Trumblog

I’ve written about product reviews promoting purchasing and Passionistas who write and share that content, but today I learned about a new group “Social Researchers”. Social Researches (and they really need a better name to complete with those Passionistas) are those among us that use consumer reviews the most.

PowerReviews™ in their “Social Shopping Study 2007” surveyed 1,200 consumers who shop online at least four times per year, spending $500 or more annually (I think that I did that this weekend in some early Christmas shopping). 65% of these consumers are “Social Researchers” who specifically search out and use consumer reviews in making online purchase decisions.

• 78% of Social Researchers spent more than 10 minutes of time in the review reading process
• 86% of Social Researchers find customer reviews extremely or very important
• 76% of Social Researchers find “top rated product” lists to be extremely or very important
• 64% of Social Researchers research products online more than half the time, no matter where they buy the product (store, Web, catalog, etc.)
• Social Researchers were 76% more likely to shop on a retailer’s Website vs. their competitor site if it offers social navigation

While these Social Researchers are fanatic about their reviews the difference seems to be in the interest or value that they put on these reviews, while other online shoppers just find them extremely useful.

• 81% of consumers use customer reviews to decide between two or three products or to confirm that their final selection is the right one
• 93% of consumers are likely to start their shopping process on a Website that offers Social Navigation

Interestingly only 40 percent of shoppers begin shopping by reading reviews, which must mean that the rest leave e-commerce sites to find reviews. Which is exactly what I was doing this weekend, using one site with great reviews to figure out what I wanted to buy on the site that had a lower price. Get price and reviews together and that’s a winning combination.

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