In today’s uncertain economic landscape, where consumer financial security is on the decline, the old rules of marketing are being rewritten. We’re joined by Zainab Hussain, an e-commerce strategist and expert in customer engagement, to explore a profound shift in consumer behavior. With only 52% of consumers feeling financially secure, the focus is moving away from brand “delight” and toward something far more fundamental: assurance. Zainab will unpack why stressed, risk-averse customers are less swayed by discounts, how brands can cater to the hard-hit “sandwich generation,” and why operational reliability has become the most powerful feature a company can offer. This is a conversation about replacing flashy campaigns with flawless execution and understanding that for many, the best brand experience is one that simply doesn’t add to their stress.
We often hear about creating “brand love.” With consumer financial security declining, how should leaders pivot from a “delight” strategy to one based on “assurance”? What practical, day-to-day operational changes does this require for a marketing team to implement successfully?
That’s the core question leaders need to be wrestling with. The shift from “delight” to “assurance” is a move from the emotional to the functional. When a customer is feeling anxious about their budget, a surprise goodie bag is nice, but a promise you can count on is essential. Operationally, this requires a fundamental change in a marketing team’s focus. It means reallocating significant portions of the budget away from “flashy” new customer acquisition campaigns and plowing that money directly into retention and support infrastructure. On a day-to-day basis, your team’s meetings change. Instead of brainstorming the next viral campaign, they should be conducting rigorous audits of every brand promise, from “24/7 support” to “next-day delivery,” and ensuring it’s not just an ambition, but an operational guarantee.
It seems counter-intuitive, but financially insecure consumers can be less motivated by discounts. Could you explain the psychology behind this “risk budget”? What specific actions can a brand take to demonstrate it’s a “safe” choice, rather than just the cheapest one?
It absolutely feels counter-intuitive, but when you put yourself in the shoes of a stressed consumer, it makes perfect sense. Imagine you have zero “risk budget.” You can’t afford to buy a cheaper product that might break, because you don’t have the money to replace it or the time to deal with a complicated return. Our data shows that financially insecure consumers are 3.7 points less likely to switch brands for a better price. They crave certainty more than savings. To become that “safe” choice, a brand must first prioritize unwavering consistency. Your product needs to work exactly as expected, every single time. Second, you must practice radical price transparency. Rip out any hidden fees or confusing variable pricing; these are anxiety triggers. Finally, under-promise and over-deliver. A safe brand is one that customers know, without a doubt, will keep its word.
The 45-59 age demographic often faces unique financial pressures. How should a brand adjust its messaging and customer experience for this “sandwich generation”? Please share a few examples of what to do—and what to avoid—when communicating with this specific audience.
This demographic is feeling the squeeze more than any other, with a 6.5-point drop in financial well-being over the past two years. They’re often juggling mortgages, aging parents, and kids’ tuition. The absolute last thing they need is a brand that adds to their cognitive load. So, what you must avoid is aspirational, vague marketing. Don’t show them a perfect, carefree life; they’ll see right through it. Instead, you should do the opposite: shift all messaging toward stability, guarantees, and proven results. Use language that conveys reliability. In terms of experience, make support incredibly easy to access. First-contact resolution is far more valuable to them than a hyper-personalized offer. They aren’t looking for a brand to be their friend; they’re looking for a brand that won’t waste their precious time or money.
For a customer who is time-poor and stressed, a broken link or long hold time is a deal-breaker. What is the first step a company should take to conduct a “friction audit”? Can you walk us through how to identify and eliminate these seemingly minor pain points?
The first step is to get out of the boardroom and stop looking at analytics dashboards in a vacuum. You have to embody the mindset of that stressed consumer. Assemble a dedicated, cross-functional team whose sole mission is to find and destroy friction. They need a simple checklist, and they need to manually walk through every single customer journey—from clicking an ad, to finding a product, to making a return, to contacting support. They should be asking: Is every link working? Is the pricing clear? If I click “contact us,” do I end up in an endless loop or do I find a real solution? These “minor” pain points feel like major betrayals to someone who is already on edge. The goal isn’t just to find them, but to kill them with a sense of urgency, because for these customers, friction isn’t an annoyance; it’s a reason to leave and never come back.
A company’s overall satisfaction scores might look healthy, yet they could be losing their most financially vulnerable customers. What alternative metrics, like Customer Effort Score or cohort-based churn, should leaders prioritize? How can they build a dashboard that reveals this hidden “satisfaction gap”?
This is a huge blind spot for so many companies. Your average CSAT or NPS score can be incredibly deceptive because a happy, secure majority can easily mask the pain of a struggling minority. We see a clear satisfaction gap in the dat79% for the global average versus only 74% for those feeling financially insecure. To reveal this, your dashboard needs a serious update. First, Customer Effort Score (CES) should become your North Star for all service interactions. The simple question, “How easy was it to get your issue resolved?” tells you almost everything you need to know. Second, you must track churn by cohort. Are you losing customers in that 45-59 age bracket at a higher rate? You need to see that clearly. Finally, overlay your customer data with public economic indicators to see if behavioral shifts correlate directly with economic stress. This creates a dashboard that shows not just what is happening, but why it’s happening to your most vulnerable customers.
Since this economic wariness seems to be a long-term shift, what are the most critical investments a CMO should make now? For instance, how do you balance cost-saving measures like self-service with the absolute need for it to be flawlessly reliable for a stressed user?
This isn’t a storm to be weathered; it’s a climate change for consumer behavior. The most critical investment a CMO can make is in operational excellence, which sounds boring but is the key to winning. You’ve hit on the perfect example with self-service. It’s a great way to manage costs, but only if it works perfectly. A broken chatbot that traps a user in a loop is infinitely more damaging to your brand than having no chatbot at all. The investment, then, isn’t just in the tech, but in the relentless testing and refinement to ensure it’s a frictionless, successful experience. Other critical investments include training your frontline staff in empathy and rapid resolution and aligning your product design with simplicity. It’s about a philosophical shift from adding more features to perfecting the core function. Function over frills will be the winning mantra.
What is your forecast for how consumer expectations of brands will evolve over the next several years?
My forecast is that we’re entering the era of the “boring brand” as a badge of honor. Consumer expectations will pivot dramatically towards radical dependability. The memory of this economic stress will linger, and customers will have a much lower tolerance for brands that over-promise and under-deliver. They will expect and demand effortless experiences, from websites that load instantly to support channels that resolve problems on the first try. Transparency won’t be a bonus; it will be table stakes. Brands that try to dazzle with flashy marketing but fail on basic operational execution will be seen as untrustworthy. The winners will be the ones that customers see as a safe harbor—the predictable, reliable, and yes, maybe even boring choice in a world that feels anything but.
