Clear consumer messaging is key! – Stay home or stay alert???

Clear consumer messaging is key! – Stay home or stay alert?

How well do you feel the government handled the latest announcement on the new lockdown rules?

The overall opinion of our latest Poll on MindMover Connect is that the Government’s new lockdown guidance is more negative than positive. Close to 50% feel the government’s handling of the latest announcement was ‘poor’ or ‘bad’, while 23% felt more neutral (fair) and 29% felt it was positive (good or excellent).

Those who felt more positive towards the handling of the latest guidance did so because they felt the government was dealt a ‘bad hand’ and that they have ‘done their best’ given the situation. They also felt strongly that the economy needs to get going: “I think the Government have had an impossible job to do and they have done everything they possibly can without being too draconian or easy going”.

More broadly across the sample there was a general sense of confusion, frustration and even anger around the new rules, mainly because of the lack of clarity in the announcement and in particular the new slogan.

“The slogan ‘Stay Alert’ is not helpful and replaces the far stronger and meaningful ‘Stay Home’. In the absence of good, direct information and guidance the public have to decide what unclear advice means to them as individuals and how they should act. Confusion arises when advice is not thorough and does not go far enough. I will continue to Stay Home”

“The announcement on Sunday was confusing, used too many graphs/images that barely meant anything and just made me and many others more anxious rather than reassured”

“I feel the UK government has handled the announcements really badly. It has created confusion and no doubt more infections and more deaths”

Because of this, many were left feeling confused, worried and uncertain with specific concerns about, children returning to school too early, how to stick to advice about commuting and who we can come into contact with:

“Things do seem a little confusing and I would like it clarified better, like we can travel anywhere in our car in England but we can’t meet with family unless its outdoors or in a park. Yet an estate agent can go to my elderly parents’ home to view the house but I can’t”.

Regardless of opinion, for most, there is still a strong desire to limit contact with others and stay indoors as much as possible, which is the most positive thing to take away from this. While many of us are keen to return to some form of normality, there is an understanding that this will take time.

“I would love to get back to a normal life as soon as possible, however it is too soon”

(Poll and discussion respondents are from the QuMind UK community panel. Response is based upon natural fallout and has not been weighted to the national population. N=948)

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

QuMind is an AI powered, truly integrated Quant & Qual research platform. It boasts self-serve data collection surveys, pop-up communities, online Qual (diaries/focus groups), pop-up community and reporting analysis tools.