Harris Poll/TiiCKER survey unveiled at National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) summit highlights governance benefits, brand loyalty and high intent-to-purchase products and stock by everyday investors
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11, 2024 – The retail investor cohort is ever-expanding in size and influence, and a new study shows engaging — not ignoring — these investors will unlock significant upside for public companies in the form of voting, support for management, increased investing and product purchases.
An April 2024 national poll of over 2,000 consumers, commissioned by shareholder loyalty leader TiiCKER and conducted online by The Harris Poll, highlights the opportunity for public companies to engage the 120 million U.S. consumers participating in the market for individual stocks. The survey reveals that shareholder perks would encourage 76% of retail investors to vote their proxy and 73% to be more confident in the company or brand’s management team. In tandem with perks, retail investors also value traditional investor relations practices, prioritizing direct communications (76%), having access to investor-only events (66%), and conversations with management (57%).
The results were released today at the world’s largest gathering of investor relations officers and executives, the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) 2024 annual conference in San Francisco.
“We’ve always known retail investors are overwhelmingly brand- and company-loyal and long-term, but getting more than 10 percent* of them to vote their proxy was a black box until now. The people have spoken, and the solution is to engage them and reward their loyalty as discerning consumers,” said Jeff Lambert, founder and CEO of TiiCKER. “In the current governance and activist environment and with retail investors often holding more than a third of a company’s stock, this study is a wake-up call for consumer and B2B public companies: celebrate your retail investors, invite them into a shareholder loyalty program, and get their support for management, continued investment and their vote.”
The survey highlights additional findings, including:
Shareholder perks are an attractive but new concept for most. 78% of retail investors would be more likely to buy stock in a company that offers shareholder perks or discounts, yet only 35% of these investors are aware of any publicly traded companies offering perks.
Shareholder discounts encourage stock purchases and long holds. 40% of retail investors say qualifying for a shareholder perk would make them hold shares for a longer period, and the top motivators to buy and hold stock are discounts on products or services (57%), gift cards (45%), increased loyalty points or program status (41%), and VIP events or experiences (30%).
The better the reward, the more motivated the investor. Retail investors would retain their shares if they qualified for better shareholder perks based on how long they held the stock (48%); the shareholder discount was better than what they received as a consumer (43%); and they qualified for better shareholder perks based on how many shares they owned (37%), also known as shareholder loyalty tiers.
The retail investor audience has significant room to grow. Among the 51% of U.S. adults who are not retail investors, 54% would be somewhat or very likely to buy stock if it were a brand they love.
The stock market and consumer economy are directly linked. 79% of retail investors would be more likely to buy stock in a company whose brand or products they know versus one they don’t, up from 73% in 2020; 86% of retail investors would be more likely to buy stock tied to “a brand, product or retailer they love,” up from 82% in 2020. Both stats underline brand loyalty can drive stock ownership and vice versa.
The U.S. retail investor market is sizable and full of potential. 49% of adults own public company stock through traditional or online brokerage accounts, employee stock purchase plans or direct stock purchase programs, and 66% of these same investors have $50,000 or more of investable assets.
Retail investors are always searching for new stock to purchase. In the last 12 months, 86% of individual investors researched new companies to buy stock in, typically doing so weekly (22%) or monthly (21%).
“Retail investors have made it clear they are ready and willing to convert engagement from public companies into action in the form of stock ownership, consumer spending and voting. The fact that the number of companies with shareholder loyalty programs has doubled every year since 2021 affirms the collective benefits,” added Lambert. “We’ve seen firsthand the fan-like behavior of retail investors when companies prioritize all shareholders, including retail. Perhaps this proxy-vote revelation is the final straw that makes shareholder loyalty programs as ubiquitous as the earnings release and annual report.”
The research was conducted online from April 4-8, 2024, in the U.S. by The Harris Poll and on behalf of TiiCKER, the world’s first and largest verified shareholder loyalty and engagement platform, gathering feedback from 2,073 U.S. adults age 18+ and including 962 individual investors. For this research, individual investors are defined as those age 21+ who own shares of stock in any publicly traded company directly and not as part of a retirement account, mutual fund or 401(k).
TiiCKER debuted the research at the NIRI annual conference as part of an expert panel on shareholder loyalty and engagement alongside its partners and panelists Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (Tii:BR), investor relations technology company Notified, IR consulting and marketing services firm Lambert by LLYC, and NIRI National Board member Kimberly Esterkin, VP of investor relations for ASGN (Tii:ASGN).
To view the full whitepaper, please visit: TiiCKER.com/partner
*According to Broadridge Financial Solutions, retail ownership in 2022 was at an all-time high at 31%, but only 29% of those shares were voted, representing 9% of the total shared outstanding voted. The Journal of Financial Economics’ Retail Shareholder Participation in the Proxy Process study (May 2022) found that while 32% of retail investor shares were voted, only 11% of retail accounts (individual investors) voted their proxy.
About TiiCKER
Launched in 2020, fintech TiiCKER invented verified stock perks and direct-to-shareholder marketing through its web-based and mobile app software platforms, providing consumers and investors with a revolutionary way to engage with the brands they love. For America's more than 120 million retail investors and fans of publicly traded brands, TiiCKER provides unique access to shareholder perks and discounts, custom articles and content, CEO and company-access events for retail investors, and TiiCKER Perks from marketing partners. For its brands and public company partners, TiiCKER creates and markets measurable Shareholder Loyalty Programs to help companies engage and reward their consumers and verified owners to maximize Shareholder Lifetime Value™. As a result of its innovation and leadership in direct-to-shareholder marketing, TiiCKER was named a winner of the 2024 American Business Awards® Most Innovative Tech Companies of the Year, a Top MarTech Startup in 2023 by MarTech Outlook and a winner in the 2023 cohort for the AWS (Amazon Web Services) Fintech Accelerator program.
About The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll is a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. It works with clients in three primary areas: building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. One of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., The Harris Poll has tracked public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963. To learn more, please visit theharrispoll.com.
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