Consumers Crave Facts to Make Buying Decisions

Consumers aren’t finding enough information in ads to prompt them to purchase, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. Instead, they are spending their time searching out information online via blogs and review sites, doing as much research for shampoo as they would for property.

Writing in the WSJ, trend-watcher Mark Penn describes a new breed of consumer – the ‘new info shopper’. This group of shoppers searches the Internet for information that just isn’t presented in adverts, in fact over three quarters (78%) say that ads no longer have enough information they need.

So, ‘new info shoppers’ turn to product reviews and consumer ratings to help make their buying decisions. According to Penn, 62% of Americans spend at least half an hour online each week seeking out information to help them decide what to buy. Among younger age groups, under 45, that figure jumps to 73%.

What struck me was that this sort of shopping behavior isn’t new – particularly among women who have long had a more deliberate and investigative method of shopping, whether on- or offline. However, these new figures aren’t gender specific, demonstrating that men are also making more considered purchases.

So how can you hook these ‘new info shoppers’? By providing lots of facts and figures – not just any old guff – but motivating and memorable snippets that will catch the eye of info seeking consumers.

“Timex sold a lot of watches by showing its watches were still ticking after being thrown into a washing machine,” explained Penn. “To catch the eye of the info-shopping consumer, manufacturers should start hauling their wares up to Mt. Everest, drop them out of windows, put them in boiling water and reporting on how they do. In an info-seeking world, facts can again become the great differentiator.”

Web measurement firm Hitwise fleshed out the findings reported by Penn using demographic and lifestyle data. The findings pointed to a large representation among the 55+ age group along with a large number of visits from “Affluent Urban Professionals” (B02), described as "wealthy singles and couples living in chic high-rise neighborhoods of big cities such as New York, Boston and Chicago."