Recommendations from family and friends hold great sway in purchase decisions, but the impact of word-of-mouth looks like it varies by age group. A survey [download page] from IZEA finds that while almost 6 in 10 adults older than 60 typically research a product or service before making a big purchase by asking family and friends, fewer than half as many (25% of) 18-29-year-olds do the same.
Instead, youth may be substituting social media for old-fashioned word-of-mouth. Among the ~1,300 adult social media users surveyed, 42% of those ages 18-29 said they search TikTok before making a big purchase, recalling previous research that had found Gen Zers turning to TikTok for product research.
Other age groups aren’t as likely to use TikTok for research prior to making a big purchase, according to the IZEA report. However, they do see YouTube as a destination for research. Almost as many 30-44-year-old social media users said they typically research a product or service on YouTube (34%) as ask family and friends (35%), and the gap for 45-60-year-olds wasn’t much larger (30% and 39%, respectively).
When it comes to influencer platforms, more 18-29-year-olds believe that TikTok is the best platform to promote a product through an influencer than feel the same way about YouTube and Instagram. Somewhat unsurprisingly, this age group says that influencer posts are more likely to spur them to try a new product than other ads, including paid social ads and TV ads. For the oldest age group (>60), TV ads are the most influential.
In other highlights from the survey:
- A growing share of 45-60-year-old social media users report having purchased a product after seeing it used by a social media influencer.
- Men are more likely to say that TV ads will motivate them to try a new product than social media influencer posts, while the opposite was true for women.
- Respondents say they’re more likely to trust a sponsored post from a social media influencer than an A-list celebrity.
For more, download the report here.
About the Data: The results are based on a survey of 1,299 US adults social media users.
