CAFII Holds a Webinar with Pollara Senior Vice President Lesli Martin on Consumer Preferences and Product Development Trends
CAFII held a 5 October, 2022 webinar with Lesli Martin on Consumer Preferences and Product Development Insights–Emerging From Recent Research In Financial Services and Relevant Comparator Industries. Ms. Martin, a Senior Vice President at Pollster Pollara Strategic Insights, presented a deck on “Consumers in the Post-Pandemic World.” Her presentation noted that out of the pandemic, there were heightened mental health struggles for many Canadians, including higher than usual levels of anxiety and depression. The worries that people struggle with ran the gamut from health concerns, economic worries, and learning how to do things differently. Ontario has the highest level of mental health issues in Canada; Quebec has the lowest, but it is higher than usual everywhere in the Canadian.
Canadians are also learning new ways of doing things, including increased digital sales, with Canadians conducting more e-commerce sales than ever before. Work had changed as well, with many Canadians working from home. As the pandemic appears to recede, new issues are now confronting Canadians, including high inflation, high interest rates, and international instability. Two-thirds of Canadians expect inflation to rise in the coming months, and remain high for at least one year. Canadians also do not believe that their wages will keep up with inflation.
Pollara has also started a “rage index” which measures Canadians anger around six issues: the federal government, the provincial government, the Canadian economy, their own personal financial situation, the types of changes happening in Canada, and the latest stories in the news. An average of 49% of Canadians are annoyed or angry about these six topics, and 14% are very angry about the six topics. On the other hand, while 25% of Canadians feel exhausted and burnt out, almost two-thirds are hopeful about the future.
Pollara has also noticed that Canadians are changing their behaviours due to inflation, with 73% buying cheaper brands of groceries, 68% spending less money on vacations this year, 72% eating out less at restaurants, and 67% delaying major purchases. These trends are being observed in all parts of the country, and the impact is the same in urban and rural Canada. But the impact is being felt most by lower income Canadians.
One of the impacts that Pollara has tracked is that both credit protection insurance and travel insurance are more likely now to be purchased online as opposed to before the pandemic. However, consumers still want the ability to talk to someone, even if making an online transaction. In general, the pandemic caused Canadians to be more comfortable with online banking than ever before.
Post-pandemic, many Canadians want to continue to be able to work from home at least part-time, especially women. Almost half of women say they are likely to quit their jobs if asked to return to the office full-time. Most Canadians say that they will return to pre-COVID patterns of in person arrangements for loans and buying insurance. Getting the interaction right with customers around financial transactions is important, as over half of Canadians report feeling stress when interacting with the financial services sector.
A poll of participants asked: “Have you cut back on important purchases due to inflation?” Of respondents, 20% said they had significantly cut down due to inflation, and 44% said they had cut back moderately; 37% said that they had not cut back at all. Ms. Martin said that this was very aligned Pollara’s own research.
Another poll of participants asked: “Tell us where you are in terms of a return to working from the office: just like before the pandemic?; still only working from home?; or hybrid, working from the office sometimes, but not every day.” From respondents, 95% said they are only working from home or working in a hybrid model.
There was excellent regulator and policy-making participation in the webinar, with the following organizations registered:
- the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick, or FCNB;
- the Nova Scotia Department of Finance;
- Quebec’s Autorité des marchés financiers, or the AMF;
- the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, or FSRA;
- the Ontario Ministry of Finance;
- the Government of Alberta; and
- the British Columbia Financial Services Authority, or BCFSA.