Published
Oct 5, 2017
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Friend opinions are key for Britons when its comes to product recommendation

Published
Oct 5, 2017

New research underlines the importance of friend and family referrals for brands with over 40% of UK consumers being put off shopping with a particular label or at a certain store if they’d heard a bad report of it from someone close to them.


Friends hold the key when it comes to brand recommendations that can be trusted



Referral marketing platform Mention Me partnered with One Poll for a survey of 2,000 UK adults and found that consumers really value the opinion of a friend or family member more than anyone else. In fact, while negative press or social media coverage would deter 36% of people from shopping with a particular brand, 41% would be put off if a friend or relative had met with a negative experience.

Interestingly, when choosing between friends or family, more would trust a friend (50%) than a partner or spouse (46%), and while parents get a higher trust rating (23%) than online reviews from the public (21%), they still figure quite low on the list of people consumers would turn to for brand referrals.

What’s interesting though, given the amount of money brands send on celebrity and other influencer marketing, only 3% of those questioned would trust a celebrity recommendation, while only 5% would trust a blogger or Youtube influencer. And this decreases with age with 37% of those under 34 trusting a referral and only 5% of those over 45.

The survey also showed that consumers can be quite forgiving of brands with only 18% of those questioned put off referring by lack of support channels such as live chat or social media. And only 15% wouldn’t refer if the shopping experience wasn’t mobile friendly while only 22% said they wouldn’t recommend a brand if they weren’t offered a customer feedback mechanism.

WHY RECOMMEND A BRAND?

So what is it that impresses shoppers about brands or stores and makes them want to recommend them to their loved ones?

Some 53% are drawn in by a percentage-off or money-off future orders as the most attractive offer. This compares to only 11% choosing free delivery, 10% choosing a free gift and only 1.9% a charitable donation. And 59% choose money-off for themselves for making a referral compared to only 16% choosing money-off for their friend or family on purchase. 

When it comes to brand qualities that encourage consumers to recommend them, 76% of those questioned value a brand being trustworthy or credible to refer them, while 73% rate good quality products. Some 68% of those questioned say a brand offering good value products is very important, 59% good customer service, and 43% big discounts. Some 35% say its important to have shared values while only 29% rated a brand’s environmental credentials, and 23% of those questioned rated a brand’s charitable status as very important for referral.

Green credentials for a brand are less important for older consumer with 23% of the over 55s rating this as important or compared to 39% of 18-24 year olds.

Perhaps depressingly, a brand being innovative or creative was a reason to refer it for only only 21% of respondents. But a brand being innovative or creative is almost twice as important for the young with 41% of 18-24 year olds rating this as very important and only 24% of the 55+ age range.

While the kinds of brands people are likely to recommend are linked to food and drink, travel, entertainment and leisure, 40% of women are very likely to refer fashion and beauty brands, compared to only 9% of men.

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