2,500 millennials, 209 survey questions, here are the results.

Posted by Troy Harrington on Mar 10, 2020 4:56:00 PM

Millennials (currently 24-39) have tremendous purchasing power… 

As a millennial myself, I know the stereotypes first-hand. 

They downplay the purchasing power of this generation. In other words, we’re not all eating avocado toast, watching reruns of The Office, making meme’s in our parents’ basements, ordering $12 cold brew delivery online, and playing with fidget spinners… 

Although sure, some of us are.

To better understand millennial consumer behavior in 2020 for multiple categories, our client Roth Capital conducted a proprietary survey leveraging MFour Mobile Research. 

This is actually their eighth annual millennial survey, which looks at spending patterns, data trends, as well as top brands across major consumer categories including apparel, home furnishings, health, beverages, healthy snacks, and even cannabis. This in-depth 209 questionnaire was completed by 2,500 U.S. millenial men and women. 

While, the meat and potatoes of the insights are kept for their own use, here are 10 surface-level statistics that they were comfortable with us sharing publicly...

  • 73% of millennials are Amazon Prime members.
  • 53% of millennials will pay 10% or more for socially responsible brands.
  • 47% are more likely to purchase digitally native brands that begin in-store. 
  • 74% of millennials own either a Yeti, HydroFlask, or Contigo reusable water bottle.
  • 47% of millennials buy second hand items for sustainability and affordability reasons.
  • 63% of millennials who buy online prefer to make returns in-store, and then 76% of those who return stay and shop after making an in-store return.
  • Dollar Shave Club is the most used subscription, followed by Chewy, then Target.
  • While millennials prefer traditional mattresses, Purple is more popular than Casper.
  • Nike is the favorite brand in multiple categories including activewear, outdoor apparel, outdoor footwear, fashion footwear and climbing. Followed by Under Armour, The North Face, Adidas, Timberland, Vans, and Black Diamond.

It’s time to take millennial consumers seriously. 

David Bain, managing director, senior research analyst at Roth Capital Partners summarized it well when he said “Millennials will make up nearly three-quarters of the workforce by 2025 and are rapidly redefining consumer patterns … [The] study of millennial consumer behavior and preferences is an essential factor to projecting business earnings…” 

At MFour, we over-index on under-represented consumers such as millennials, Gen Z, Hispanics, and African-Americans, so you can get the accurate representation you need.

If you want to understand your millennial consumers, let's chat

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, mobile insights, millennials

Gen Z Is Even More Diverse than Millennials, and it Takes a Mobile Research  App To Reach Them

Posted by MFour on Feb 11, 2019 1:55:56 PM

Pew Research Center’s recently published series of deep dives into the demographic characteristics and social views of American Post-Millennials (also commonly known as Gen Z) is worth a look for consumer insights professionals. With the oldest Gen Zers moving into post-adolescence, they most certainly are on marketers’ and market researchers’ radar as a key cohort of consumers whose characteristics, lifestyles and attitudes demand understanding right now and on into the future. Among other things, Pew notes, this is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history.

The oldest Post-Millennials, who are turning 22 this year, are getting college educations and/or have begun to enter the work force.  Also, the Gen Z multitudes who are still in their childhood are driving a great deal of purchasing by their Millennial (ages 23 to 38) and Gen X (39 to 54) parents. Pew’s studies continue to compile data documenting similarities and differences between these generations.

The defining demographic reality of the late 2010s, in which the oldest Gen Zers and the youngest Millennials are coming into their own as young, independent consumers, is the dominance of smartphones as the pervasive tool consumers of all ages use to learn about products and services, buy products and services, and express and widely circulate their opinions about products and services.

But almost incredibly, only 54% of consumer insights professionals who responded to GreenBook’s most recent GreenBook Research Industry Trends (GRIT) report said they are using “mobile first” surveys to obtain consumer data. What’s worse, “mobile first” is not the kind of mobile research the industry should embrace. It fails to reach consumers in their true comfort zone, which is the mobile app. As eMarketer has documented, mobile consumers prefer the app environment by six to one over accessing and exchanging information on the mobile web,” which is where “mobile first” research takes place.

Although the GRIT report barely mentions mobile-app research, forward-looking marketing and consumer insights professionals at major brands, market research firms and advertising agencies are increasingly aware of and on board with the mobile-app research methodology. They recognize the speed, timeliness and quality of data collected from a first-party consumer panel of mobile app-users, and can see that it’s the pathway to research success in the Smartphone Era.

Scores of major brands and firms partner with MFour, often with the specific aim of reaching Millennial and Post-Millennial consumers, the leading adopters of mobile app activites (although Generation X and Baby Boomers are also rapidly making up any generational gaps in mobile app use).

Look at this visualization of MFour’s panel characteristics and judge for yourself the kind of coverage and engagement you can expect when you need to reach consumers in the key 18- to 49-year-old age groups. Pew notes that Gen Z is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in U.S. history – 52% Caucasian, 25% Hispanic, 14% African-American, 6% Asian and 4% other.  When it comes to consumer panel diversity across Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z, MFour an Surveys On The Go®are already there.

In the 2010s it has become a watchword among most consumer insights professionals that Millennials, Hispanics and African-Americans are “hard to reach” for market research. But if you’re smart enough to connect with them through an advanced mobile research app, that simply isn’t so.

Topics: african americans, millennials, market research, Gen Z, hispanic consumers, consumer panel, mobile consumer panel, mobile data, mobile consumers, Pew Research Center, demographic representation

Why Market Researchers Shouldn't Stay Married - To Online Trackers

Posted by MFour on Nov 20, 2018 7:00:00 AM

Blog Marriage Stats Trackers 14Nov18

While market research continues to pop the questions it takes to gain consumer insights, young adults in the U.S. are becoming less and less likely to pop the question that sets couples on the path to marriage.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 29% of today’s 18- to 34-year-olds are married, compared to 59% in 1978. The median age at first marriage is now 29.8 years for men and 27.8 years for women, continuing a steady climb that began in1950 and has accelerated since the Great Recession.

Meanwhile, 3.85 million babies were born in the U.S. in 2017, a drop of 2% in just one year, and a decline of nearly 7% from the number of U.S. births in 2009.

Economics is clearly a factor. Among the 71% of adults under 35 who are not married, only 20% earn at least $40,000 a year. For married young adults, the proportion earning at least $40,000 doubles to 40%.

Marriage, parenthood and the formation of households are, of course, of fundamental importance not only to people’s personal lives, but to their lives as consumers. Perhaps the most important message that market research can take from these powerful demographic developments is that big changes are afoot, even for enduring facets of life that many of us consider unshakable. In the face of great changes, it’s crucial for consumer insights professionals to be constantly alert and rapidly adaptable when it comes to the best practices for understanding how the consumer landscape is shifting.

Given these realities, does it make sense to accept longstanding common wisdom about research and its methods? For example, should long term tracking studies put such a premium on methodological consistency that they sacrifice accuracy for the sake of keeping all their data ducks in a neat row?  The acceleration of change should tell you that those ducks are probably waddling around in patterns that have changed considerably since the tracking study was launched.

If you’re committed to continuity in your online trackers, and worried that you’ll lose data continuity if you switch to mobile, it’s time for more flexible thinking. Mobile living is the way consumers live today. Their phones are always with them. The personal computers you’ve relied on for answers to online tracking surveys are now optional for many consumers, and they’ve become especially less relevant outside of white-collar workplaces and home offices.

So if you’re still holding out against mobile tracking data, maybe it’s time to reconsider whether that approach is really stalwart and steady-on. In a changing world, integrating mobile data into tracking studies isn’t the risky play. It’s the conservative move – if data accuracy and true consumer representation are the values you’re trying to conserve. In a time of flux, the riskiest behavior is to ignore fundamental changes and stand still. For better or for worse, it’s just a fact that young adults are postponing marriage. It’s also just a fact that consumers have gone mobile. To stay on track, trackers must move with them.

For more on how to integrate mobile into your tracking studies, just click here.

 

 

 

Topics: millennials, demographics, market research, surveys

In-App Mobile Market Research Reached 2,500 Millennials for in-Depth Consumer Insights

Posted by MFour on Nov 14, 2018 11:00:00 AM

Blog Millennial Women 13Nov18

Accurate consumer insights on Millennials will continue to be essential for decades. MFour Client ROTH Capital Partners (ROTH) has taken the challenge seriously, undertaking an in-depth study of 2,500 Millennial men and women in partnership with MFour.

You can check out ROTH’s announcement of its 2018-2019 Millennial Study by clicking here.

The survey encompassed 181 questions and had an average Length of Interview of more than 28 minutes, confirming respondents’ willingness to engage with longer, in-depth surveys if they’re conducted in the mobile-app environment that has become the most natural habitat for today’s consumers.

Among the study’s findings:

  • Two thirds of Millennials prefer to research significant purchases online, but 57% still prefer to carry out transactions in-store.
  • Virtual Reality shopping has become a fact, with 15% of Millennials saying they have used VR to evaluate furniture, while 16% have used “virtual mirrors” to see how they’ll actually look in cosmetics or clothes they’re considering.
  • Nike’s marketing gamble on Colin Kaepernick has paid off with Millennials – 34% said they’re more likely to purchase Nike products following the ad campaign featuring the controversial NFL quarterback, compared to 15% who said the ads made them less likely to purchase Nike goods.

Mobile studies such as the one by ROTH dispel two main myths of market research:

  • That Millennials are a generation that’s especially “hard to reach." 
  • And that mobile surveys are only effective for quick-hit surveys with short, simple questionnaires.

Increasingly, consumer insights professionals are realizing that Millennials are well in reach and can be understood in-depth if you reach out to them in the mobile-app space where they’re most comfortable.

Topics: millennials, mobile market research, consumer insights, in-app Mobile surveys, in-depth surveys, mobile myths

Census Trends Spell Bad News for Online Market Research

Posted by MFour on Jun 28, 2018 6:00:00 AM

Census Diversity Blog 25Jun18

Are you one of the many marketing and consumer insights professionals who have doubts whether they're getting good, representative data needed to understand Hispanics, African Americans, Millennials and Gen Z? Here's something new from the U.S. Census Bureau that shows how urgent it is that you stop subscribing to the common belief that certain groups are just "hard to reach."

“Population Continues To Become More Diverse,” is one of the section headlines in a new Census Bureau report that updates the U.S. population count and its demographic makeup.

The report spells more trouble for brands that can't get on top of understanding Hispanics, African Americans, and the Millennial and Gen Z generations that are the most diverse in U.S. history.

The reason they seem "hard to reach" is straightforward: Hispanics, African Americans, Millennials and Gen Z all have a strong preference for their smartphones over desktops and laptops when it comes to accessing, creating and sharing information. Research that doesn't get the mobile dimension right will inevitably suffer a data disconnect that you simply can no longer afford.  

These key figures from the new Census Bureau estimates tell the story:

  • The  U.S. Hispanic population grew 2.1% between 2016 and 2017, to 58.9 million. Hispanics now make up 18% of America’s nearly 326 million inhabitants.
  • African Americans’ numbers, grew 1.2%, to 47.4 million. They now account for 14.6% of the U.S. population.
  • People of Asian descent now make up nearly 7% of the population, after a 3.1% increase. 
  • While whites remain the biggest population group,  at 197.8 million, their numbers actually declined .02% from the previous year.
  • Millennials (now ages 22 to 37) make up 22% of the population and are coming into their own as the key drivers of U.S. consumption. If market researchers can’t find a way to reach them, there will be gaping holes in their ability to  understand the consumer cohort that carries the most weight.
  • Gen Z – newborns to age 21 – make up nearly 28% of the population, and they’re even more smartphone-focused than Millennials.
The takeaway from these population trends is that marketers and consumer insights professionals need to get mobile data right, because the groups whose numbers and buying power are growing are precisely the people who are considered “hard to reach” with traditional online surveys. After a half-decade or more in which too many researchers moved slowly on mobile, there's no more denying that it's the data source that all businesses and categories must get right. There’s no getting around the need to get mobile right. If you agree that it's crucial to step up to the state of the art in mobile consumer research, start by clicking here.

Topics: african americans, millennials, market research, Gen Z, sample quality, hispanic consumers

82% of Pro Basketball Fans Are Heavy Playoff Viewers

Posted by MFour on May 15, 2018 3:11:02 PM

 Screen Shot 2018-05-16 at 9.15.14 AM

In a nationwide survey of 5,032 Millennial and Gen Z respondents who are interested in pro basketball, 82.1% said they are frequent watchers as this season’s league playoffs near their climax. That includes 65.6% who report watching “nearly every game,” and 16.5% who said they’ve watched every game.

Frequent viewership ran even higher in states that are home to the four teams still in contention: Texas (94.7%), California (90.6%), Ohio (90%) and Massachusetts (88.5%).

But viewership also was intense among respondents living in some states that don’t have a pro basketball team, let alone one that’s still in the playoffs. That includes 93.7% of respondents in Virginia who said they have watched every game or nearly every game; 89.3% in Washington state, 84.7% in Kentucky, and 83% in Missouri. Survey respondents were ages 13 to 40.

As the conference finals continue with Golden State against Houston and Cleveland against Boston, rooting interest is fairly evenly distributed: 27.5% of respondents want Golden State to repeat as champion, 25.7% are for Cleveland, 20% for Boston and 15.5% for Houston. An additional 11.3% said they are watching but not rooting, since the team they wanted to win the championship has been eliminated.

Golden State owed its favorite-team status to female respondents, 38.8% of whom said they were rooting for the champs to repeat. Men, who made up 87.6% of all respondents, actually gave a rooting edge to Cleveland over Golden State, by 26.2% to 25.9%. 

Fans in Massachusetts appear to be the most deeply-invested in their home-state team, with 84.8% saying they are rooting for Boston. Among Ohioans surveyed, 78.3% are pulling for Cleveland.  Meanwhile, Golden State commands loyalty from just 53.1% of the Californians surveyed, and Houston has the rooting allegiance of just 44.8% of the respondents from Texas.

One big difference is that Boston and Cleveland each has its home state to itself, while Golden State and Houston both share their states with other teams – three others in California, and two others in Texas.

But even Massachusetts and Ohio residents who aren’t rooting for their home-state teams are rooting for somebody: not a single respondent from either state said he or she had no rooting interest at all. In California, 8.6% of fans said they’re continuing to watch the games even though they have no rooting interest, and 9.2% of respondents from Texas are watching but not rooting.

As for their views on individual stars, 40.7% of all respondents predicted that James Harden of Houston will win the league’s Most Valuable Player award, followed by 39.9% predicting LeBron James of Cleveland and 8.5% predicting that Kevin Durant of Golden State will take the honor.

The basketball fans surveyed also are heavily oriented to other professional sports: 87.5% said they are interested in pro football, 62.6% have an interest in baseball and 38.6% are fans of ice hockey, where the playoffs also are approaching a climax and competing for viewers. Professional soccer commanded interest from 30% of the basketball fans surveyed, and stock car racing had a 21.6% share.

Most of the fans who are watching the basketball playoffs said their interest doesn’t extend to the celebrity news surrounding one of the players, Cleveland center Tristan Thompson, whose relationship with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian reportedly is in jeopardy. Only 39.5% expressed an opinion as to whether the couple would stay together; 60.5% chose the answer, “I really don’t care, I have better things to do with my life.”

Methodology: The study was conducted May 10-14, fielded to validated, first-party U.S. consumers ages 13 to 40, who participate in research using MFour's mobile survey app, Surveys On The Go®. The 15-question survey was begun by 17,972 consumers nationwide, of whom 5,076 met qualifying criteria; 99.1% of qualifiers completed the survey. Mean completion time was 2 minutes, 59 seconds. 

 

 

Topics: consumer survey, millennials, market research, consumer insights, professional basketball, Gen Z, professional sports

3 Friday Insights Into Mobile Research

Posted by admin on Oct 7, 2016 11:02:43 AM

Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from our blog to keep you up to speed on mobile research as you head into the weekend.

 

Whatever else you do, don't forget to check at the bottom for something to mobilize your spirits and get you humming.

 

Talking Technology With 1,000 Millennials

 

Trump v Clinton Mudsling Splatters MR

 

Follow Facebook's Lead...Into Mobile

 

And here's a Friday tune to send you smiling into your weekend.

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, clinton, Facebook, technology, MFour Blog, millennials, mobile, trump

1,000-Millennial Study: Views on Technology

Posted by admin on Oct 3, 2016 9:48:46 AM

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To wind up the first phase of MFour’s Millennial Insights Project, here's Part 3, on Millennials' views on Technology & Lifestyle -- with a focus on the smartphones and other computing devices that are the dominant technology in their lives.

Our study aims to generate insights into this crucial, much-analyzed consumer cohort of more than 75 million Americans, while demonstrating to the market research industry that the fastest, most reliable and effective way to reach Millennials is on the devices that define them -- the smartphones from which, as the results below show, they are in many cases literally inseparable. 

The data for this report -- and for the  previous segments on Millennials & Entertainment and Millennials & Money and Finance -- was obtained through the first wide-ranging, demographically representative study of Millennials undertaken solely by smartphone app. The fundamental premise is that Millennials are best engaged -- and will have the most comfortable and productive survey-taking experience -- on the mobile devices  that fully engage them in all phases of their lives.

Using MFourDIY™,  the first all-mobile, do-it-yourself survey platform, we obtained 1,000 validated responses within two hours from Millennials on the million-member active panel that uses the Surveys on the Go® smartphone app. The 30-question survey covered Entertainment, Money & Finance and Technology & Lifestyles, giving a representative picture of the U.S. Millennial population by sex, age, race/ethnicity, income and employment status.

These are key insights on how Millennials use smartphones and other computing devices.

Mobile is Multiple: Smartphone owners haven’t abandoned other computing devices – as long as those other devices meet the portability test. 87.1% also own a laptop, and 71.4% have a tablet.

But Smartphones are Essential: 92.3% of Millennials said they use their phones at least several times a day, compared to 32.1% for laptops. 44.9% said they spend at least five hours a day on their smartphones – compared to 23.3% who spend five or more hours on a personal computer (desktop or laptop). 79.3% of Millennials use their phones at least two hours a day, compared to 45.7% for personal computers.

Only 3.8% of respondents said they use their smartphones less than an hour a day. Millennials are far more likely to make sparing use of laptops and/or desktops - 26.3% report using them less than an hour a day.

A Constant Companion: 45.3% of Millennials say they keep their smartphones with them 24-7. 93.2% say they keep their phones on their persons or nearby at least 10 hours a day.

Minorities are Really Into Their Phones: Majorities of African Americans (57.1%) and Hispanics (51.6%) reported spending five hours or more per day on their phones; Asians (42%) also exceeded Caucasians (38.9%) when it came to epic phone usage.

Desktops are Bottoming Out: Millennials are pushing the granddaddy of personal computers into retirement. Only 45.2% of them own a desktop; men are the diehards, with 50.6% still holding on to desktops, compared to just 39.8% of women. Affluence is another predictor for ownership of what most Millennials apparently perceive as a luxury they can live without. 54.2% of respondents living in households with annual incomes of at least $75,000 said they had a desktop as well as a smartphone. Desktop ownership in Millennial households with earnings under $50,000 was 42%.

Only one-third of Millennials (33.1%) say they use a desktop computer at least once a day. Almost as many (30%) are now using wearable devices such as smart watches at least once a day.

Whole Lotta Checkin’ Goin’ On: 88.7% of Millennials check text messages the moment they get them. They’re considerably less compulsive about social media and app notifications (41.2% and 40.5%, respectively, get checked immediately). Email continues to trend downward -- just 35.3% get opened right away. 51% check their apps' push notifications at least once an hour, compared to 48.6% for email. 

OK With Their OS: Overall, Millennials seem satisfied with whatever smartphone operating system they’re using now. Those saying they were likely or very likely to switch (25.6%) were outnumbered two-to-one by those who said they were unlikely or very unlikely to make a change (51.9%). That left 22.5% who could go either way.

However, there were  differences  in the degree of loyalty commanded by Apple's iOS system and Google's Android. They were comparable when it came to their shares of loyal users -- -- 53.8% of iOS users and 50.4% of Android users said they were likely or very likely not to switch devices. But on the other end, Android users were twice as likely to express  discontent: 32.9% said they were likely or very likely to switch to a different OS, compared to 16.7% for iOS.

Can Google poach some of the 29.5% of iOS users who said they were neutral about keeping their current system, while persuading the 16.7% of neutral Android users to stay? Can Apple succeed in prying loose the one-third of Android-using Millennials who apparently are unimpressed with Google's system? Or, with nearly half of Millennials either poised to change operating systems or sitting on the fence, is there an opening for other system designers to compete?

Meet Your Next App: When it comes to discovering new apps to download, Millennials rank advice from family and friends (61%), social media (60.4%) and Apple and Google’s app stores (56.7%) as by far the biggest influences. The advertising about apps that's most likely to influence them is the kind they they receive through an app -- 33..6% of Millennials cited in-app advertising as a factor, compared to 23.4% who said ads on television, radio or in print media helped them discover new apps. News coverage ranked last as a portal to discovering, cited as an influence by 15.1%.

When it came to using  social media to discover apps to download, women were notably more active than men -- 67.6% to 53.2%. The same goes for legacy advertising (television, radio and print), cited by 27.4% of women and 19.4% of men. African Americans also stood out in citing legacy advertising channels as a source of information about apps – 37.1% compared to 22.6% of Hispanics and 20.5% of Caucasians. 

Just A Few Go A Long Way: About half of Millennials (50.7%) use 4 to 6 different mobile apps per day. At the extremes, just 15.4% use no more than 3 apps daily, and 13.5% use 10 or more. App usage varies little across ethnicities, age segments and gender.

Methodology

 

Using MFourDIY, the market research industry’s first all-mobile, do-it-yourself platform for designing and carrying out studies, MFour fielded a 30-question survey on Sept. 10 to Millennials who make up about 60% of its million-member active panel, all of whom participate in research via the Surveys on the Go® app for smartphones and tablets. Fielding time was less than two hours for 1,000 validated responses.

Responses reflected U.S. Millennials’ demographic profile: 50% male, 50% female; 56% Caucasian, 19% Hispanic/Latino, 14% African American/Black, 5% Asian, 1% each for Middle Eastern, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans/Alaskans; 3% Other. Age brackets were 18-24 (36%), 25-29 (31%) and 30-36 (33%). The study also segmented respondents by whether they were parents of children under 18, their type of work (full-time blue collar and white collar, part-time, unemployed), and their income (six brackets from $25,000 or less to $100,000 or more).

To read our previous reports, for Part 1, Entertainment, click here.

For Part 2, Money & Finance, click here

To view  all survey data, visit  surveysonthego.net/tracker and use these login credentials:

Username: MillennialCaseStudy

Password: MFourMillennials

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, News, technology, MFour Blog, millennials, smartphones

3 Weekly Insights on Mobile

Posted by admin on Sep 30, 2016 12:59:37 PM
Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from the MFour blog to keep you up to speed on mobile research as you head into the weekend.
Whatever else you do, don't forget to check at the bottom for something to mobilize your spirits and get you humming.
And here's a  Friday tune to send you bopping and smiling into your weekend.

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, MFour Blog, millennials, blackberry, international business times

3 Weekly Insights on Mobile

Posted by admin on Sep 23, 2016 4:05:56 PM
Here's your Friday roundup of 3 items from our blog to keep you up to speed on mobile research as you head into the weekend. Whatever else you do, don't forget to check at the bottom for something to mobilize your spirits and get you humming.

Topics: MFour Mobile Research, MFour Blog, millennials, entertainment

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