"86.6% of online users would actually follow recommendation links/advice sent to them by their friends and peers." source - Evgenii Prussakov 'Online Shopping Through Consumers' Eyes'
This reinforces previous studies that continue to show the influence of the people around us on our views and decisions and is an important concept to grasp in your marketing campaigns.
For some time, marketers have used customer testimonials to influence people to purchase your products or services. The effects of this are waning though as an increasingly jaded and wary public increasingly look on these as scripted responses delivered by actors.
Enter the humble 'review'. Co Opted from the blog comment movement, this allows real people (you) who have purchased something to post a review on the product in question.
Here are some stunning numbers:
77% of online shoppers use reviews and ratings when purchasing (Jupiter Research, August 2006)
63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (CompUSA & iPerceptions study)
86.9% of respondents said they would trust a friend's recommendation over a review by a critic, while 83.8% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. (MarketSherpa)
Look at that last one, that says that online shoppers will trust the words of TOTAL STRANGERS over famous talking head so-and-so. Now THAT is a shift in traditional marketing!
And the studies also show that even Negative reviews do not discourage consumers. The thought is that consumers don't expect products to be perfect and actually appreciate the honesty.
Honesty, now THERE is a refreshing marketing message!
