Dozens of stats for closing offline clients...

POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH

***Original source: Social Commerce Statistics | Bazaarvoice ***

Most word of mouth is positive. Across all Bazaarvoice US clients, 80% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. Across all Bazaarvoice UK clients, 88% of product ratings are 4 or 5 stars out of 5. ("J Curve," Bazaarvoice and Keller Fay)
When asked what sources "influence your decision to use or not use a particular company, brand or product" 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a "great deal" or "fair amount" of influence. (Harris Interactive, June 2010)
53% of people on Twitter recommend companies and/or products in their Tweets, with 48% of them delivering on their intention to buy the product. (ROI Research for Performance, June 2010)
The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)
Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted -- nearly 12 times more -- than descriptions that come from manufacturers, according to a survey of US mom Internet users by online video review site EXPO. (eMarketer, February 2010)
In a study conducted by social networking site myYearbook, 81 percent of respondents said they'd received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site; 74 percent of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision. (Click Z, January 2010)
90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2009)
44% of Moms use social media for brand/product recommendations; 73% trust online community recommendations. (BabyCenter LLC, July 2009)
Friends still play an important role in influencing consumers. Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their decision to buy the product in the first place. (Manage Smarter, September 2009)
Online user reviews have the biggest influence on consumer electronics purchases, with 43.7 percent of purchases affected by word of mouth. (BIGresearch, December 2009)
Users put great trust in their social networks. One-half of Beresford respondents said they considered information shared on their networks when making a decision--and the proportion was higher among users ages 18 to 24, at 65%. (eMarketer, October 2009)
A March 2009 study by Knowledge Networks found that between 10% and 24% of US social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services. (eMarketer, October 2009)
There were nearly 116 million US user-generated content consumers in 2008, along with 82.5 million content creators. Both numbers are set to climb significantly by 2013. (eMarketer, February 2009)
67% of shoppers spend more online after recommendations from online community of friends. (Internet Retailer, September 2009)
Facebook, blogs, Twitter and customer reviews are considered the most effective tactics for mobilizing consumers to talk up products online. (Etailing survey of 117 companies, September 2009)
Consumers say that word of mouth is still the number one influence in their electronics (43.7%) and apparel (33.6%) purchases. (Retail Advertising and Marketing Association/BIGresearch Study, December 2009)
Tech decision makers give user-generated sites equal importance to traditional media sources when considering tech purchases. Decision makers consider their personal experience (58%) first when short-listing tech vendors, followed by word-of-mouth and industry analyst reports, tied at 51%. Advertising (17%) and direct marketing (21%) were listed as the least important information sources when short-listing possible vendors. (Study: "Tech Decision Maker," Hill & Knowlton, January 2009)
Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases, according to ZenithOptimedia. (AdAge, April, 2008)
61% of people rely on user reviews for product information or research before a buying decision is made. (Razorfish, 2008)


CONSUMER DEMAND FOR RATINGS & REVIEWS
83% of all holiday shoppers are influenced by customer reviews. (ChannelAdvisor "Consumer Shopping Habits Survey", August 2010)
High product rating will increase likelihood of purchase for 55% of consumers. (eConsultancy, July 2010)
Availability of product ratings was a factor for 59% of UK shoppers, as was the availability of user-generated or consumer product reviews (57%). (eConsultancy, July 2010)
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the UK population have researched products/services online within the last 3 months. (European Commission, May 2010)
Rubbermaid found that, when they added reviews to their free-standing inserts (ads included in newspapers), conversion for the coupons increased by 10%. (Rubbermaid Case Study, April 2010.)
By 2014, 53% of total retail sales (online and offline) will be affected by the Web, as consumers increasingly use the Internet to research products before purchasing. (Forrester, March 2010)
Luxury Institute research revealed that, of the customers who shop for high-end merchandise online, 78 percent of them did so in order to find the best price while nearly as many, 77 percent, did so to compare brands (BrandWeek, January 2010).
When making purchase decisions, North American Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and newspapers, or in other traditional media. (Nielsen Online, April 2009)
25% of search results for the world's top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content. (Socialnomics, 2009)
84% of consumers said they were more likely to check online for reviews prior to making a purchase compared to twelve months ago, according to a recent survey by Brand Reputation. (Retail Bulletin, October 2009)
Traditional social network ads fail to engage 96% of users; users "are looking for buyer reviews." (Telegraph UK, August 2009)
97% of UK female Internet users research products online and 92% of UK female Internet users buy products online. (eMarketer, February 2009)
A survey of 1,000 online shoppers found that, while 46% of e-shoppers find value in product recommendations from their friends, 47% look to onsite customer reviews when making a decision. (Manage Smarter, September 2009)
Customer reviews are the most effective social tactic for driving sales, followed by question-and-answer features and a Facebook fan page where companies post information. (Etailing survey of 117 companies, September 2009)
Some 70% of Americans say they consult product reviews or consumer ratings before making a purchase, according to an October 2008 survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a research and consulting firm. (Business Week, October 2009)
63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study, January 2008)
81% of consumers consider the availability of customer reviews to be "very important" (33%) or "somewhat important" (48%). (Major consumer electronics retailer/iPerceptions study, January 2008)
70% of online consumers said they use the Internet to research everyday grocery products. (Prospectiv, January 2008)
According to a survey of 2,445 US online consumers, 82% considered user-generated reviews "extremely valuable or valuable." (North American Technographics Retail Online Survey Q3, 2008)
Over 50% of respondents from Germany (56%), Italy (55%) and the UK (54%) agreed that "customer ratings/reviews help me decide whether or not to purchase a product/service." (European Technographics Retail, Customer Experience and Travel Online Survey Q3, 2008)
Customer reviews are an important research tool for online consumers, with 71 percent agreeing that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they are buying the right product. (Nielsen Online Holiday Survey, December 2008)
41% of Europeans claim to have changed their mind about what brand to buy as a result of researching choices online, according to EIAA's latest Mediascope survey. (Mediascope Europe, November 2008)
The Trust in Advertising survey of 26,000+ found that Consumer Recommendations are the most credible form of advertising. ("Social Media Marketing: The Right Strategy for Tough Economic Times" Awareness, 2008)
Nearly 49% of shoppers have made a purchase based on a recommendation through a social media property; respondents most relied on the following sources when making a purchase decision: 60.53% user reviews; 20.48% comparison charts; 15.41% editorial reviews; 3.58% shared shopping lists. (Razorfish, October 2008)
46% of Britons now read online reviews or recommendations on a specific product before buying it and 32% are willing and able to publish a review online - but only 19% would be prepared to write a letter to a retailer. (1&1 Internet survey of 1600 consumers, December 2008)
As of October 2008, almost half of US online adults read ratings and reviews at least once a month, and 19% post them. Nearly twice as many read reviews compared with 2007. (The Growth Of Social Technology Adoption, Forrester, October 2008)
Nearly half (49%) of shoppers intend to do their holiday gift buying online (versus in-store), and 72% are planning to research products online prior to purchasing (vs. 65% in 2007). ("Mindset of the Multi-Channel Shopper Holiday Survey," e-tailing group, October 2008)
91% of millionaires say they always or often look at reviews before buying luxury goods; 68% of ultra-affluent shoppers use consumer reviews. (Unity Marketing/Google study, reported in AdAge, October 2008)
Mobile user-generated content will generate $5.7 billion worldwide in 2012, up from $576 million in 2007. ("Mobile Social Networking: Opportunities & Forecasts 2008-2013," Juniper Research, October 2008)
57.2% of U.S. toy purchasers are influenced by product reviews online. (Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice, Fall 2008)


MARKETER DEMAND FOR RATINGS & REVIEWS
Bazaarvoice looked across an aggregate of clients for products added to a site within the past year where the product feed was updated in the past 30 days; for products rated two stars (out of five) or below, 70% of the products have been pulled from the site, compared to a site average of 47%. And the products were pulled 24 days faster than the site average, for a 10% decrease in time on site. (Bazaarblog, October 2009)
60% of Retailers use customer reviews; 55% say reviews are a priority in the coming year. (Shop.org, July 2009)
Brands w/ highest "social media activity" (includes reviews) increased revenues by as much as 18%. (Media Post News, July 2009)
69% of companies using Web 2.0 have gained measurable business benefits. (McKinsey Quarterly, September 2009)
58% of the EG100 retailers implemented ratings and reviews in 2008, up from 50% in 2007; 24 percent sell by top-rated products. (e-tailing group's 11th Annual Mystery Shopping Survey, January 2009)
Despite 71% of CMOs saying that overall marketing budgets have been reduced, nearly half - 47% - of all CMOs say they plan to increase their spending on social media. (Forrester, 2009)
68% of online marketers believe "media is in big trouble and will lose dollars to user-generated content." (iMedia Connection, February 2008)
84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing's primary objective (1to1 Media survey of the 1to1 Xchange panel, April 2008)
76% of US retailers said user-generated content would have a greater impact on their marketing goals in the near future. (SLI Systems/Zoomerang, November 2008)
Of merchants who adopt customer reviews, 58% said improving customer experience was the most important reason for adding reviews to their sites, followed by building customer loyalty (47%), driving sales (42%), and maintaining a competitive advantage (37%). (eTailing Group, June 2008)
By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing's primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing. (1to1 Media survey of the 1to1 Xchange panel, April 2008)
11% of retailers reported a 20% or more overall increase in conversions as a result of adding reviews to their sites, 21% reported an 11% to 20% increase and 5% reported a 1% to 10% increase. (eTailing Group, June 2008)
56% of UK website owners say that user-generated content lifts conversion levels; 77% say it increases traffic; and 42% say it increases the average spend on site.(eConsultancy survey of 360 website owners across all sectors, November 2008)
Dave Seifert of Bass Pro Shops noted at a Shop.org round table discussion that Top Rated Products were "the #1 merchandising technique ever utilized on their site." (Bass Pro Shops, June 2008)
After their order, PETCO asked customers, "What online tool most influenced your purchase decision?" The #1 answer was product ratings and reviews, with site search coming in a distant second. (PETCO, June 2007)


CONSUMER DEMAND FOR ASK & ANSWER™
Having "no way to get a specific question answered" tied "slow loading pages" as the most frequent issue consumers face when researching or buying online, with 44% of respondents encountering the problem at least somewhat frequently. (eConsultancy "How We Shop", 2010)
Consumers say not being able to speak to anyone to answer questions is their number one frustration with online shopping. (Opinion Research Point, April 2009)
Researchers led by Jim Jansen, associate professor of information science and technology, and Twitter chief scientist Abdur Chowdhury looked at half a million tweets. 20% of them were apparently people 'asking and providing' product information. (Penn State study via Social Media Today, September 2009)
Representatives from the e-tailing group and Ripple6 believe research results point to consumers' desires for more online communities where they can share recommendations and opinions about their purchases. (Manage Smarter, September 2009)
92% shoppers have more confidence in info sought online vs. anything from a salesclerk or other source. (Wall Street Journal, January 2009)
77% of eCommerce shoppers want help from real people online. (Retail Customer Experience, August 2009)
Of the $13.8 billion worth of returned products in 2007, only 5 percent were because gadgets were actually broken, according to a 2008 study. (Gadget Stats, June 2008)
42% of consumers said they prefer being able to find the answers they need online on their own if they had a question or wanted help while shopping online. (Harris Interactive, May 2007)
The share of traffic to question-and-answer Web sites has more than doubled from 2007 to 2008. (HitWise, 2008)
Yahoo Answers had 25.3 million visits in February 2008. (comScore Media Metrix, March 2008)
Online businesses lose as many as 67% of consumers due to a lack of online product information. (Allurent, January 2008)
83% of online shoppers would make purchases if sites offered increased interactive elements. (Allurent, January 2008)


CROSS CHANNEL MARKETING
Two or more channels are used by 78% of consumers to browse, research and make purchases. (ATG, March 2010)
Three or more channels for a single transaction are used by 30% of consumers. (ATG, March 2010)
Mobile devices are used by 32% of consumers to browse or research products or services at least once a month.
(ATG, March 2010)
15% of consumers are completing transactions with their mobile devices monthly. (ATG, March2010)


CONVERSION RESULTS
Customer Stories campaign drove 13,000 new prospects for La-Z-Boy. (La-Z-Boy, 2009)
Products with syndicated reviews convert 26% higher. (Bazaarvoice Case Study, 2009)
Shoppers who browsed the site's new "Top Rated Products" page, which features products rated most highly by customers, had a 59% higher conversion rate than the site average and spent 16% more per order than other browsers of products. (Bass Pro Shops, June 2008)
MarketingExperiments tested product conversion with and without product ratings by customers. Conversion nearly doubled, going from .44% to 1.04% after the same product displayed its five-star rating. (MarketingExperiments Journal, July 2007)
79% of online UK retailers surveyed reported that the main benefit of consumer-generated rating and reviews was that they improved site conversion rates. (eMarketer, 2007)
Shoppers who browsed the site's "Top Rated Products" page, which features products rated most highly by customers, had a 49% higher conversion rate than the site average and 63% more per order than other site shoppers. (PETCO, June 2007)
Giving shoppers the ability to sort products within a category by customer rating led to a sales increase of 41% per unique visitor. (PETCO, June 2007)
Compared to a base group that didn't read or contribute product reviews at all, people who read a review were 30% more likely to purchase a product and visitors who wrote a review were 80% more likely to convert, based on analysis across several Coremetrics clients. (Coremetrics, reported in BtoB, March 2007)
The Shop.org State of Retailing Online study, conducted by Forrester Research, found only 26% of the 137 top retailers surveyed offered customer ratings and reviews, but 96% of them ranked customer ratings and reviews as an effective or very effective tactic at driving conversion. (Forrester, 2007)


AVERAGE ORDER VALUE RESULTS
Consumers were willing to pay between 20 to 99% more for a 5-star rated product than for a 4-star rated product, depending on the product category. (comScore/Kelsey, October 2007)
Top-rated products site navigation path featuring 4- and 5-star products in each category delivered 49% higher conversion and 63% higher average order value. (Bazaarvoice, June 2007)
Usage of reviews drives higher spending: 27% of users report an increase of 5-10%; almost 7% report an increase of 20%+. (Avenue A/Razorfish "Digital Consumer Behavior Study," October 2007)


USER-GENERATED CONTENT BEYOND THE WEB
Nearly 64% of respondents had watched a user-generated video review, and more than three-quarters of that group said it helped them make a purchase decision--either for or against a product or brand. 81.3% listed the ability to see the product in action as their favorite thing about video reviews. (Internet Retailer, June 2010).
User Generated Content is a key to long tail user engagement. (Internet Retailer- 1800Flowers Presentation, June 2010)
By 2013, nearly 155 million US Internet users will consume some form of user-created content, up from almost 116 million in 2008. (eMarketer, 2009)
The number of user-generated content creators will reach 114.5 million in 2013, up from 82.5 million in 2008. That will translate to 51.8% of US Internet users in 2013, up from 42.8% in 2008. (eMarketer, 2009)
Over half (51.0%) of consumers are using the Internet before making a purchase in shops, educating themselves on the best deals available. (Verdict Research, May 2009)
According to Forrester, nearly 45% of European Internet users say that in the past three months they have researched a product online and then bought it in a shop. (Forrester, March 2009)
Online consumers are becoming precision shoppers. For every $1 spent online, $5.77 is influenced in store. (Macy's CEO, 2009)
90% of those surveyed say they have a better overall shopping experience when they research products online before shopping in-store. (Harris Interactive, October 2007)
More than three-quarters of review users in nearly every category reported that the review had a significant influence on their purchase, with hotels ranking the highest (87%). (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)
97% of those surveyed who said they made a purchase based on an online review said they found the review to have been accurate. (comScore/The Kelsey Group, October 2007)


EMAIL CAMPAIGN RESULTS
The UK market for email marketing platforms and services was worth £254m in 2008 and is predicted to grow by an estimated 15% to a value of £292m by the end of 2009. (Econsultancy, October 2009)
PETCO realized a 5X increase in email click-through rates by including relevant ratings and reviews content in the campaign promotion. (PETCO, June 2007)
Top rated product email drive 46% higher revenue per email in A/B test. (Golfsmith, June 2007)


SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION RESULTS
Nearly two-thirds of consumers (61%) use search engines to help them in their product research decisions leading up to purchase. (eConsultancy, July 2010)
53% UK online shoppers say retailers return generic, one-size-fits-all content in external searches. (Retail Bulletin, September 2009)
In a study of a major electronics retailer site of 30,000 monthly natural language search visitors, converted 60% more often, spent 50% more, and viewed 82% more pages than search visitors to other pages. (Bazaarvoice case study with major electronics retailer)
In a study of online UK retailers, 59% reported that the consumer-generated activity leads to better search engine optimization. (eMarketer, 2007)


RETURN RATES AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
Satisfaction for those who recalled customer reviews on the retailers' site is 10% higher than those who said there were no reviews offered. Loyalty increases, too: 7% higher likelihood to purchase online, 8% greater likelihood to purchase from the retailer next time they're buying similar merchandise and 11% greater likelihood to recommend the site to others. (30 UK Online Retail Satisfaction Index, ForeSee Results, January 2008)
Online UK retailers reported improved customer retention and loyalty by 73% once they implemented consumer-generated rating and reviews. (eMarketer, 2007)
Products with reviews have a 20.4% lower return rate than those without reviews. (Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)
Products with 50+ reviews have a return rate of 65% of those with fewer than five reviews. (Bazaarvoice PETCO Case Study, 2007)


EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING AND MEDIA
Social Media in the UK: A visitor coming from a social media site is ten times more likely to make a purchase online than an average visitor- 7% vs 71%. (Simply Zesty, 2010)
Majority of consumers (74%) rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions. (Gartner, July 2010)
The highest performing businesses use consumer insights in 80% of sales and merchandising (GOOD Magazine, March 2010)
86% of US online retailers have Facebook fan pages. (GOOD Magazine, March 2010)
The average UK shopper spent £1,102 online in 2009, and the UK overall spent £38bn - more than any other European nation, accounting for almost a third of all online sales in Europe. Online shopping also made up 10 per cent of all retail sales in the UK. (The Independent, February 2010)
In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media. (Opinion from Socialnomics, August 2009)
New media contact with companies and brands fosters goodwill in a majority of users, with at least seven in 10 respondents reporting positive impressions, stronger connections and a greater willingness to engage with the company. (eMarketer, 2009)
74% said "After interacting with companies or brands via new media, I generally have a more positive impression of the company or brand." (Consumers Demand Brand Interaction, October 2009)
According to [Digital Brand Experience Study] findings, 65% of consumers report that a digital brand experience has changed their opinion (either positively or negatively) about a brand or the products and services a brand offers. For those brand marketers still neglecting (or underestimating) digital, it's as if they've shown up to a cocktail party in sweatpants. (Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Study, 2009)
64% of consumers have made a first purchase from a brand because of a digital experience such as a web site, microsite, mobile coupon, or email. No other medium has so impacted--or altered--the traditional marketing funnel in this way. (Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Study, 2009)
Of the 10 social marketing tools studied, five are already in use by at least half of the companies surveyed. Leading the way is the Facebook fan page, which 86% of respondents say they have and 10% more plan to launch in the next 12 months. 65% are communicating via Twitter, 55% publish customer product reviews, 55% have their own blogs, and 50% produce their own video or display videos submitted by consumers. (Etailing survey of 117 companies, September 2009)
75% of people don't believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements. (Yankelovich)
75% of women say ads on social networks don't encourage them to purchase. (Media Post News, September 2009)
The number of user-generated content creators will reach 114.5 million in 2013, up from 82.5 million in 2008. That will translate to 51.8% of US Internet users in 2013, up from 42.8% in 2008. (eMarketer, 2009)
In 2013, nearly 155 million US Internet users will consume some form of user-generated content, up from almost 116 million in 2008. (eMarketer, 2009)
Facebook is now the fourth most visited site in the world; two years ago it didn't register in the top ten. (TechCrunch, 2009)
Social networks and blogs are the fourth most popular online activities, beating personal email. 67% of global users visit member communities and 10% of all time spent on the internet is spent on social media sites. (Econsultancy, 2009)
Social media spending will leap by 34% by 2014, while mobile marketing will jump by 27%. (Forrester, 2009)
75% of US online adults are active online social participators. (Forrester, 2008)


SEARCH
25% of search results for the world's 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content. (Socialnomics, August 2009)
196% increase in paid search revenue for Office Depot when using verbiage from product reviews in ad copy. (Office Depot, 2008)

In a SearchVoice study of 30,000 monthly SearchVoice visitors, conversion was 60% higher, spending went up 50% more and visitors viewed 82% more pages. (Major electronics retailer case study, August 2008)

The ability to refine site search results by customer rating led to 22% more sales per unique visitor on a same-session basis and 41% more sales per visitor on a multi-session basis. (Bazaarvoice)

SYNDICATION
RSS study: Burpee measured a 43% higher click-through on RSS feeds with reviews than without. (Burpee, December 2007)