Study: Positive Online Sharing Increases Purchase Intent By 9.5%

Ever wonder how much that glowing social review from your fans is worth? Turns out it’s anywhere from $0.33 for a non-branded grocery item to $8,560 for a luxury car review by a close friend or family member.

Social data and sharing tool ShareThis performed a study alongside the  Paley Center for Media that took a look at the value of social sharing across a variety of mediums. The overall blended lift showed that excellent online shares lead to an overall 9.5% lift in purchase incidence.

The report segments the data by supermarket, min-tablets and automotive shares with vastly different results for each. One fact was certain though, online sharing beat general consumer reviews and ratings across the board. The value of a share for each specific segment is as follows:

• Non-branded Supermarket item: $0.33 recommended by a stranger
• Mini-Tablets: $22.18 – 28.33 depending on the device and who shared it
• Kia Rio LX: $1,487 from a close friend or family member
• Jaguar XK: $8,560 from a close friend or family member

While the close online share is great, it doesn’t replace in-person vouching or the professional review. Online shares (9.5% increase in purchase intent) fell third behind in-personal recommendations (10.6%) and professional reviews (10.2% increase).

It turns out that the higher the cost, the more due diligence a consumer prefers. With smaller items such as a tablet, an online share is equivalent to that of a professional review. A luxury vehicle, however, has a 9% discrepancy, favoring the professional reviewer.

Oh, and those negative reviews? They hurt. Online shares cause more damage than a professional review when it comes to product desirability. The negative online share damage is only slightly less detrimental (-11% drop in desirability)  than in-person (-11.2%) and consumer ratings/reviews (-11.3%/-11.2%):

To view the full data on the report, head on over to ShareThis.

Images used courtesy of ShareThis.

About The Author

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides world-class social media and search marketing services and web & application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 10+ years and specializes in Digital Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.