Understanding receptivity: the next step in smarter brand growth

To influence more customers to choose a brand. It’s why some argue that business growth depends on securing the attention of as many people as possible. But the ability to influence consumer decisions is not wholly down to effective reach and attention; it's dependent on how receptive an audience is to marketing communication. And that receptivity varies widely among the population. 

As we explored in a previous article, WPP Media’s How Humans Decide study shows that consumers often make decisions subconsciously and well in advance, with 84% of purchases involving people choosing brands they’re already strongly biased towards. According to the research, most customers are primed to consider no more than three ‘preferred’ brands in a category and typically prioritise the one they’re most strongly biased towards - long before they’re even triggered by any want or need to buy something.   

Simply put, people have preconceptions about which brands are appropriate for which need states. But when brands begin planning their next campaign, this preset ‘fandom’ doesn’t mean marketers should preach to the choir. Quite the opposite, in fact.  

According to How Humans Decide, ‘receptivity’ is a measure of how likely someone is to be influenced by marketing. The more receptive they are to communication, the greater the likelihood of influencing them.  

In the priming stage of the purchase journey (when people are not actively considering a purchase but are being primed by their experiences of a brand and category), this ‘influence’ means building and reinforcing consumers’ perceptions of the brand. In the active stage (when people are actively considering and moving towards a purchase), it means boosting their likelihood of purchase. 

Receptivity (w) is reported as a Z score - how far someone is from the average consumer. From left to right on the horizontal axis, you see the distribution of all consumers in across all categories. Negative scores indicate harder to influence consumers while positive scores represent easier targets.

At one end of the spectrum, the most receptive 10% of consumers will be influenced by just about anything a brand says. While it’s nice to have guaranteed interest, these individuals are also easily over-exposed. Much like the 14% of internet users who still click on online ads, the highly receptive 10% may be valuable, but they are not representative of the majority. Brands should not build a media plan around them alone. 

Meanwhile, on average, the least receptive buyers make up a sizeable 23% of each category’s audience. These consumers are the most resistant to marketing, and relatively few channels or campaigns will effectively cut through, especially if brands are targeting them for the first time in the active stage.  

Marketers might therefore assume that this audience isn’t worth pursuing, but the opposite may be true. The challenge of influence makes them a highly desirable target: if a brand can prime them in the upper funnel to buy, they’re far less likely to choose a competitor later on. 

Accordingly, brands need to understand how receptive their category consumers are to influence, because that receptivity varies according to type of purchase, and dictates how they respond to marketing communications. Effective customer engagement starts with analysing this category-specific receptivity. Brands should tailor their marketing strategies to how receptive different audiences are to influence.  

The implication is clear: media planning should not be built around reach & attention alone. Brands need to understand where consumers sit on the receptivity spectrum, which audiences need long-term priming, and which touchpoints are most likely to shift perceptions before a purchase need arises.  

In other words, marketers must: 

• Use a receptivity spectrum to prioritise audiences 

• Balance reach with likelihood of influence 

• Invest in brand priming before active purchase windows 

• Avoid over-investing in already highly receptive audiences 

At WPP Media, we help brands understand where reach is most likely to translate into influence - identifying the audiences, channels and moments that can shift perception and drive growth. By bringing together the best platforms, people and partners, we create media strategies that help brands earn attention, build bias and convert receptivity into results. 

To learn more about How Humans Decide, and how we use innovative thinking to drive extraordinary results, download WPP Media’s full report here.