Oracle Happiness Report: Customer Expectations around Happiness are changing, and humour is an important component, but business leaders are afraid to joke around

Indians want brands to make them smile and laugh, but business leaders fear using humor in customer interactions according to a new research report from Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX) and Gretchen Rubin, five-time New York Times bestselling author and podcaster. The Happiness Report includes insights from more than 12,000 consumers and business leaders across 14 countries, 1,012 from India found that people are searching for new experiences to make them smile and laugh and will reward brands that embrace humor with loyalty, advocacy, and repeat purchases, and walk away from those that don’t.

People in India are searching for happiness in new ways and are willing to pay a premium

It has been more than two years since many people last felt true happiness and they are searching for ways to be happy again, no matter the cost.

• In India, 47 percent (45 percent global) of respondents said they have not felt true happiness for more than two years and 17 percent (25 percent global) don’t know or have forgotten, what it means to feel truly happy.
• 96 percent (88 percent global) of respondents from India are looking for new experiences to make them smile and laugh. People in India are prioritizing health (70 percent), personal connections (72 percent), and experiences (44 percent) to gain happiness. Globally, people are prioritizing health (80 percent), personal connections (79 percent), and experiences (53 percent) to gain happiness.
• More than half of Indian respondents (64 percent) wish money could buy happiness (53 percent global), with 87 percent (78 percent global) willing to pay a premium for true happiness.
• 96 percent Indian respondents (89 percent global) attempted to find happiness in online shopping during the pandemic and while 60 percent (47 percent global) said that receiving packages made them happy, 16 percent (12 percent global) struggled to remember the purchases they had made online.

Advertising, marketing, sales, and customer service interactions need to change

Indians want brands to make them smile and laugh, but business leaders admit their brands rarely use humor to engage with customers.

• 92 percent of respondents from India (78 percent global) believe brands can do more to deliver happiness to their customers and 93 percent (91 percent global) said they preferred brands to be funny; this number increased among Gen Z (96 percent; globally 94 percent) and Millennials (96 percent; globally 94 percent).
• In India, 93 percent (globally 90 percent) are more likely to remember ads that are funny, yet business leaders in India said that only 4 percent (globally 20 percent) of their brands’ offline ads (TV, billboards) and 4 percent of their online ads actively use humor.
• 77 percent (globally, 77 percent) of people are more likely to buy from a salesperson that is funny, yet only 5 percent (globally 16 percent) of business leaders said that their brands use humor to sell.
• 85 percent (globally, 75 percent) of respondents from India would follow a brand if it’s funny on its social media channels, yet only 3 percent (globally 15 percent) of business leaders said their brand is humorous on social.
• In India, 78 percent (globally 69 percent) of people would open an email from a brand if the subject line were funnier, yet only 7 percent (globally 24 percent) of business leaders from India said they actively use humor in email marketing campaigns.
• In India, 83 percent (globally 68 percent) would prefer to engage with a chatbot/digital assistant that is funny, yet only 9 percent (globally 27 percent) of Indian business leaders said their brands actively incorporate humor into bot communications.

Smiles and laughter pay dividends, but business leaders are afraid to joke around 

People will reward brands that embrace humor with loyalty, advocacy, and repeat purchases and will walk away from those that don’t.

• In India, 64 percent (48 percent global) of people don’t believe they have a relationship with a brand unless it makes them smile or laugh and 56 percent (41 percent) would walk away from a brand if it didn’t make them laugh or smile regularly.
• If a brand uses humor, Indian people are more likely to buy from the brand again (86 percent; 80 percent global), recommend the brand to family and friends (88 percent; 80 percent global), choose the brand over the competition (80 percent; 72 percent global), and spend more with a brand (78 percent, 63 percent global).
• 97 percent business leaders in India (89 percent global) see the opportunity to use humor to enhance the customer experience and believe that their brand can do more to make customers laugh or smile.
• 83 percent of business leaders in India (95 percent global) fear using humor in customer interactions.
• In India, 94 percent (85 percent global) of business leaders state that they do not have the data insights or tools to successfully deliver humor. Business leaders would be more confident using humor when engaging with customers if they had better customer visibility (61 percent; 55 percent global) and access to advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (57 percent; 32 percent global).

“They say money can’t buy happiness, but people wish it could. After rediscovering themselves through the course of the pandemic, people today want to rekindle their means of joy and want to keep happiness over everything. These insights simply indicates that there will be lot of work for the wider corporate community as it will dictate the evolution of sales and marketing strategies over the course of the next few years. As the survey suggests that brands focus should entirely be on leveraging technology led innovation to create intuitive customer experiences.” said Deepa Param Singhal, Vice President, Applications, Oracle India

“I’ve been a fan of using humour in marketing right from my first ad campaign in 1996. Humour allows us to communicate uncomfortable truths or difficult concepts in a friendly way adding fun to the narrative.  The campaigns have always worked but getting approval for them has usually involved a fair bit of negotiation with the bosses given the fear of humour backfiring.  It’s good news to find that Indian bosses are more receptive to humour than most – only 83% in India are afraid to do so vs the 95% globally. These findings from the Oracle Happiness Report show that consumers like humour from brands and 78% of Indians said they will spend more with a brand is definitely a great data point for marketers. Humour is often considered risky because it does not translate or travel well. However, Brands need to be careful to not appear to be laughing at the expense of their customers in any way – that’s when the possibility for offense arises. Thanks to emerging technologies and the right use of data and insights through digital interactions are helping brands redevise their strategies and tactics. Brands and their ambassadors can laugh at themselves or their competition or their products to drive the ‘happiness quotient’. Done with finesse they can laugh all the way to the bank!” , Says Jessie Paul, CEO Paul Writer & Marketing Expert.