Life reinvented: Four new consumer attitudes are emerging

These past two years have dramatically changed how people work, live, and engage with brands. Our research shows that work and life blending—combined with the political and social upheavals over the last few years—have caused the emergence of new consumer attitudes and behaviors.

We took a deep dive into our data and found four new attitudes and behaviors causing a change in how we reach and engage customers across industries. We created an e-book you can download with a wealth of information to share with colleagues and peers when planning. Here’s a highlight of the four new attitudes:

• Digital Nomads
• Empowered Activists
• Luxury Shoppers
• Self-Care Enthusiasts

Digital Nomads

Digital Nomads are location-independent people who value flexibility and make a living working online while traveling. Because they work 100% remotely, they’re able to travel constantly, moving from place to place if there’s an internet connection.

We surveyed travelers and uncovered insights indicating that more than half of remote workers interviewed feel like working remotely has opened up new opportunities for how they live. Of those, 54% agree that working from home has allowed them to give up their permanent residence and live a more nomadic lifestyle.¹

Digital Nomads are often minimalist in many ways, exchanging a life of material items for experiences. They’re thinking about their next travel, accommodations, and adventures. They want information quickly and are always looking for the next travel trend.

They’re searching for travel products, transportation, housing, grocery and dining, entertainment and more. Due to their frequent location changes, they often search online and prefer to purchase in-store instead of shipping.

How to reach them

There are 15.2 million travel enthusiasts on the Microsoft Advertising Network in the United states who work remotely. Of those, 881,000 stay in an Airbnb or rented accommodation at least once a month, and 2.1 million are self-employed/freelancers.²

Try these ad features to reach this group:

• Property Promotion Ads are highly visual ads that appear in the top slots on Bing Maps. These ads surface when someone searches for hotels in a specific location or with specific amenities. They’re designed to inspire travelers early in the planning process and provide you with an opportunity to influence their decision.

• Hotel Price Ads shorten the customer journey by providing information to help travelers plan and book their trip in fewer steps. They showcase rates alongside photos, directions, availability, reviews, and more while providing engaging information at the decision point.

Read our RVShare customer success story to see how they managed their massive growth as the demand for RV travel grew.

Empowered Activists

The Empowered Activist is a consumer who makes purchasing decisions by spending money on brands that align with their values. Often, that means they seek eco-friendly, inclusive, ethical, and small-business-oriented brands.

These consumers vote with their wallets and are 35% more likely to purchase sustainable personal care items, so feature those benefits if you have them.² They also use search to discover products and brands they can stand behind. We’ve seen a 141% increase in beauty searches for black-owned and minority-owned related terms year over year.³

Empowered Activists also care about privacy and trusted brands. Hence, 48% of those on the Microsoft Advertising Network consider how companies use their data, and they’re 20% more likely to expect brands to be transparent about its usage.²

How to reach them

There are 84 million Empowered Activists on the Microsoft Advertising Network in the United states. This market is 23% more likely to use search engines for brand discovery, with 57% of them identifying as brand loyal, and 65% researching products before they buy.²

• Try using business attributes text additions to search ads. Including these attributes enables you to quickly communicate and showcase the mutual values between your brand and your customers that help build trust, brand love, and loyalty through inclusivity. Examples are carbon-neutral, minority-owned, wheelchair accessible, among others.

• Review our Marketing with Purpose hub for resources, success stories, and marketing actions to help you build a trusted brand that better appeals to Empowered Activists.

Read our customer success story from The Motley Fool to see how they used their purpose to increase performance.

Luxury Shoppers

The online Luxury Shopper seeks to elevate everyday experiences with finer things and is comfortable purchasing online. They’re browsing online, doing their research, and looking at the large variety of luxury goods online instead of going in-store. Luxury Shoppers who use multiple search engines spend 32 to 105% more money on luxury goods and 42% of their time on the Microsoft Search Network.⁴

How to reach them

There are currently 52 million Luxury Shoppers on the Microsoft Advertising Network in the United states.² They can be found across multiple search engines, with 51% of them researching vacations, and 43% searching for business-related topics.² When buying wine, they tend to search online and buy in-store.⁴

Because Luxury Shoppers research before purchasing, consider features that put them closer to making a purchase decision before they even click:

• Multimedia Ads are exclusive to Microsoft Advertising and combine text and images for the look and feel of social media ads to drive quicker engagement.

• Ad extensions make your ads more effective and attract relevant customers by grabbing attention and positioning your message pre-click.

Self-Care Enthusiasts

Self-Care Enthusiasts are interested in spending time and money where it matters most, whether with family, mental health, or fitness. They seek brands that enhance their physical and mental wellbeing. They value self, time, health, and wellbeing over all else. This audience is working hard, and their time is stretched throughout the day as they’re multitasking between work, school, life, and leisure activities.

In this group, 61% rely on search to do product research, 54% manage their finances online, and 25% research health issues. What’s more, they’re 38% more likely to have purchased exercise equipment online.² They expect to get information quickly and have a seamless digital experience across the four or more devices they use to access the internet.²

How to reach them

There are 94 million Self-Care Enthusiasts on the Microsoft Advertising Network in the United states² but they’re not all the same. We see unique behaviors across the verticals and interests they express at any given time, requiring sound audience understanding from the businesses trying to reach them.

• Use In-market Audiences to find curated lists of users for a specific purchase category to ensure you’re targeting the right groups at the right time.

Read our customer success story to see how home improvement retailer Build with Ferguson drove e-commerce growth during the pandemic.

Download the e-book to learn more about these audiences in an engaging format.