The Engaged Consumer

There is more proof of the ROI of a branded community, but this time it's specifically for retailers. Courtesy of a joint study from the E-tailing Group and Ripple6, we've got some new intelligence about how consumers react to these environments and how they drive people to make larger purchases more frequently. The highlights:

• 83% percent of online shoppers very or somewhat interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know.
• This information sharing impacts commerce as pre-purchase opinions from others influence buying decisions for 74% of online shoppers.
• 67% of users are more likely to purchase more based on recommendations from people in a community in which they participate.
• 62% are more likely to frequent a retailer they have shopped before if they can be part of a community within that site.

Much of these types of statistics have been explored in other studies, most notably by Bazaarvoice, who has done a lot to outline the impact of ratings and reviews on purchase.

However, the statistic that I find the most interesting from this new study is the final bullet up top, where merely having the ability to commune on a retail site made 62% of people more likely to frequent it.

I suspect that people want to be able to see what others think about specific products, but they also want to hear about how those people integrate those products successfully into their lifestyle. This is a major value that retailers and their best customers can provide to rise above the lowest-price commoditization that sometimes plagues the industry.