Who do you trust for advice when making a GPS purchase decision? Or alternatively, what do you trust (as in type of advertising)? The latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, a cross-section of 25, 000 internet buyers from 50 countries, has revealed that people we know are still the most trusted for product recommendations. 90 percent of those surveyed either completely or somewhat trust tips from people they know, according to an article in Adweek.
Just below trusted friends and family are consumer opinions posted online and brand websites–both with 70 percent trust level. The latter I find interesting because obviously a brand website is designed to push sales of a particular product, much like a banner ad, for example, or a search engine results ad. Yet, banner and search ads only yield 33 and 41 percent trust levels, respectively.
Editorial content such as that posted on my blog yields a 69 percent trust level. This I also find interesting because despite the fact I write from a neutral standpoint about, say, a Garmin GPS device, you’re more likely to trust the information on Garmin’s website. I’m not saying Garmin posts faulty information but there’s obviously a built-in bias there.
And despite the fact that I’m hugely bullish on mobile advertising, specifically that location-based, only 24 percent of those surveyed completely or somewhat trust that type of advertising at this time. This is probably for a variety of reasons including privacy concerns and the relative ‘newness’ of the technology.
Trust in different types of online opinions vary widely from country to country. In the case of brand websites, for example, 82 percent of surveyed Chinese are very trusting, but that number drops to 40 percent in Sweden.
Looking at this type of information is extremely important for GPS manufacturers these days. As dedicated PND sales drop in the face of ubiquitous mobile smartphones with GPS sensors, proper marketing and promotion will be instrumental in not only maximizing sales but cutting costs as well.
I know companies like Garmin will spend millions of dollars for a 30 second Super Bowl ad spot, but how well do they utilize relationship marketing and the vast number of online opinions regarding their products? I think there’s a huge amount of room for improvement here and GPS manufacturers would do well to jump on the opportunity while it still exists.