A recent study shows that friends and relatives are the most influential sources for product recommendations.
Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator
Everyday people talk about products they use and what things they like and/or dislike about them. The medium for these conversations varies and could be anywhere from a blog to a chat room to a face to face conversation. But when it comes time for a consumer to actually purchase a product, whose recommendation are they most likely to trust?
Mintel recently conducted a survey to find out just who the most influential recommendations come from. According to their data, 34% of U.S. Internet users who bought a product or service because of a recommendation, were told about the product/service by a friend or relative. 25% of those surveyed received the recommendation from a spouse or domestic partner. Interestingly, only 10% of people said that the recommendation came from a blogger or a chat room. This data shows that a personal recommendation from someone you know and trust is still extremely valuable.
There is also the question of what motivates people to recommend a product or service to others. As seen in the chart below, the number one reason is price.
Word-of-mouth marketing can be extremely beneficial for the right product or service. But to do it successfully you need to have a high quality product and provide a mechanism that allows people to quickly and easily tell others about it.
Tags: Influencer, Influential recommendations, Mintel, Share products, Word-of-Mouth, word-of-mouth marketing
