companies for control: of our information, our purchases, and our future. The cookies popup is a uniquely visible signal of that struggle, forcing a control decision to be made immediately in a world where these decisions have mostly become indicated, not spoken directly.

When faced with so much noise and obfuscation in brand communications today, it can be jarring to be asked a question so bluntly: Do you want to control this? Or are you good with companies taking some control away from you? Today we’re releasing new research that says the answer is a little bit of both.

The Importance of Control

Control can be hard to define. We are often transfixed by control: who has it, who wants it, how it’s being wielded to make an impact. The perception of control is sometimes just as, if not more, important than actual control itself. This shapeshifting nature makes control hard to pin down, and also amplifies its importance in the eye of the beholder: control is what you make of it.

A sense of control as a powerful antidote to various situations we may face in life. Studies dating back to the 1980s have consistently shown that “having a sense of personal control is associated with fewer and less severe illnesses, a lower incidence of depression, greater perceptions of competence and increased willingness to persist in the face of challenges, greater confidence and optimism about the future, and increased feelings of happiness and overall emotional well-being.” One report found that people with less education were able to lower their mortality risk if they had stronger perceived control or sense of control over their lives. It concluded that “sense of control is protective against declines in health at lower, but not higher, levels of education,” or in other words, that a sense of control was powerful enough to close the mortality gap between those with differing levels of education.

What these studies tell us is that control, or even just the perception of it, can change very real life outcomes. And yet, for the past 20+ years, we have as people continually ceded that control in small and big ways to others. Our understanding of the world has been distorted by bubbles of consumption and sharing that we don't have a real handle on. The result is a society where people no longer experience the same reality or respond to events in the same way (for a deep dive into the phenomenon that we call Soloculture, check out our last Study Guide series). One major challenge this presents is diminished connective tissue among people, but also between brands and people. That lack of connection creates a friction that we see play out across our screens daily. Some have labeled what is happening right now a crisis of control, and the importance of control appeared often in Matt Klein’s summary of 50+ global trend reports for 2023. But control isn’t binary, and no one’s definition of control “balance” is the same.

What levels of control do consumers want?

This leads to our new study, where we asked 500 Americans to help us better understand their need for control when it comes to brands and how to give it to them. We discovered a major gap between how much control Americans feel they have in their interactions with brands and how much they would like to have. 

There are geographic and educational divides in how much control consumers said they have in their brand interactions. For example, people living in urban areas were much less likely to say they feel in “total control” of their interactions with brands than people in rural or suburban areas:

Americans with masters or doctorate degrees were more likely to say they have total control of brand interactions than those without degrees:

These types of differences, which may seem minor on their face, point to a complex relationship between people and brands where personal opinions are shaped by the specific contexts of their lives (or as we like to call them, Solocultures).

Looking at what consumers actually want, 52% would prefer having total or lots of control in their interactions with brands. That’s 20% higher than the 32% who say they currently have that level of control in their interactions. Interestingly, while more control is what consumers want, only 18% say they want total control of their interactions with brands. The most popular preference for Americans is to have “lots of” control over their interactions with brands, followed by “some control.” Being given little control is not an option - only 5% of respondents said they would prefer to have little control over their brand interactions, despite the fact that 24% feel they have little control today.

We saw fewer standout differences when it comes to the preferences of consumers but there are some. Men are more likely to prefer total control than women (22% of men vs 14% of women). None of the 48 Texans who took our survey are comfortable with little control, and neither were any of the 63 respondents with masters degrees or doctorates. Even users of algorithm-heavy platforms like TikTok were against having little control - the majority said they want lots or some control in their brand interactions.

These results prove that brands need to do more to create control points, whether actual or perceived, for consumers, but do so in a moderated way. This is not a black-white issue, and the gray areas of “some” and “lots of” control that are felt based on psychographic and demographic differences mean that there is not a simple flip of a switch that will change the game.

What control actually means to consumers

So who does control well? We asked consumers to tell us what brands do a good job of this balance, and why they felt that way. Tellingly, over 30% couldn’t name a brand that they feel effectively balances the element of control with consumers. For those that could name brands, a few themes rose to the top: transparency, personalization, minimal intrusiveness, overall variety, listening to consumer feedback, respecting privacy, and quality of the actual product. We also saw several mentions of small businesses and local companies balancing control well.

Many of these themes closely mirror what consumers say influences their trust in companies. According to GlobalWebIndex’s February 2024 Zeitgeist report, the most important factors that impact a consumer’s trust in a company are:

  1. Quality of product / service 

  2. Security of the customers’ data 

  3. Treatment of employees 

  4. Level of transparency on company processes (ie hiring, supply chains, etc) 

  5. Whether or not I received good customer experience

  6. Company reaction to customer feedback 

You can immediately see the parallels between what consumers look for in control and in trust - quality, transparency, privacy and security of data, and listening to feedback all show up in both conversations. These are all related to how brands fundamentally act on a day-to-day basis.

Having those traits as a brand is one thing, but expressing them is another. There's a big difference between the two: consumers embrace innovation, for example, more enthusiastically when they believe they have a lot of control over how those innovations affect their lives. That belief doesn’t just show up - it needs to be taught. What does it take to show you are ceding some control? How do you reveal your existing control without it feeling… controlling? 

Let’s dive into two ways brands can use the amorphous nature of control to their advantage, first by establishing control through smart storytelling, and then by maintaining a balance of control by making interactions as easy as possible for consumers:

Step 1

Establish Control Through Storytelling & Storytellers

  • Consumers who feel a lack of control in their brand interactions tend to pivot to brands that feel more real and grounded, which makes that a perfect angle to tell stories from. In fact, brands perceived as “strong” or as an “underdog” can make consumers lacking control feel more at ease. When it comes to projecting strength, people that are feeling less control in their own lives are more likely to choose brands with a strong reputation. On the other hand, communicating an underdog story can be seen as inspiring if the story makes consumers feel like the brand has taken control against all the odds. Even though those two angles come at storytelling from different places; when they are successful they help offset some control doubts consumers may have.

  • Another successful use of control in storytelling comes from small businesses. As noted before, participants in our study described local/small businesses as companies they are more likely to feel more control with, even though the reality is that those same businesses usually lack as many products or options as larger competitors.

    There is science to this: a 2023 research study found that the “warm glow” one feels from contributing to a small business can offset the lack of control they experience in local consumption. Take second-hand or vintage shopping, for example. When you walk into your local Goodwill you have no idea what specific items they have, and therefore little control over that experience (unlike the 10 filters you can apply when shopping on Nordstrom.com). Not only is that “thrill of the hunt” part of the fun, but any lack of control is tempered by the fact that your purchase is also a positive contribution to your community. Harnessing that “warm glow” as a storytelling mechanism can offset broader control concerns a consumer may have.

  • Clear, transparent messaging empowers consumers and helps put them in control of their decision-making. For example, people in one study felt more positively about themselves when imagining owning an iPhone when the phone was positioned as a personal control aid rather than an expression of individuality.

    Similarly, our strategic messaging work with Lululemon last year around men’s pants revealed that men felt more confident in choosing a brand that was straightforward in its offering and not overly romantic about its story. In both instances, consumers felt more control when the story itself was presented in a way that put all the cards on the table and didn’t sugarcoat the realities.

  • Word-of-mouth is a powerful delivery method for stories, both for those who are sharing and those who are receiving the information. On the one end, people like to assert control through advising others. People who receive a recommendation may feel more in control of their decision-making since it was influenced by a trusted peer, not the brand. But! It can be quite obvious when brands try to game word-of-mouth through influencers.

    Gen Z in particular can sniff out what isn’t authentic or is being controlled by others. A late 2022 study looked at a term they coined “influencer avoidance” and saw that the more a brand appeared to control the influencers they worked with, the more people avoided the influencers themselves. Participants more harshly judged macro-influencers for this transgression of giving up control, but also were unenthused when micro-influencers did the same. Perhaps this perceived brand control over influencers is why only 21% of people have purchased a product or service because of a social media influencer’s endorsement in the last month (GWI Zeitgeist, March 2024).

Step 2

Maintain a Control Balance by Focusing on Ease

  • Something that stood out in our research was that many participants equate control with ease, particularly how easy it is to use a product or integrate it into their lives. This finding parallels existing learnings that show people feel more control when it’s easy to use brand-created platforms or manage the “impact of their information transmission.”

    Once again the perception of ease can be just as strong as the reality of it. For example, some may feel that finding a product on Amazon is unwieldy and difficult to control, but the brand has gone to great lengths to project itself as a clear and easy solution thanks to Prime and other tools. This work to make the brand feel easy has contributed to its success. In fact, Amazon was the most mentioned brand in our study when we asked for examples of brands that people feel have done a good job of balancing control with their consumers.

  • Prime is an example of ease, but also in ceding control via tools. Giving consumers options to customize their brand experience can create a literal sense of control beyond just perception. Lyft and Uber do this well by offering a variety of options for rides, not just in car size but also the ability to choose a quiet ride and other special features. This image from Flannels, a British retailer, recently went viral because it places control in the hands of the consumer in a clear and low-effort way. Giving consumers clear choices with tools that help make the experience more custom can go a long way in showing you care about control.

  • Balancing the elements of control is not a one-off fix but an ongoing process that can keep consumers engaged for the long run. It also requires you to tell your story similarly at all touchpoints so that consumers feel like they have a good handle on what you offer and how they can interact with you. For example, when shopping in a store, “young consumers perceive greater choice responsibility when their phone is the information source” instead of an employee. Will that consumer get a consistent experience on their phone while they stand in your store? Will the same products be in stock and available? Will the price be the same? These types of disconnects can make a brand seem less in control of its world and therefore, less appealing to consumers.

In Conclusion

We now know that what consumers want isn’t total control, but a more nuanced balance that leaves a decent amount of control in the hands of the companies they choose to interact with. This balance hinges on trust, and when it works, consumers feel safe to be curious and interact with brands more deeply. Research into how consumers use online marketplaces, for example, discovered that “over half of the participants intentionally visited the online marketplace without any specific needs but solely to enjoy the element of surprise.” If you establish a clear story and create an ease of consumer interaction with your brand, you are more likely to be seen as a compatriot in the quest for serendipitous discovery instead of a roadblock.

Ultimately, finding the right control balance is about managing expectations - both those of the consumer, and also your own for how much a brand can dictate the terms of a consumer relationship without taking things too far. Our findings show there are clear opportunities for brands to present themselves in ways that will allow consumers more perceived control. Finding the right balance will make brands even more relevant to their audiences and establish the trust necessary to succeed in a hyper-competitive market. Until then, we’ll keep clicking on cookie pop-ups 800 times a day.

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