August 2020 is going to be very different to previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the way people go about their lives, despite the easing of more lockdown restrictions for most parts of the country.
That’s why at Spark Emotions we wanted to truly understand how people are feeling on a monthly basis. Throughout the year, we focus in on different topics by month depending on what is important to the general public. For August, we spoke to over 1,000 people to understand their emotions and what plans they have for the month ahead.
The August paper brings you an understanding of what the general mood of the nation is in the United Kingdom; how the UK feels about entertaining friends and family at home; visiting reopened businesses; and we look ahead to the return to school at the end of the month.
The UK continues to move out of lockdown
Many factors influence how we feel, and the pace of change is phenomenal as lockdown continues to ease for most of the UK. Big events in the last month have included the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ initiative (alongside other announcements by the Chancellor), the reopening of more areas of the economy, and the mandatory wearing of face coverings in shops.
Adults feel anxious about the month of August, in contrast to July, as the UK continues re-opening
The UK describes the month of August using very similar emotions to the month of July, but with one key difference. In July, the most popular emotion of ‘Hopeful’, whereas in August we see ‘Anxious’ become the most popular emotion. It appears that the reality of a new dynamic has set in during August compared to the expectations the UK had in July.
UK adults continue to feel positive as restrictions have eased
Our Spark Emotional Wheel is a bespoke tool that helps us quantify emotions (click here if you would like to read more about the Spark Emotional Wheel). We have found the UK public have moved from feeling Inquisitive in 2019, to Attentive in May and Enthusiastic in July. In August, the UK feels Interested. Scores for Happiness, Excitement and feelings of Control have all improved for August in comparison to July. However, despite feeling more positive month to month, emotions have not returned to pre COVID-19 levels.
What this means for you
It is crucial to understand your customers’ emotions, so you can tailor your product or service to help alleviate your customers’ anxieties. There are many things as a business you can do and by getting to the truth of how they are feeling and what you can do to help.
For example, within the August Mood of the Nation report, we know people are feeling less anxious when they think about entertaining at home, compared to the month of August generally – so what can you do as a business to help this?
If you would like to see our full August Mood of the Nation report, please click here and enter your details and one of the team will be in touch. Or reach out to Scott directly using the details below.
Written by Scott Willey, Associate Director at Spark Emotions
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Scott via email scott.willey@sparkemotions.com or connect with him on LinkedIn
