Word-of-Mouth Marketing Statistics to Help you Better Market Your Business

by Edited by ASHI Staff April 1, 2016

For centuries, people have made big decisions and developed everyday preferences using the simple, yet resounding, power of word-of-mouth. It’s no coincidence that you and your best friend share a few of the same favorite things. Who doesn’t love hearing about a great product or service from a
trustworthy source?

As more brands work to boost their lead acquisition process using organic networks, there’s much to gain from developing a killer word-of-mouth marketing strategy. But before you start using a new referral marketing strategy to up your revenue using the remarkable power of recommendations and referrals, you need to fully grasp why word-of-mouth is valuable and how your brand can influence it. Here’s a comprehensive list of word-of-mouth marketing statistics to help you get started.

84% of consumers say they either completely or somewhat trust recommendations from family, colleagues and friends about products–making these recommendations the information source ranked highest for trustworthiness. [Source: Nielsen]

74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. [Source: Ogilvy/Google/TNS]

68% trust online opinions from other consumers, which is up 7% from 2007 and places online opinions as the third-most trusted source of product information. [Source: Nielsen]

88% of people trust online reviews written
by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts. [Source: BrightLocal]

72% say reading a positive customer reviews increased their trust in a business; it takes, on average, two-six reviews to get 56% of them to this point. [Source: BrightLocal]

On social media, 58% of consumers share their positive experiences with a company and ask family, colleagues and friends for their opinions about brands. [Source: SDL]

91% of B2B buyers are influenced by
word-of-mouth when making their buying decision. [Source: USM]

56% of B2B purchasers look to offline word-of-mouth as a source of information and advice, and this number jumps to 88% when online word-of-mouth sources are included. [Source: BaseOne]

Word-of-mouth has been shown to improve marketing effectiveness by up to 54%. [Source: MarketShare]

84% of consumers reported always or sometimes taking action based on personal recommendations. 70% said they did the same with online consumer opinions.
[Source: Nielsen]

The average value of a Facebook fan in
certain consumer categories is $174.
[Source: Syncapse]

43% of social media users report buying a product after sharing or favoriting it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Over half of purchases inspired by social media sharing occur within one week of sharing or favoriting, and 80% of purchases resulting from social media shares occur within three weeks of sharing. [Source: VisionCritical]

Millennials ranked word-of-mouth as the No.1 influencer in their purchasing decisions about clothes, packaged goods, big-ticket items (like travel and electronics), professional services and financial products. Baby Boomers also ranked word-of-mouth as being most influential in their purchasing decisions about big-ticket items, financial products and professional services. [Source: Radius Global]

77% of brand conversations on social media are people looking for advice, information or help. 18% were positive reviews of the brand. [Source: Mention]

79% of people say their primary reason for “liking” a company’s Facebook page is to get discounts. 81% also said they’re influenced by what their friends share on social media. [Source: Market Force]


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