EXPO Survey Finds 98% of American Adults Consider Consumer-Generated Product Reviews Helpful for Holiday Shopping

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Video is a powerful influencer for US shoppers, with consumer-generated reviews leading engagement and conversion. According to research released today by EXPO, the first consumer network focused on creating and distributing high impact product video, 98% of consumers surveyed found video reviews helpful for their holiday shopping.

This finding coincides with the marked increase in video viewership experienced by the EXPO network's retail partners during the start of the holiday shopping season. While overall video viewership nearly doubled compared to weeks prior, user-generated video showed the largest increase. EXPO's retail partners saw a 281% lift in engagement around consumer-generated product videos on Black Friday, 55% higher than the lift seen by professionally-produced videos.

The survey demonstrates the growing influence of the everyday consumer in this new age of ubiquitous social sharing. And that influence, if "Zuckerberg's Law" holds true and we double the amount of information we share each year, manufacturers and brands increasingly need to harness the power of the consumer to drive engagement and conversion within their marketing mix.

The survey results reinforce the findings of a March 2012 study conducted by EXPO and comScore, which demonstrated the power of user-generated product videos to generate emotion, communicate key messages and verify specific product claims such as superiority and convenience. In that study, EXPO discovered that the combination of professionally-produced and user-generated video resulted in a higher lift in Share of Choice than did use of either form alone, proving that the two types of videos are highly synergistic and can drive higher levels of sales effectiveness when used in tandem.

"Shoppers are increasingly engaging with their favorite brands digitally, and we're finding that video can have a very powerful effect on how others perceive the brand or product," stated Jessica Thorpe, Vice President of Marketing at EXPO. "This research confirms that consumers are more receptive to the opinions of people who appear to be just like them than to more traditional marketing strategies, therefore it's a growing imperative for brands and manufacturers to leverage their customers' stories to tell their messages effectively."

The survey was conducted in the United States on December 12, 2012 and polled 407 adults aged 18 and over. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About EXPO
EXPO (www.expotv.com) is the first consumer network focused on creating and distributing high impact product video to drive engagement and conversion. The company's end-to-end solution captures, manages and publishes persuasive consumer video for leading manufacturers and retailers. Through EXPO's platform, clients can harness their own brand enthusiasts and fans or rely on EXPO's community of consumers to produce authentic video content, such as product reviews, how-tos, demonstrations, recipes and other topics relevant to a client's brand. EXPO guarantees the content's quality and timeliness, allowing brands and agencies to use the video to support campaign messages, communicate new product benefits, capture video SEO, or simply spark engagement on social platforms. Clients can leverage EXPO's proprietary distribution network to ensure the videos are placed on product pages of top retailers, social networks, and across all owned and mobile destinations.

SOURCE EXPO