Assistance Metrics: Consumer Attitudes to and Use of Assistance with Everyday Problems in the UK

Price £1,795

Table of Contents | Report Prospectus

Assistance Metrics: Consumer Attitudes to and Use of Assistance with Everyday Problems in the UK is a study of 40 types of assistance available to consumers, designed to provide unique insights into this market and its potential for development. It covers eight broad categories of assistance, namely computing assistance, concierge services, health / travel assistance, home assistance, legal / tax / unemployment assistance, personal assistance, personal identity and security assistance, and road assistance.

The breadth of this coverage and the nature of the questions that were put to consumers provide an understanding of what types of assistance consumers value most, how often they need help, how they receive help, and how they pay for it. Moreover, the report identifies which consumer segments are the most likely to pay for assistance, which are the largest types of assistance currently most likely to be paid for in advance, and which types have the greatest untapped demand.

Consumers have potential needs for assistance across a very wide variety of areas, but only some of these are met by existing services. Therefore, the opportunity exists for companies to provide a broader range of services to meet customers’ needs, either as stand-alone policies, as assistance packages, or as additions to other core services. For example:
 
- home emergency companies can reach customers spread geographically across the country: what other services could be provided through using such a network?
- which types of assistance should banks package with premium accounts and credit cards?
- what is the size of the opportunity for personal assistance and concierge services?
- is there potential for a package of work-related assistance?
 
While some information exists for specific forms of assistance, there is no other source that looks across the full scope of assistance types to understand consumer attitudes to this topic as a whole, something which provides the fundamental rationale for Finaccord to produce this research. In fact, the exact types of assistance covered by the study are as follows:

- computing assistance: fixing or repairing a computer, setting up a computer;

- concierge service: booking a cultural or sporting event ticket; booking a holiday or travel ticket; delivering flowers or a gift; making a hotel or restaurant reservation; seeking advice about leading a 'greener' life; taking your car to a garage for a service or MOT; washing or valeting a car;

- health / travel assistance: resolving a medical problem in the UK; resolving a medical problem overseas;

- home assistance: dealing with broken window(s) at home; resolving a fridge, freezer, washing machine or  dishwasher problem; resolving a gas boiler or gas central heating problem; resolving a pest problem; resolving a plumbing or drainage problem; resolving an electrical problem;

- legal / tax / unemployment assistance: being held liable for third party injury or damage; being involved in a work-related dispute; being made unemployed; making or updating a will; receiving a sub-standard product or service; submitting a tax return; suffering a personal accident or injury; 

- personal assistance: administrative tasks related to moving home; arranging personal grooming at home; clearance of general clutter from the home; general gardening tasks; general maintenance of the home; household cleaning, ironing or laundry; looking after or monitoring an elderly relative; organising care for your child(ren); organising care for your pet(s); purchasing and driving home groceries; 

- personal identity and security: experiencing identity fraud; loss or theft of bank card or travel documents; loss or theft of keys to home or car; accidental damage to or theft of mobile phone or other mobile device;

- road assistance: being unable to drive; breakdown of car or other vehicle.

Key features of this research include:

- unique data on consumers’ attitudes to and propensity to use assistance generally;

- unrivalled breadth of scope, to see how attitudes vary across a very wide range of types of assistance;

- comparisons of consumers’ perceptions of value, frequency of need and of how they currently pay for assistance, in order to identify the key customer segments and key products for this market;

- quantified estimates both for the current size of the market for pre-paid assistance and for the potential size of the market for each type of assistance, measured by subscribing households;

- detailed results for each of these 40 types of assistance, showing exactly what consumers think of them, how often they face the underlying task or problem, how they currently obtain assistance in each case, and how they pay for this, if at all.

The research for this study was carried out during October 2009 using the Internet consumer panel of mo'web research with completed surveys having been filled in and submitted on-line by a total of 1,250 consumers. The table of contents and report prospectus can be accessed by clicking on the links towards the top of this page.

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