Consumers ‘quiet quit’ unreliable brands rather than post bad reviews

Over half would stop purchasing products or services entirely.

Consumers remain highly trusting of institutional and credentialed sources, but are quick to quietly abandon brands that fail to deliver, according to an Ogilvy report.

The study found that almost all consumers, or 92%, silently disengage when they lose belief in a brand, close to the 93% recorded across the Asia-Pacific region.

More than half, or 54.4%, said they would stop purchasing a brand’s products or services entirely, whilst 33.5% would switch to a more believable competitor.

Almost 20% would avoid the brand’s content without telling anyone, the report added.

In contrast, only 5.9% said they would post about a negative experience on social media, whilst 9.5% would leave a negative review or public comment.

The market’s brand belief is tied to institutional credibility and operational delivery, said Richard Brett, President of PR & Influence at Ogilvy Asia Pacific.

About 42.1% of respondents left a brand in the past year because its product or service did not deliver what was promised, compared to 23.2% who left over poor business ethics and 14.4% who left due to exaggerated environmental or sustainability claims.

“Believability has evolved from a PR challenge into a commercial imperative,” Brett said. “Consumers may not always complain publicly when belief is lost, but they will act — and often, they will act silently.”

The report found that 61% of Singaporeans find government sources, politicians and officials highly believable, compared with 26% across selected regional markets.

Credibility was also the main factor in assessing new information, with 82.4% of respondents citing official, credentialed or backed-up sources. Social media platforms ranked much lower, at 12.7%.

Consumers expect action before trust can be restored, with over half, or 56.2%, believing that mistakes or problems must be actively fixed before brand belief is restored, higher than the 46.8% who cited public acknowledgement or apology.

However, lost trust was not always permanent. Ogilvy said 78.7% believe lost believability can be regained, whilst 15.1% said belief is gone forever once lost.

The study was conducted with YouGov and surveyed 7,176 adults across Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Mainland China, including 1,050 respondents in Singapore.