Reviews & other UGC more influential for consumers than search engines & ads [Study]

It’s well-established thatratings and reviews are widely consulted and have a significant impact on consumer purchase decisions. A new studyfrom TurnTo affirms this and provides someadditional color and nuance forthe discussion.

Called Hearing the Voice of the Consumer and conducted byIpsos, the study involved1,070 US consumers who had bought something online in the past 12 months. User-generated content (UGC) isdefined here to includeratings, reviews, photos, videos, social posts and Q&A participation. The most common forms were reviews and ratings, however, with 71 percent and 69 percent of survey respondents saying they’ve submitted those types of UGC.

Online ratings and reviews are a form of word of mouth, which isthe most trusted sourceconsumers consult before buying. Indeed,90 percent of survey respondents said UGC had at least some influence over their online purchases. Roughly 53 percent rated it extremely influential or very influential, a higher percentage than for any other category. AfterUGC, search engines hadthe greatestinfluence over purchases.

UGC helpsincrease consumer confidence to buy online. Increases my purchasing confidence was cited as the greatest influenceof UGC. Close behind was improves customer feedback. But survey respondents also said that UGC helped create more authentic shopping experiences and was more interesting than content generated by brands themselves.

In one of the more interesting findings, consumers said they were inclined tospend more on a product with UGC vs. a comparable lower-priced product without. This directly argues that consumers will buy more and at higher price levelsif products are wrapped in UGC.

A subset of consumers generate most of the UGC, though it is consumed by the larger online audience. In this case, 32 percent of survey participants said they hadnot contributed any UGC – because there wasno incentive to contribute.

Yelp in particular has a very public policy against incentivized reviews. Others prohibit explicitly paying for reviews but often allow thosethat are incentivized through contests or sweepstakes.

The second most commonly cited reason for not submitting UGC was that it was too time-consuming. Survey respondents likely had reviews in mind in that response.

A separate survey from GetFiveStars found that since 2014, the willingness of consumers to leave reviews has dramatically increased across all age groups.

Another surprise from the TurnTo survey was the degree to which UGC was still largely coming from the PC, which showeda substantial lead compared with mobile devices. Thegap between PCs and mobile devices was less pronounced for photos and social.

Each of these responses, and many othersthat I don’t addresshere, are discussed in more detail and broken outby gender and age in the report.

TurnTo sells a platform that helps retailers and brands generateUGC. Despite this, I believe the primary conclusion of the study -that ratings, reviews and other UGC are more influential than advertising – is valid. That argues forgreater investment in the customer experience.

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