Do Tweets influence consumer behaviour?


Kantar Media

Stephen DiMarco Chief Marketing Officer, Compete, a Kantar Media company

21/11/2012



  • 700 Different retailers Tweeting
  • 2,600 U.S.-based internet consumers observed
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The influence of Twitter on online shopping

Kantar Media Compete and Twitter have worked together to understand the impact of Tweets posted by retail companies. Specifically, we wanted to know whether Tweets influence consumer behaviour; are people exposed to a retailer Tweet more likely to visit that retailer's website and eventually purchase from that retailer?

To answer these questions, Compete observed 2,600 US-based Internet consumers who saw Tweets from almost 700 different retailers such as Amazon, Nike and Walmart from August to mid-October. We limited the scope of the study to desktop browsing only (no mobile or table activity) and exposure on Twitter.com only (no Twitter clients were included in the analysis). We also studied the behaviour of two control groups comprised of a similar set of consumers who visited Twitter but did not see retailer Tweet and who were simply average internet users.

Compete and Twitter uncovered two key findings:

1. Twitter users who see Tweets from retailers are more likely to visit retail sites

Twitter users who were exposed to retailer Tweet visit those retailer websites at a higher rate (95%) than general internet users (90%). This finding is true for both mass retail sites as well as specific categories and becomes even more pronounced for more niche parts of the retail industry.

2. Twitter users who see retailer Tweets are more likely to make online purchases

During the timeframe that Compete analysed, 27% of general internet users bought something from a retail website; however, Twitter users made purchases at a rate of 33% from the same sites. When Twitter users were exposed to a Tweet from a retailer, that purchase rate increased to 39%. This represents a lift of 1. 4X and 1.2X, respectively, and is true across a variety of retail categories.

To understand the key takeaways from this research, download the full Kantar Media Compete Tweets In Action: Retail study below, or visit the Kantar Media Compete blog.

Source: Kantar Media


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