Want to Reach Consumers After COVID?

As Coronavirus vaccines roll out, companies have an opportunity to plan for a much different world, possibly very soon. It is crucial for companies to understand the evolving phases consumers are in. In recent weeks, Ipsos has seen people shifting phases.

New data from Ipsos measuring how consumers are adapting and coping – the Ipsos Pandemic Adaptation Continuum (IPAC) framework – has identified ten phases:

Upslope (coping):

• Uncertain = Haven’t really had impacts; not sure what to think
• Preparation = gathering goods, stockpiling, getting ready for worsening conditions
• Adjustment = Unhappily adjusting to new circumstances, worried
• Acclimation = Adjusted to new routines, accepting but not happy
• Enduring = Adjusted to new routines but very unhappy with them, looking to change

Downslope (improving):

• Anticipation = Seeing signs of improvement in their area
• Exploration = (Re)doing new things, but worried about it
• Recalibration = Doing normal things, but carefully
• Rebuilding = Optimistically engaging in pre-pandemic activities
• Settling in = Feeling the pandemic is behind them

Download our paper with detailed findings from the IPAC framework. Why? Because when recovery happens, it will happen quickly, and probably within 2021. The IRL economy will be reinvigorated, and there will be a new set of criteria driving consumer choice that warrants understanding now. Our data is a key starting point for understanding these consumers—and what they’ll do next.

WANT TO REACH CONSUMERS AFTER COVID?

New Ipsos data provides a starting point

As Coronavirus vaccines roll out, companies have an opportunity to plan for a much different world, possibly very soon. It is crucial for companies to meet people where they are and to understand the critical phases consumers are in. In recent weeks, we’ve seen people shifting phases. It’s important, therefore, to know where they are headed so you can be prepared. Here’s what the data shows. Ipsos measures how consumers are adapting through a model called the Ipsos Pandemic Adaptation Continuum (IPAC), a framework for how people are coping. As companies struggle to anticipate future consumer needs, IPAC asks: Are things getting better or worse? Here are the most recent IPAC results on consumers, using a simple framework and based on stages of grief and coping. There are 10 phases. Upslope (coping):

• Uncertain = Haven’t really had impacts; not sure what to think
• Preparation = gathering goods, stockpiling, getting ready for worsening conditions
• Adjustment = Unhappily adjusting to new circumstances, worried
• Acclimation = Adjusted to new routines, accepting but not happy
• Enduring = Adjusted to new routines but very unhappy with them, looking to change Downslope (improving):
• Anticipation = Seeing signs of improvement in their area
• Exploration = (Re)doing new things, but worried about it
• Recalibration = Doing normal things, but carefully
• Rebuilding = Optimistically engaging in pre-pandemic activities
• Settling in = Feeling the pandemic is behind them

Since the early wave of COVID-19 in spring 2020, Ipsos has seen a steady shift from the downslope toward normal to the upslope which includes preparation, adaptation, and acclimation, which is a regression. In May, there was a sense of anticipation for re-opening and a new normal, which was squashed in the fall uptick and months leading up to Thanksgiving.

But the last few weeks tell a different story. There has been a systematic shift to the right, the Downslope. More people are OK with their circumstances, even if not ideal (Acclimation) and considerably more people are on the Downslope of the curve. Twenty million people have shifted beyond Enduring into mindsets and behaviors that beget a re-opening. It’s happened within two months.

Virus mutations are a huge factor in where we go from here, and certainly could set us back again, and we are still a long way from populating the Downslope. However, our recent data suggest that when the “new normal” comes, it will come quickly— it can be seen with this recent and swift shift in the IPAC. The floodgates are starting to open as more people have figured out how to live in the current circumstance (Acclimation) and move towards normal (the Downslope). In another Ipsos survey, 40% of people said they don’t need the vaccine to return to normal life. They need lower case numbers, mask-wearing at public events, proof of vaccinations and other signs of a commitment to public health.

As of this writing, according to our Ipsos Axios tracker, we sit at ~10% of the U.S. population inoculated either with just the first or both doses. It has taken approximately four weeks to reach this level. For COVID-19 testing, the same penetration required four months. Testing and vaccination have different dynamics, of course, but the vaccination movement is quick. There is a sizable group of Americans who are not waiting for vaccinations, just cues that things are improving. When recovery happens, it will happen quickly, probably within 2021. The IRL economy will be reinvigorated, and there will be a new set of criteria driving consumer choice that warrants understanding now. Our data above is a key starting point for understanding these consumers—and what they’ll do next.