When it comes to driving sales, the growing number of word-of-mouth marketing benefits should be considered. According to research by Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family more than all other forms of marketing. The same study found that less than half of all customers consider traditional paid advertising to be credible—that’s a decrease of more than 20% since 2009!Â
Need more proof? Here are six more statistics that prove the effectiveness of word of mouth advertising:
- 85% of fans of brands on Facebook recommend brands to others. (Syncapse)
- 43% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it on social media. (Nielsen)
- 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family. (Nielsen)
- 81% of U.S. online consumers’ purchase decisions are influenced by their friends’ social media posts versus 78% who are influenced by the posts of the brands they follow on social media. (Market Force)
- 79% of U.S. consumers who’ve “Liked” a brand on Facebook did so in order to receive discounts or other incentives. (Market Force)
- 49% of U.S. consumers say friends and family are their top sources of brand awareness, up from 43% in 2009. (Jack Morton)
What are the takeaways?
The ways in which brands engage with their customers are quickly changing in both tone and strategy. As trust in paid advertising declines, word-of-mouth marketing via social networks has become the most effective means of building a loyal base of brand ambassadors, meaning more engagement and more revenue for your brand.
Nevertheless, even in the face of empirical evidence that proves the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing, 72% of marketers still don’t recognize and leverage the value of customer referrals.
There’s no question that word-of-mouth marketing is the best way to engage customers and drive more sales to your online business today. The real question that online marketers must answer is why haven’t you started already?
Do you want to learn how to turn more of your customers, partners, affiliates, and fans into revenue generators? Request a custom demo from one of our referral software experts today.
