Social Media Plays A Limited Role In Consumers' Purchase Decisions
Study Of 6,000 U.S. Consumers Examines How Consumers Use Social Media Channels To Purchase Computers, Cell Phones, TVs, Insurance Policies, Health Plans, And Credit Cards
Online, June 12, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A new research report published by Temkin Group, Social Media's Limited Affect On Purchase Decisions, examines how influential social media channels are in the decisions that consumers make about what they purchase. The research is based on a survey of 6,000 US consumers, digging into purchases they have made during the previous 60 days. The analysis uncovered that social media channels like Facebook and Twitter have a weak level of influence in the purchase of computers, cell phones, TVs, insurance policies, health plans, and credit cards.
"Social media gets a lot of press, but it's not yet heavily influencing what consumers buy," states Bruce Temkin, author of the report and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.
The research uses the Temkin Purchase Influence Index (TPII) to gauge the relative influence of various information sources on different types of purchases. The TPII was calculated for three types of social interactions: comments on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, ratings and review sites, and discussions with friends and family. For most purchases, these social interactions have a weak or moderate influence on consumers' decisions. Ratings and review sites, however, have a strong influence on the purchase of TVs and computers.
While the overall results show very few areas where social media has a strong influence on these purchases, a deeper analysis of consumers by age, income, ethnicity, and education uncovers pockets of stronger (and weaker) social media influence.
According to Temkin: "Social media has a widely different affect across customer segments. Companies need to understand how their customers make decisions; and support those needs."
This report can be accessed from the Temkin Group website at http://www.temkingroup.com or from the blog, Customer Experience Matters, at http://experiencematters.wordpress.com. In addition, data from the ratings can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, http://www.temkinratings.com.
For more information about Temkin Group, visit http://www.temkingroup.com.
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Tags: CRM, customer experience, Customer Experience Management, customer relationship management, social media
