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How Ghanaian consumers respond to ads

How Ghanaian consumers respond to ads

In this article we will review:

Insights from the Ghanaian advertising report

Ghanaian consumers are prone to spontaneous purchasing and are easily influenced by advertisements. With Ghana’s rapid economic growth, information on Ghanaian consumers’ receptivity to advertising is in high demand.

In 2020, Ghana generated $208 million in advertising revenue. This is expected to increase to $266 million by 2023. Ad revenue growth indicates high responsiveness to advertising and success in the marketing industry.

In a recent report, Survey54 identifies the best ways for marketers to reach and retain their consumer base in Ghana. This report provides insight into one of the continent’s most profitable markets, enabling businesses to effectively cater to it.

Why we surveyed how Ghanaian consumers respond to ads?

African consumption is on the rise and highly utilizable due to the continent’s exponential growth. Africans’ rapidly growing middle class is now more accessible than ever as globalization simplifies access to information, marketing techniques, and advertising technologies. In 2060, the continent’s middle class will number over 1 billion people, resulting in dynamic consumer behavior. This is a visible reality in Ghana.

Click to view Insightful Survey reports across Africa

At Survey54, we define an ad’s success as its ability to persuade the market to act by purchasing the product or service. We also believe that ad campaigns by businesses must be intentional and strategic.

The survey, therefore, aims to investigate the Ghanaian market’s receptivity to advertisements, with report findings organized into two themes: influence and technique.

Survey Methodology

Survey54’s consumer insights platform Safiyo was used to create, run, and collate the data.

Our data collection strategy employs mobile and SMS technology, which allows it to reach over one million people on the continent in minutes.

The report’s respondents were 1000 Ghanaians from various demographics. Respondents are Ghanaian mobile network subscribers who are chosen and pre-certified to ensure that their responses are eligible. The Survey54 research team created and delivered all 14 survey questions in English. The questions were a mix of closed and open-ended, allowing for nuanced responses. In addition, questions were not aimed or targeted at any specific industries or forms of advertising, allowing natural patterns to emerge within the responses.

Some of the questions asked in the survey include;

  • What influences you most to buy a product or service?
  • What type of ads influence you to buy something fast?
  • Do you buy a product based on how you relate to the ad?
  • What’s one memorable ad that influenced you to buy a product?
  • What was the last memorable billboard you saw and from what brand?

Survey findings on Ghanaian consumers

As previously stated, the report investigates market receptivity to advertisements, with findings presented under two themes: influence and technique. Influence investigates the extent to which the audience self-identifies their response to advertisements, whereas technique investigates the tools that lead to advertisement success.

Click to view insightful Survey reports across Africa

The report’s goal is to determine what motivates Ghanaian customers to patronize businesses and buy goods and services.

Influence

The power of community is still potent

Ghana, like most African societies, is known for upholding and referencing its sense of community.

Understanding the factors that influence consumer behavior provides valuable insight into what drives ad revenue and is most likely to promote product profitability.

When asked what influenced them the most to buy a product or service, 45% said recommendations from friends, demonstrating the power of word-of-mouth brand endorsement.

Social influence is growing

21% of voted social media influencers. This implies that participants are more likely to trust a product if it is recommended by someone they respect or look up to.

TV commercials accounted for 14% of all responses. This data is useful because it suggests that the more memorable the advertising, the more likely it is to be discussed and acted upon.

Newspaper advertisements accounted for 0.4% of all responses. This is not surprising given that the majority of respondents were members of GenZ, who are the least likely to read newspapers or listen to the radio (1%).

The Gen-Zs, known for their social media use, were most represented (50.9%) in responses that chose influencer marketing as the most influential method, while the 35-44 age group was least represented (0.14%).

When asked specifically what types of advertisements influenced them to buy quickly, similar trends emerge, with 60.8% of participants favoring social media ads.

Don’t dismiss traditional media just yet

TV advertisements were the second most heavily represented, accounting for 45% of responses, demonstrating traditional media’s adaptability in messaging.

Social media has a greater reach than television advertisements, which require the viewer to be present at the exact moment the ad is aired to be influenced by it. As a result, it is not surprising that social media advertisements influence our participants the most.

Storytelling starts the engagement process

The data revealed that how much participants can relate to the ads is a key factor in influencing them. 74% of participants say they will buy a product based on how they relate to the advertisement. This also explains why influencer marketing and word of mouth are important to participants, as the ability of another person to use a product demonstrates its relatability. 

When asked what types of ads they most relate to:

  • 48% said they were most likely to respond to an ad that was thought-provoking and taught them something, 
  • 25% said they preferred exciting ads, 
  • 24% said they preferred funny ads, and 
  • Only 3% said they preferred emotional ads.

Technique

Using memorable moments to motivate action

A recurring theme in the responses was that advertisements that were easier to remember motivated more purchases. When asked, “on a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to buy a product because you saw an advertisement for it?”, 61% of participants gave a rating of 6 to 8, with 22% choosing 8. 

Furthermore, 65% of participants said that the increased frequency of an ad influences their purchasing decisions. In this case, memorability refers to how funny the ad was, whether it included any calls to action, and how frequently participants saw it.

A majority of participants (63%), particularly men, reported buying a product based on a funny advertisement.

Invoking nostalgia

Participants named Jumia and HiSense as having some of the most memorable advertisements. When asked to recall some memorable commercials, respondents mentioned some familiar tag lines or described funny commercials they had seen.

The potency of effective CTAs

Furthermore, respondents identified calls to action as powerful techniques. The phrase “buy one, get one free” was the most memorable, with 45.5% of participants saying seeing it motivates them to buy a product.

Conclusion

It is obvious that social media has a large influence on purchasing decisions over TV and radio, but traditional media remains important for reaching out to the underserved as well as hard-to-reach populations.

Sixty-one percent of respondents say celebrities don’t influence their purchases like social media and influencer marketing do. Clearly, Ghanaians like to receive information directly from friends and family, such as through their phones. What the audience considers more memorable reflects the emphasis on engagement.

Click to view insightful Survey reports across Africa

Marketers must move with their audience as the world becomes more technologically advanced. Younger respondents place a high value on online engagement, implying that future profit margins are dependent on it.

Do you have a business in Ghana or are you planning to expand to the Ghanaian market? Do you want to have a complete understanding of Ghanaian consumers in terms of advertisements? Download the report for full insights.

If you want to survey Ghana or any other African market, contact the Survey54 team for assistance.

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