Influencers are, like, so last year, Fresh Relevance research
Only 22% of retailers use influencers to engage customers, whilst just 10% of consumers have bought a product based on their recommendations, according to research by Fresh Relevance.
Its study, combining consumer research conducted by One Poll and desk-based research of 50 UK retailers, shows that 62% of consumers don’t actively follow influencers and 44% wouldn’t trust any product information being provided by them. 60% of Generation Z surveyed and 52% of Millennials are more interested in a brand using influencers, compared with just 14% of Baby Boomers.
“Influencer marketing has been on the news agenda for a while now, but it’s not an accurate account of what’s happening in the retail sector. Our research indicates few retailers are actually using influencers to engage consumers, and only a small proportion of shoppers are interested in seeing influencers promoting products,” says Mike Austin, CEO and Co-founder, Fresh Relevance.
“Social proof doesn’t have to mean expensive celebrity marketing. In fact, consumer engagement and interest is often driven more by other tactics, such as product star ratings, user-generated content and product popularity messaging, which are scalable, easy to implement and offering untapped revenue potential. For retailers truly looking to engage consumers they must understand the types of social proof tactics available, and map these to customer data insights to identify what’s going to be effective in meeting consumer expectations.”
