99% sounds like a ridiculously high number to claim when talking about how Reviews influence Purchase Decisions. I did not pull this out of thin air, but a research quoted by CNBC from a survey of 6000 US consumers.
Say you don’t trust such a research, I always ask clients to think about the last 5 purchase they made, excluding basic essentials like groceries and meals; in how many of those purchases did you look for reviews about the product or service before making a decision?
While it is true that that research is looking at consumer product purchases, extrapolate that into a B2B setting where purchases are usually valued at hundreds or thousands of dollars, you are sure to want to know that whatever you are buying really works, or has good support or service, beyond getting your 3 quotes.
Chances are you would have looked at some form of review, either text-based reviews, or video testimonials. And there is also a good chance that the reviews may have influenced your purchase decisions, you look for social proof, or social credibility.
It is a well known phenomenon to psychologist that no matter how rational we believe we are, when we see someone else who are similar to use, and I mean in terms of personal or professional circumstances that are similar to ours, we will rate their review towards that product or service that they used more or less favourably, depending on the review.
Video reviews are especially potent because the visual medium can evoke stronger emotional responses from us, and as humans, we tend to shortcut decisions by choosing what makes us feel good first.
So Video Reviews work, not just on an informational, but more critically on an emotional level; which is what makes Video Testimonials, Cases Studies and Review Videos work so well that they are employed by all major brands like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Hyundai, etc.
If you want to boost your marketing ROI, it is worth exploring Videos and in particular Video Reviews, Testimonials and Case Studies as the first line of collaterals to produce; because they work.
