Pinterest Users Nearly Twice As Likely to Purchase Than Facebook Users, SteelHouse Survey Shows
But Facebook still leads as the preferred network to socially share online purchases.
LOS ANGELES (May 30, 2012) – When it comes to online social shopping, Pinterest users are far more likely to purchase items they see posted on the site compared to the purchasing behavior of Facebook users viewing items they’ve seen on the news feed or a friend’s wall, according to a new survey released today from SteelHouse (www.SteelHouse.com), a behavioral commerce company powering the industry’s only zero reaction time marketing solution.
Respondents were asked if Facebook or Pinterest play a role in their online shopping experiences, and nearly all respondents said yes. The survey findings revealed that Pinterest users are 79 percent more likely to purchase items they saw pinned on Pinterest versus Facebook users. Thirty-three percent of Facebook users said they have purchased a product or service they’ve seen in a Facebook ad, on the news feed, or on a friend’s wall, in comparison to the 59 percent of Pinterest users who have made a purchase based on an item they saw on Pinterest.
However, Facebook remains consumers’ top choice for getting ideas on what products and/or services to purchase and is also the preferred choice for social product sharing. More than one half of those surveyed said they regularly share their online purchases. Fifty-five percent of shoppers prefer to share their purchases on Facebook, followed by Twitter (22%), Pinterest (14%), and Instagram (5%). LinkedIn bottomed the list with only 3% of respondents using it to socially share purchases.
When asked about mobile shopping, 43 percent of those surveyed said they have downloaded a retailer’s mobile app and primarily use the app to browse for items (32%), make purchases (22%), and earn discounts and deals (26%). When making purchases though, close to one third of respondents said they prefer to make purchases from a retailer’s online store versus the retailer’s mobile app.
In addition to getting more social and mobile with shopping, 98 percent of shoppers say that online customer reviews have a major influence on their decision to purchase a product or service. Seventy-two percent of consumers shared they always read reviews before making a purchase, while 26 percent of consumers only sometimes read reviews before purchasing. When reading product reviews, 83 percent of shoppers take both, the star rating and written comments, into consideration. Star ratings are particularly important as half of all respondents said the lowest star rating they’d accept when making a purchase is three stars on a five star scale.
Beyond just checking out reviews, many respondents said they also write reviews. Sixty-eight percent of shoppers say they rate and review products on a regular basis. The top product categories they write reviews on are electronics (23%), DVDs/CDs/MP3s (14%), books, and clothing (both 13%).
The Social Shopping 2012 survey was a national survey of online shoppers conducted by SteelHouse and uSamp. For a full copy of the survey results, please visit www.steelhouse.com/research.
Media Contact:
Kristin Tinsley
PR Manager
310.895.2110
About SteelHouse
SteelHouse™ (www.SteelHouse.com), an ad:tech Innovation Award-winning company, powers the industry’s only real time marketing solutions for online retailers. With SteelHouse, marketers can segment shoppers based on their shopping personalities and buying behaviors, and then instantly act on that insight. The company’s Real Time Behavioral Commerce products – Real Time Offers™, Retargeting and Display Ads – enable eCommerce merchants to direct shopper behavior with targeted offers that increase conversion rates, average order values, sales, and overall engagement.
The SteelHouse team is comprised of veteran direct marketers and engineers from eHarmony, E*TRADE, Oracle and the Rubicon Project. SteelHouse is based in Los Angeles, Calif.