Marketers are becoming more willing to explore non-traditional advertising methods including word-of-mouth in order to capitalize on ROI. A new report from Bigresearch, “Simultaneous Media Study” examines the issue.
The study shows that 28.7 percent of consumers have regularly given advice to others about products and services. Another 65 percent of consumers say they occasionally give advice to others concerning products.
When it comes to looking for advice from others only 16.2 percent of consumers do so regularly. A little over 74 percent of consumers said they occasionally seek advice from others.
“Over 90% of consumers regularly or occasionally give advice or seek advice from others,” said Gary Drenik, President & CEO of BIGresearch. “These two consumer groups are essentially one and the same.”
The percentage of both advice seekers and advice givers researching products online is virtually identical. The study found that 96.9 percent of advice seekers turned to the Internet for information while 96.6 percent of advice givers did the same.
“One of the primary means for gaining product knowledge for advice givers is through Internet searches and some sites are used much more than others by advice givers and seekers. For example, for regular advice givers and advice seekers, the top five search engines are the same: Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask,” said Joe Pilotta, VP, Research of BIGresearch.
The top five searches for both advice seekers and givers were maps/directions, clothing, medical information, automobiles and financial services.
“Marketers should not bifurcate online behavior into convenient dualisms, seekers versus givers,” added Joe Pilotta of BIGresearch. “Rather, seeking and giving advice is a process of updating social networks punctuated by purchases.”
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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
