Word-of-mouth the most powerful selling tool: Nielsen global survey

New York: Despite an ever-expanding array of advertising platforms, consumers worldwide still place their highest levels of trust in other consumers. According to a recent global Nielsen Internet survey, word-of-mouth is still unbeaten when it comes to advertising.

The twice-a-year survey among 26,486 internet users across 47 markets from Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East, Nielsen conducted its most recent survey on consumers and their attitudes toward thirteen types of advertising, spanning conventional newspaper and television ads to branded web sites and consumer-generated content.

Says David McCallum, the global managing director for Nielsen''s customised research services, "Advertisers around the world are able to reach consumers across an increasingly diverse range of media platforms.

Even so, the recommendation of someone else remains the most trusted sources of information when consumers decide which products and services to buy."

Adding further, he said even though new media technologies are playing a role in ''globalising'' society, many purchasing decisions are still based on firmly-held national and cultural attitudes. Moreover, given that bad news travels the fastest, estimates tend to reflect that reports of bad experiences outnumber those of good service by as many as 5:1.

The Nielsen survey also found that while new platforms like the Internet are beginning to catch up with older media in terms of ad revenues, traditional advertising channels continue to retain the public''s trust.

Ads in newspapers rank second worldwide across media categories, at 63 per cent overall, while television, magazines and radio each ranked above 50 per cent, but nevertheless, lower than the print media.

Though word-of-mouth is still the most credible form of advertising among 78 per cent of the survey''s respondents, Nielsen''s research found significant national and regional differences regarding this and other mediums.

Word of mouth, for example, generates considerable levels of trust across much of Asia Pacific. Seven of the top ten markets that rely most on "recommendations from consumers" are in this region, including

• Hong Kong 93%
• Taiwan 91% and
• Indonesia 89%.

At the other end of the global spectrum, Europeans, generally, are least likely to trust what they hear from other consumers, particularly in Denmark (62%) and Italy (64%).

The reliability of consumer opinions posted online, which rated third at 61 per cent overall, also varies throughout the world. It scores highest in North America and Asia, at 66 and 62 per cent respectively.

Web-based opinions such as Blogs are most trusted in South Korea (81%) and Taiwan (76%), while scoring lowest, at 35 per cent, in Finland.