Consumers Set New Year’s Resolutions They Won’t Accomplish

There are people that don’t usually set a New Year’s resolution, but of those who do set such a goal at the beginning of the year, it seems that many won’t keep it, as a SocialVibe recent research reveals. The company surveyed consumers while engaged on the streaming music, social gaming and loyalty sites they frequently visit. Customers were invited to join a multi-answer survey, and at the end of the month SocialVibe had 562 completed interviews.

The study’s purpose was to reveal attitudes and behaviors around New Year’s resolutions and had five important findings.

The first key finding is that almost half of the consumers said they won’t accomplish their New Year’s Resolution in 2013. 44% of the people queried said they would set such a resolution, while 20% said they’d maybe do it. People between 25 and 44 years of age are the most likely to set goals for the New Year. 28% of the respondents are “goal setters” or accomplish, or get really close to accomplishing, their resolutions. 26% are just “goal setters” and 46% actually fall short on their resolutions and never start to accomplish them.

The second important finding is that people prefer small goals, with half of the respondents mentioning small-sized resolutions goals in 2013, and only 14% saying they prefer to make large goals. 37 % resolve themselves to mid-sized goals.

52% of the digital consumers target their eating habits, dieting, exercise and physical fitness in their resolutions, with women more likely to set goals focusing on eating and dieting habits (31% of women mentioned these types of resolutions compared with 18% of men with similar goals). 23% of both groups said they focus on improving their exercise habits and physical fitness, while 21% of the consumers mentioned improving own finances as their resolution.

“Considering an economic environment of high unemployment and historical personal debt, it is understandable that American consumers are looking to 2013 determined to improve their finances before nearly every other consideration,” said Jamie Auslander, SocialVibe’s director of research. “We’ve seen across our audience research consumers looking for deals, savings, and ways to make smarter spending decisions so this finding isn’t too surprising.”

The third most popular resolution is improving one’s stress level and personal well-being. The key finding in this case is that resolutions are ego centered. No surprise here, we could say, as it is a personal resolution.

New Year’s resolutions are good for marketers too, as it seems that, at least initially, 35% of digital consumers plan to spend USD 25 or more per month to accomplish their resolutions.

“Advertisers are really just starting to consider campaigns aimed at New Year’s resolution makers and their goals post holidays,” said Tiffany Leslie, SocialVibe’s Director of Marketing Communications. “The New Year is a unique opportunity to reach aspirational consumer interests right when folks are thinking about the products, services, and solutions they’ll need to accomplish their well-intentioned personal goals. We expect advertisers will only continue to develop and grow their New Year’s resolution-focused campaigns to connect with this opportunity in the years to come.”

In order to start and accomplish their resolutions, 9% of the people queried think that sharing their goals with their social network contacts would improve their resolution performance. 17% feel that competing with friends, family members, and online friends could help them accomplish their goal, while 7% think that a charity component attached to the resolution could help them to be determined to accomplish it. All in all, 39% think social media and other channels could help improve resolutions performance.