Nielsen Online has released data showing that over 80% of online holiday shoppers take time to read reviews. This is an increase even from the study done by Rubicon Consulting released in October, which stated that over 60% of people under age 40 depend heavily on online reviews in order to make purchasing decisions – particularly in the electronics market.
Those are apparently the same age spectrum who are doing the reviews. Neilson has long advocated the 90-9-1 viewpoint, which states that 90% of online surfers are lurkers – basically in to check on info, or for entertainment. 9% do some stuff some of the time; they research, buy and participate in a limited fashion via social networking, blogging or running their own site.
The remaining 1% are those who seem to live online, that write the reviews, blog constantly, and have Twitter followings in the thousands. Another interesting point the data shows is that a large percentage of reviews are positive – whether they are paid reviews or simply enthusiastic people is up for debate.
Many claim the best way to get a balanced view is to check the main avenues for reviews (Amazon, etc), then search for the name of the company or product online using negative words such as ‘I hate xyz’ or ‘abc sucks’.
Both types of feedback must be taken with a grain of salt, but consumers seem to feel they are the best way to gather information – back to the Nielsen data:
81% of online holiday shoppers read a product review at some point during the shopping process.
71% said that customer reviews made them feel better about their purchase
63% agree that having more than one review on a product is important
14% looked for reviews from an established source
Only 3% sought out reviews from people they knew personally.
The reasoning here once again upholds the idea that social marketing is the new avenue for success.
Tags: data, marketing, Nielsen, social network