New survey confirms word of mouth importance
Waggener Edstrom research backs up previous study by Cowen on purchase motivations
A new survey conducted by PR firm Waggener Edstrom in the US has backed up a previous study by the Cowen Group which concluded that word of mouth was the most significant factor for people in terms of purchase motivations.
According to this latest research the opinion of a friend or family member is up to three times more likely to influence a person compared to standard advertising, reports Gamasutra, while longstanding gamers who are active in online communities - Influence Multipliers - have an extra impact on others.
"Compared to all videogamers, Influence Multipliers are a hyperinfluential subset of friends who are also far more connected to other gamers," outlined Dan Gallagher, Waggener Edstrom analytics senior VP. "As a result, Influence Multipliers have an outsized network influence effect on their gaming colleagues."
The research concluded that after word of mouth, a game's presence at retail, online demo and review score all had an impact on decision-making, while advertising and promotion were the least important factors.