The data from our first consumer survey on the purchase process is back. We have 662 responses from US and UK consumers (525 US, 136 UK) who purchased an item of $100 or more. The survey explores how consumers made one specific big-ticket purchase (from the last 3 months, any category) as well as general shopping habits/attitudes.
We haven’t done the in-depth analysis yet, but I thought I’d share a few early findings that surprised me at first glance.
Does the traditional “purchase funnel” model work? Only about a third of customers actually follow the traditional “funnel” purchase process, i.e., start with a large consideration set and progressively winnow it down until making the purchase decision. The majority of customers actually follow one of the following processes:
- About a third only ever consider one brand – and simply buy that brand. A more appropriate metaphor here might be the “tube.”
- The other third start off considering just one brand, but then discover more alternatives along the way before choosing one (or winnowing down and then choosing one). We call this the “spindle” or “reverse funnel.”
Retail stores are showcases. Just over 45% of consumers form their initial consideration set by browsing in-store – more than the 35% who browse online.
Consumers keep researching, even post-purchase. About 40% of consumers think making a purchase is easier than 5 years ago, but just over 40% also report conducting more research than before (only 7% do less). More specifically, almost 70% of respondents put ‘a lot’ or ‘some’ effort into comparison shopping. What is more, almost a quarter (23%) of consumers also conduct research post-purchase, for a range of reasons, including (from most to least common):
- To check it was the best price
- To learn how best to use it
- To check it was the right choice
- To find related products
- To solve a technical issue/question
Almost a third (32%) of those who conduct post-purchase research report “moderate” to “extreme” levels of anxiety relating to the purchase (compared to 15% of those who conduct no post-purchase research), while another third report “slight” anxiety. The one exception here is the group who research how best to use the purchased product; they report the least anxiety.
Like-minded people are the best source for product recommendations. Friends/family and brand are still the most commonly used sources of information, but affinity groups – networks of likeminded people, both online and off – are considered most useful. Indeed, more than 70% of consumers who sought advice from their affinity group found it useful. The next most trusted sources are friends/family, experts, social media in general, and finally brands and traditional media.
Visible or status-linked items are most likely to be shared. 13% of consumers who bought highly visible products (i.e., items that many others would see) posted or planned to post about it online (as compared to just 8% of buyers in general). The vast majority of posts are positive: 65% simply posted that they purchased the product/service, while a quarter posted a positive comment. 34% of those who posted actually planned to do so before buying. Along with visible purchases, buyers of luxury or status items were also more likely to post about it online. Digging into the reasons for sharing the purchase a little more, we also unearthed that consumers believe other people like them would buy the same product.
Quality remains more important than price, despite recession. Despite shrunk budgets following the recession, more people focus on good quality (50%) than on bargain hunting (34%).
Watch this space for additional findings from the survey as we run more analyses. We’ll also be sharing early findings from separate consumer surveys on purchases of items under $10, items under $100, and services (among others).
MLC members, for best practices on harnessing the power of word-of-mouth recommendations to drive purchase (not just awareness), please click here.
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on 5 April 11
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[...] to non-subscription services. You read a first take on some of the findings in my colleague Anna’s post, and now I’d like to delve into one particular category – [...]