In April 2019, we ran an online survey with Meraki Research and it uncovered some fascinating results. For this blog post, for instance, we overlaid our respondent’s age groups with the channels that they prefer to receive promotions on (they could choose more than one). What are the preferred promotional channels by age in South Africa? Here are the results:
Click on the image for a closer view
What the Results Mean
Here’s what we’ve assessed from this graph:
- Email Marketing Wins in Every Age Group: That long blue line you see in every age group? That’s email marketing. It shows that between 83% and 90% of all respondents prefer receiving promotions via email. This suggests that email is the bread and butter of promotional channels. Everlytic anyone?
- SMS and Facebook Promotions Come Second: SMS and Facebook ads are neck and neck in this race, with 38% to 50% of all age groups preferring promotions on these channels. This suggests that both are great secondary promotional channels – especially if you integrate them with email (like using crowd social proof in email).
Today’s consumers aren’t one-dimensional – your promotions shouldn’t be either. Try an integrated, cross-platform approach with email and SMS and see what a difference it makes to your ROI. Read more on our Email vs SMS Infographic.
- WhatsApp is Preferred by People Over 36: WhatsApp comes in at a consistent fourth place for all age groups except for 18 to 25-year-olds, where only 22% of the market prefer it. It’s still close in the 26 to 35 age group, but from age 36 up, 30% to 40% of people prefer it.
- TV Commercials Are Still on the Map: Despite the decline of traditional TV, there’s still a surprising number of people in South Africa who prefer TV ads — especially younger generations. We suspect some overlap with YouTube’s video advertising here.
- Instagram is, Unsurprisingly, Preferred by Youth: Instagram isn’t a strong contender in age groups over 26, but it takes a tied fourth place with TV ads in the 18 to 25 age group. If you’re targeting people just out of school or varsity, Instagram’s worth your time.
- Billboard Preference is Consistently Low: Billboards are among the least preferred promo channels across all age groups. But they may still be effective for offline or less digitally savvy audiences – further research needed.
- Newsflash: Telesales Are Preferred by Youth! Telesales rank low overall, but preference is surprisingly higher among 18 to 35-year-olds – over 3x more than in the 65+ age group. Are your telesales results reflecting this?
One of the biggest rules in marketing is always: Know your audience. We hope these results are as helpful to you as they are fascinating to us. Check in over the coming months as we uncover more of our research results.
