Strangers Are More Trustworthy Than Religious Leaders

Advertisers are trusted less than anybody besides telemarketers, so it is imperative that they find others to spread the good news about their products and services for them. This is where word-of-mouth kicks in. According to recent numbers released by Bridge Ratings/University of Massachusetts, strangers have become a trusted source of information that advertisers may want to recruit to spread the good word.

Back in 1997, teachers and religious leaders were the most trusted sources of information according to a survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts. On a scale of 1 to 10, teachers were rated a 9.2 while religious leaders were rated a 9.0.

How times have changed.

Now friends, family, and acquaintances have become the most trusted sources of information with a rating of 8.6 according to a 2007 Bridge Ratings survey. Strangers with experience now rank second with a 7.9 rating, while teachers are third with a 7.3 rating. Religious leaders have seen their trustworthiness rating tumble to a measly 6.9.

Advertisers hold a 2.2 rating, which is even lower than their 3.3 rating in 1997, while telemarketers hold on to their bottom spot with a 1.8 rating, which is lower than their 2.1 rating ten years ago.

Besides showing a cynical trend, the data shows that word-of-mouth is still very alive. Ninety-three percent of the 3,400 respondents ages 13 and older indicated that they were swayed to take action because of word-of-mouth persuasion.

By 2011, eMarketer expects 34.4 million American adult Internet users to be word-of-mouth influencers. This translates into 20.0% of the expected total adult Web user population. In 2006 there were 23.7 million (16.0%) adult Web users who were word-of-mouth influencers. Blogs and personally created Web sites are making it much easier for adults with Web access to get their voices and opinions out to the general public.

American adult influencers are more likely to read newspapers, watch television, visit news Web sites, read blogs, and listen to other people’s word-of-mouth than the average U.S. adult.

Source:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005225