Consumers Trust Hotel Reviews More Than Advertising.
Surprising? Not to me, and probably not to you either.
Nielsen recently completed a study that confirms a core belief at FunnelScope:
- We tend to trust recommendations from people we know.
- Consumers trust other consumer’s opinions posted online.
What’s again not surprising is that both online reviews and friend recommendations are more trusted than other forms of advertising according to Nielsen:
“Nine in every ten internet consumers worldwide (90%) trust recommendations from people they know, while seven in every ten (70%) trust consumer opinions posted online”
This blows away trust in other mediums such as TV (62%); newspaper (61%); radio (55%); email (54%); search engine results ads (41%), and online banner ads (33%).
No wonder Trendwatching.com is now saying, “Reviewing is the New Advertising” in their September trend report.
Social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc. are helping to put the power of reviews on steroids. Social media was built on the foundation of friends freely sharing information including opinions about products and services like hotels and travel. In fact, some people refer to Twitter as a global real-time reviewing tool.
Customers are now demanding the ability to instantly compare hotel attributes and prices online in an effort to get the best deal while meeting their needs. But consumers want to be able to do this in a time efficient manner.
That’s why we started FunnelScope.com. We’re giving the consumer what they want from sources they trust:
Compiled hotel reviews provided in a time-saving manner based on what’s important to the consumer from both online reviews and friend recommendations.
Try a FunnelScope.com search now. Socialize your search via our Twitter connection (Facebook coming soon). Then tell us what you think.
