New insights into consumer confidence in financial services

Purpose A paradigm shift in consumer confidence has taken place with the worst recession on record forcing people to evaluate their personal and household finances. This paper seeks to explore the extent to which consumer confidence has been tarnished, and how it has evolved post‐recession. It aims to take both retrospective and prospective views on what has changed in the British psyche since the credit crunch, looking at where new confidences have been found and where old confidences have been lost, and hypothesising about the extent to which consumer behaviour will remain constant or further change against a likely backdrop of continuing financial instability. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on a variety of proprietary quantitative research surveys conducted by YouGov plc. Findings This paper provides new insights into consumer confidence, including, but not limited to: demonstrating the harsh realities of more people being in financial difficulty now than 18 months ago, and its impact on confidence; looking at which aspects of household expenditure and budgets have been hardest squeezed, and what that means for short‐ and medium‐term futures; analysing the extent to which the generally lower level of available credit makes consumers more or less reliant on borrowing as a way of life, and the associated impact on confidence and decision making/financial planning prioritisation; exploring the real fears and concerns people have about their future finances; and exploring consumer financial hopes and aspirations in a post‐recessionary climate. Originality/value Findings from bespoke research offer hitherto unpublished and statistically valid results on the extent to which consumers have coped with and embraced the aftermath of the recession, and, moreover, how that might manifest itself in terms of future consumer confidence in financial services.