To determine the global state of simplicity, Siegel+Gale fielded a survey with more than 15,000 respondents in nine countries to gather perspectives on simplicity and how industries and brands make people’s lives simpler or more complex. Globally, 25 industries and more than 800 brands were rated on their perceived simplicity. The brands were selected as a representative set that respondents would be most likely to know and/or use in each country.
Methodology
15,000
15,000
+
Consumers
9
9
Countries
25
25
Industries
800
800+
Brands
Survey Topics
This year’s respondents answered questions about brand touchpoints within specific industries and brands, including:
- Their perceptions of experiences within 25 industry categories they experience in daily life
- How familiar they are with certain brands
- Whether they recently used these brands
- Their willingness to pay more for brands they currently use if they provided simpler experiences
- The simplicity/complexity of a brand’s communications and interactions in relation to their industry peers
Brand
Simplicity Score
The score was calculated with the following inputs:
- How each brand was rated on the simplicity/complexity of its products, services, interactions and communications in relation to its industry peers
- User/non-user ratings were weighted to give more importance to the user experience and remove any possible bias for higher proportions of users for some of the brands
- How consistently the brand experience and communications were rated across respondents (the standard deviation of ratings)
- How aligned non-user and user perceptions were, privileging aligned perceptions
- The Simplicity Score for the brand’s industry or category(ies)
Industry
Simplicity Score
The score was calculated with the following inputs:
- The industry’s contribution to making life simpler or more complex
- The pain of typical interactions with companies/organizations within the industry
-
How the industry’s typical communications rank in terms of:
- Ease of understanding
- Transparency/honesty
- Communicating that consumer needs are being cared for
- Innovation/freshness
- Usefulness