New insights on the topic of influence show that trusted reviews are the top driver of uptake of new products with parents. The research, carried out by ParentsandBrands, asked parents to share their views on recommendations, word of mouth, the role of “influencers” and online reviews on choosing products and services to buy for themselves and their families.
The biggest surprise from the study is how likely parents are to recommend products and services to their network of family and friends. They prefer to make the recommendation in person, with 61 per cent of parents saying they love telling their close network about things they like and 36 per cent say they will tell people about brands if they really like them.
The survey showed that 91 per cent of parents said that they preferred to recommend in person with 68 per cent sharing by text or WhatsApp. Social media and online through product and rating websites are also used by parents to spread the message. Over half of the parents (56 per cent) said they had recommended something within the last month.
Recommendation
A further 41 per cent said they had recommended something this year, such as a hotel stay. When it comes to listening to recommendations from others, half of parents said they had had a recommendation from someone they trust last week, 35 per cent in the last month. Just under half would check out recommendations from family and friends straight away.
When asked about influencers advertising products, views are mixed, with just over one in five parents saying they like seeing the reviews and 38 per cent saying they are not influenced or don’t really care about influencers. Of those who did say they had bought a product from seeing it advertised by an influencer, many parents said they had to trust the influencer first.
When it comes to online reviews, 58 per cent of parents said they were definitely influenced by online reviews before purchasing. The reports says that for brand owners spending on influencer advertising, it might be time for a rethink. Reconsider influencer ad budget as this may not be hitting the mark in terms of activating parents.
Reviews
Ensure you make it as easy as possible for people to review your products or services online and that you have tested the user experience of submitting a review. Check your internal processes to see what actions need to be taken upon both bad and good reviews, the latter could become testimonials for your marketing.
Think about how you can activate parents to recommend you to family and friends. Could you offer a discount code they could share via word of mouth or on their social networks? Or reward them when a purchase is made by tracking sales of certain items? Ultimately, word of mouth marketing is the best form of marketing, the report concludes.
The full survey is on www.mykidstime.com
