8 Statistics That Will Change the Way You Think About Referral Marketing

If you’ve read anything about referral marketing...

You’ve probably seen a handful of common referral statistics thrown around.

Typically, these numbers are presented to convince you that every customer relies on word-of-mouth, that referral marketing is insanely valuable, and that you’re crazy not to use it.

And those arguments might very well be valid. There’s just one problem with the numbers that many in our industry regurgitate: They’re a little outdated.

Truth is, most of the stats used to preach the value of referrals come from research that’s at least a few years old. That might not sound so bad, until you consider that, in 2012, Facebook had 500 million fewer users, Yelp was 50% smaller, and mobile was still a developing category. Simply put: For modern marketers, three years is an eternity and it was high time for some fresh research on the power of word-of-mouth.

So, this year, we partnered with Nielsen’s Harris Poll Online to survey 2,000 Americans and answer a few key questions:

-How influential is word-of-mouth in their purchasing decisions? 

-Which channels do they rely on most for recommendations? 

-How (if at all) do people want to be compensated for providing referrals?

What was the verdict? Let’s just say that even we were surprised by some of the results. To get the full picture, check out our infographic below. And, after you do, let us know what you think is the most compelling referral marketing statistic! 

Do you want to learn how to turn more of your customers, partners, affiliates, and fans into revenue generators? Request a custom demo from one of our referral marketing software experts today!