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CASE STUDY
How does social media affect consumer purchasing?
Custom online research helps companies go beyond syndicated tracking data to answer specific questions about what consumers want, what they’ll buy, and why. One client of The NPD Group wanted to explore the role of pre-purchase research in consumers’ purchase decision-making. What problems or issues do consumers solve with their purchases? What pre-purchase research are they doing? What overriding factors lead them to choose particular brands and retailers?
Specifically, the client wanted to focus on the impact of social media in pre-purchase research to uncover how many of its consumers were visiting these sites, what they were doing there, and how the sites could affect its business in the future. Using one of NPD’s custom online surveys, the client got a glimpse into the minds of its most sought-after consumers: adult female heads of household.
Survey results showed . . .
- Over half (56 percent) of these women indicated they were members or regular visitors of at least one social networking site such as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Myspace.
- While very few women had ever posted a review or comment on a product to one of these sites, the overwhelming majority agreed that such comments/reviews made by others were either just as believable and accurate (58 percent) or even more believable and accurate (25 percent) than those found on more traditional types of consumer review sites.
- For those posting reviews and comments, 42 percent said they would like to hear back from manufacturers. For the NPD client involved in this study, this finding opened up possible avenues for solidifying, or in the case of negative feedback, rebuilding relationships.
What is the nature of the comments you usually post?
% Among those who posted a comment online regarding a product purchased
This custom survey’s findings delivered the facts the client needed to make decisions related to its social media strategy, how it allocates marketing dollars, and how it develops products to appeal to those important adult female heads of household. In short, custom online research brought this company closer to its key consumers – and in this challenging environment, that could make all the difference.
For more information about how The NPD Group’s custom research capabilities can help your company
tune into key consumer segments, contact Charlie Camaroto at 866-444-1411 or email
(contactnpd@npd.com).
