For Product Opinions, Consumers Trust Friends
By Mark Fleischmann May 15, 2008 — When you need an authoritative opinion on a prospective purchase, who you gonna call?

Friends, say 83 percent of responders to a survey quoted in a book by two Forrester researchers. Print reviewers come in second at 75 percent, followed by manufacturer websites at 69 percent, "a review by a known expert" at 63 percent, consumer reviews on a retail site at 60 percent, consumer reviews on a content site at 52 percent, and information on consumer opinion sites at 50 percent.

Below the 50 percent mark are online reviews by editors of content sites, at 49 percent; chat rooms or discussion boards, at 37 percent; and blogger reviews, at 30 percent.

It's telling that print reviewers outrank online content-site reviews, though on sites like ours, they're written by the same people. Guess that says something about the power of the printed word. It's no surprise at all that bloggers are the lowliest of reviewers.

See blog post (and note ironic transition) by one of the authors of the chart.

Excuse me now, I've got to kill some trees.