The research, carried out by ZenithOptimedia and shared on The Warc Blog, involved asking over 1,000 consumers whether they had recently gone through a life event, and if they had tried a new brand in any of eight categories.

In every category, people were more likely to have tried new brands if they had undergone a life event: for all categories — except one — the likelihood of trying new brands increased by at least 75%. In over half the categories, the trialling of new brands doubled.

“Most decisions are made habitually, making them hard to influence,” said Richard Shotton, head of insight at ZenithOptimedia. “However, consumers […] have rare windows of opportunity when they are easier to influence. These moments tend to be after life-events when consumers’ routines have been so destabilised that a greater proportion of decisions are made consciously.

“If brands focus their communications around these moments they will have a better chance of a successful campaign.”