Posted on May 12, 2009 by Brett

It is a fact that not all people tell the truth in a review, so it’s unlikely that everything you read is going to be the whole picture. To counter that, especially when in connection with something as ethereal as word of mouth information, listed here are a number of statistic’s and sources that you (if you so desire) can check for accuracy at your leisure.

1. Family and friend recommendations trump all others when influencing decisions when giving out word of mouth advice (AdAge).

2. Traffic to a site that posts reviews will typically return to that site nine times, and are twice as likely to purchase from that website than others (source: McKinsey and Co.Jupiter Media Metrix).

3. Consumers trust close friends more than experts or even celebrity endorsements (65%, 27% and 8%, respectively; Yankelovich).

4. A Nielsen worldwide study of some 26,000 users in over 40 markets reported that consumer recommendations were the most credible form of word of mouth information advertising within the 70% plus of respondents.

5. Over 116 million user generated comments were made in the U.S. in 2008 alone, with an additional creators of content totaling 82 million. With the massive influence of Web 2.0 and social networking, these figures are sure to climb (source: eMarketer.com).

6. Social network users are three times more likely to purchase a product on the strength of recommendation from a peer rather than any form of advertising. (the source: Jupiter Research).

7. 86% of people asked said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over an experts, with 83% saying they would trust user generated comments over a critic’s (Marketing Sherpa).

8. 66% of social networkers are more inclined to purchase due to a recommendation, compared to 52% that aren’t social networkers (Royal Mail home shipping tracker).

9. 81% of holiday shoppers read through user reviews prior to purchasing (Nielsen Online).

10. 86% of consumers read reviews on businesses before making a purchase, with over 90% saying that they trust those reviews (Kudzu.com).

11. 49% of shoppers reviewed stated that they have made purchases on the strength of reviews. Of these 53% made the decision on the strength of user reviews;48% due to comparison charts;41% relied on editorial reviews and comments;58% due to shared shopping lists.

12. Nearly two thirds (62%) of home-based consumers browsed on line user generated product reviews before making a purchase (Deloitte and Touche) with 62% stating that they would also browse sites with user reviews in order to make entertainment purchases (Marketing Sherpa).

13. 7 out of 10 people who read consumer generated reviews are more likely to share those opinions, which amplifies the impact they have (Deloitte and Touche).

14. 74% of those surveyed claim they base purchasing only on user generated reviews of their customer service level rating for a product or company (Society of New Communication Research).

As you can see, word of mouth information coming from trusted sources such as friends, consumers, etc. is one of the most powerful form of advertising.