What Marketers are Missing in the Metaverse: The Consumer
Considering the buzz around the Metaverse, the separation between the marketing and real world was made clearer to me when I brought up the topic at a family dinner. I braced myself for eye rolls and dismissive humphs as I tried to explain its purpose in a way that would make it seem even slightly applicable to their future selves (spoiler alert: I failed). My family is far from an outlier in their understanding and in fact, only 1 in 3 US consumers have even heard the term Metaverse. Why, then am I constantly seeing it pop up across industry publications?
Conjecture around the Metaverse is all too often told from the marketing perspective and fails to frame the conversation around the consumer's point of view, completely contradicting the user-designed ideals that say the Metaverse is owned and shaped by its participants. Digitas partnered with Suzy to launch a survey to 10,000 US adults to understand the real perception of the Metaverse through the consumer lens.
While technologists and marketers will debate the definition of the Metaverse until our virtual ears bleed, for the purposes of our research we define the space as a group of immersive and social worlds that transport users away from physical life. These worlds and games are led by their users; not only do they offer a first-person perspective through the eyes of a personalized avatar, they are shaped by user-generated content that can be distributed openly across channels. And unlike our early days of the Sims and Mario Kart, the Metaverse is continuous; it doesn't power off when your mom tells you to do your homework, it lives on in real time through its (potentially) millions of concurrent users.
Collective understanding of the Metaverse is fractured. While 68% of consumers state they have never entered the Metaverse, there is a blurred line when it comes to how they qualify it. Take, for example, Axie Infinity and Fortnite, two of the most popular games within the Metaverse: 34% of Axie Infinity players and 53% of Fortnite players state they have never engaged in the Metaverse. Gamers are often identified as early tech adopters, but it's clear that they too hold varying definitions of the space. Looking at a broader range of consumers, we see a correlation between limited familiarity of the Metaverse with a strong link to Facebook (now Meta) and a heavy dose of skepticism. Even consumers who own digital assets in the virtual world like NFTs are unsure of their presence in these worlds. 1 in 3 NFT owners say they have never entered the Metaverse, leaving me to wonder if some are unaware of where exactly their digital investments are held or what makes them so valuable.
Misunderstanding around means of access to the Metaverse not only contributes to consumer skeptics, it also eliminates pools of consumers who could be potential adopters. Nearly half of consumers are unsure altogether on how to access the Metaverse, which -- at least temporarily -- could limit new users. An additional third of consumers believe VR headsets are one way to access the space; and while some Metaverse iterations like Meta's Horizon Worlds do require the use of a headset, most do not. According to a Morning Brew-Harris poll, just 31% of Americans own a VR headset. The expense of equipment to join the Metaverse ($300 for Meta's Oculus headset) is an inhibitor for many, but perhaps more inhibiting is the consumer confusion of whether or not a VR headset is required for the space. Making consumers aware that they can join the Metaverse directly through their smartphones will forge a more inclusive journey into the space and welcome in a more diverse consumer set.
Lastly, let's look at what consumers think users are doing in the Metaverse. The majority are downright unsure, and of those with some understanding, most gravitate towards gaming and digital experiences. Gaming, socializing and virtual travel/learning are all activities that feel strictly virtual and separate from the physical world. A user's actions within Decentraland do not have to reflect their lives (or wallets) in the real world in any shape or form. Marketers will need to be cautious in how they monetize the space, as those spending within the Metaverse often have little awareness of how their physical dollars translate into the virtual economy. Less than 1 in 3 of those familiar with the Metaverse know shopping can be done there, and of those who have experienced the Metaverse, shopping and spending money on digital goods makes them more nervous than any other activity in the space. Instead of jumping in head first to create branded activities within Metaverse, marketers must first understand current consumer habits within the space and then create complimentary experiences that consumers will naturally enjoy.
The Metaverse of today is essentially what the early internet was back in '90s; it's a nascent space maturing through hiccups and past mistakes, and is still years away from mass adoption. Consumer confusion around what it actually is, how to access it, and what to do once inside should be top of mind as we build a Metaverse that caters to the user, not to marketers or techies. We should honor the founding principal of Web 3.0, and design for an online world led by consumers and away from mediocre convention.
Source: Suzy - data collected April 2022 from a survey of 2500 USA consumers ages 18+