2017 Digital Trends, How Do Consumers Really Feel About Them

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We’re a month into 2017’s second quarter and Google is already returning over 56,900 results for “digital trends 2017“. It seems there’s an unspoken rule that you must always have an opinion on what key trends will arise for the upcoming year if you’re in the digital marketing space.

What if we’re actually just stuck in an industry echo chamber? Code Computerlove might burst that bubble with some new research. Code Computerlove surveyed 1,000 U.K. adults on things like chatbots, voice search, and virtual reality, to find out what they really think about these trend predictions. They then compared this data to what’s making the most noise online. Their key findings:

9 out of 10 consumers claim to have no interest in using augmented reality in the near future.
Mobile payments are the most sought-after technology in 2017.
1 in 5 people surveyed aims to spend less time in front of screens this year.

Wait a minute, many people are aiming to spend less time in front of screens this year? If this is true, brands must make their digital interactions count – a poor initial digital experience can carry a long-term impact. Are you curious to know more about your brand’s needs for these trends? Check out the infographic below.

Digital Trends 2017: Are Brands and Customers on the Same Page?

there are some exciting digital trends causing a big buzz in the brand world. But how do customers feel about some of these technologies? And how do they want to interact with brands in this digital space?

The Buzz: Top trends ranked by new mentions in last year

24,200,000 Augmented Reality
16,400,000 Virtual Reality
44,200 Chatbots
37,300 Mobile Payments
10,700 Voice Assistants
8,200 Screen-less ordering, Amazon Dash

Augmented reality and virtual reality have generated masses of news coverage in the last year, whilst more functional technologies like chatbots and mobile payments haven’t caused as much noise.

Top Trends Ranked by Global Monthly Google Searches

(Numbers estimated from chart since numbers are absent)
Virtual Reality 2,250,000
Augmented Reality 1,220,000
Voice Assistants 750,000
Chatbots 100,000
Mobile Payments Under 100,000
Screen-less ordering Under 100,000

Virtual reality and augmented reality dominate once again, as the two top-searched trends on Google.

(Microphone icon) = 750,000

And whilst voice assistants haven’t been big in the news, customer interest in this technology is growing fast, with around 750,000 searches a month globally in the last year.

Key Trends in Focus

IMAX virtual reality: $50million of funds raised by IMAX to develop new VR content. They have partnered with Google to build the next generation of VR camera, which plans to launch in 2018.
Apple Augmented Reality: $34 Thousand news articles about Apple’s augmented reality patents. They appear to be working on a potentially game-changing wearable AR device that would have enough power to last a full day.
Voice Assistants: 550 Thousand In the battle of the voice assistants, Amazon Echo is winning with 550,000 monthly searches, vs 201,000 for Google Home. Searches for “Alexa” rose from 550,000 to 1.5 million per month during 2016.

The Reality on the Ground

1,000 members of the public were recently polled to find out how they really feel about some of the major emerging consumer technology trends.

Which Technologies Do Customers Want to Use in 2017?

Augmented Reality: 12.9%
Chatbots: 14.4%
Screen-less Ordering: 14.9%
Virtual Reality: 23.7%
Voice Search: 24.7%
Mobile Payments: 32.1%

Mobile payments: Whilst mobile payments may not be generating the most excitement in the media, this is the technology customers are most likely to want to use when interacting with brands in 2017.
Virtual Reality: Fewer than 1 in 4 were interested in virtual reality as part of the customer experience.
Augmented Reality: just 12.9% want to use augmented reality this year.

What do Customers Want from Digital in 2017?

When asked to think about what they wanted from digital in 2017, customers favored iteration over revolution.

They wanted improvements to existing products and services they use, and improved customer service response from the brands they interact with, over completely new ideas and experiences.

43.9% – Improvements – the products and services I use already, but better!
35.2% – Services – ore responsive customer services and better information on the products I use
30.8% – Innovation – fresh ideas, something I haven’t seen or experienced before
22.2% – Disconnect – less intrusive technology. More time away from the screen spent in the real world.
19.9% – Connectivity – more linking options between my accounts, from social tot professional and financial.

1 in 5 said they were looking to disconnect more this year, spending more time away from screens and interacting in the real world.

Sources:
Google News Search
Google Keyword Planner
Code Computerlove / OnePoll survey (Dec. 2016)
Thrillist.com
imax.com
bit.ly/USPTO-gov