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November 22 2006
Trusted UGC equals £££s for retailers
A third (34%) of internet users in Europe have not purchased a product after reading other people's comments on the internet, according to research firm Ipsos Mori. While blogs are driving (and blocking) purchases online, it is user-generated content on recognised review sites that is trusted more.
Word of mouth and other people's opinions have always been trusted offline and customers' views, reviews and testimonials and increasingly being sought online. If customers like products, and are happy with them, then all well and good if they put their opinion on a retailer's site unmoderated. Of course, gathering information on products which are not as well liked is also important to retailers and being able to learn the reasons why a product isn't selling as anticipated is invaluable - for a buyer to learn this before a product goes on sales would be even better.
According to the Ipsos Mori research, 1 in 5 internet users in Europe has changed their mind about a company's products or services after reading a customer's blog entry and 57% of UK internet users say that they are more likely to purchase a product if they had read positive comments about it on the internet. The research raises the question of trust and whether people who use the internet the most are more likely to trust what other people have written. Of the internet users interviewed:
People who spend over £100 online every month have more trust in other people's reviews, with 25% of UK internet users saying that they put their trust into what is written on blogs. However, of those surveyed, only 14% had read a blog (21% of which were men and 14% women), and only 2% had contributed to one.
Emma Herrod
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