The power of the web and the influence exerted by users uploading their own material is giving the Highlands and Islands tourism a consumer-led marketing boost.
Online photo sharing site, flickr is just one shining example of how members of the public can help promote the region to a global audience. At the time of writing there were well over a thousand high quality images of the Highlands and Islands posted in flickr and an active online Scotland community within the site.
Highland and Islands Enterprise senior tourism development manager Roger Edwards said: “There are some truly fantastic images of the Highlands and Islands featuring in the Scotland Group on flickr. The comments being left from all over the world pay testament to what a superb country Scotland is as portrayed by many excellent photographers. These unprompted consumer comments are really powerful - and are surely an untapped source of positive recommendation and endorsement for the quality of our landscape, natural and built heritage.”
His comments follow new research in the USA that nine out of 10 online buyers consult customer reviews on the web before making an informed purchasing decision. With the emergence of review, feedback and social networking sites, getting an objective opinion has never been easier for consumers. If they don't personally know someone who has used a product or service, they can go online for the thoughts and experiences of millions. And most online buyers do just that.
PowerReviews and the e-tailing group found that nearly nine out of 10 US online buyers surveyed in February 2008 read customer reviews at least “some of the time” before making a purchase. More than a fifth of respondents (22 per cent) always read customer reviews before buying. Almost half of online buyers in the US (43 per cent) said they always researched their purchases, while a further 24 per cent indicated the web influenced their buying. Nine per cent of those interviewed admitted looking at web reviews some of the time prior to online purchasing, but only two per cent of respondents stated they never consulted online reviews.
Respondents also checked a fairly large number of reviews before making their purchasing decisions. Nearly seven out of 10 online buyers surveyed said they checked at least four reviews before spending their money.
The PowerReviews findings agree with other studies on user reviews. Reviews were the most-desired Web functions for US Internet users questioned in the third quarter of 2007 for Forrester Research's "North American Technographics Customer Experience, Marketing and Consumer Technology Online Survey, Q3 2007" report.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers surveyed said they wanted user ratings and reviews. About six out of 10 were more focused on prices, and wanted special offers or coupons and product or price comparison tools.
"Consumer-generated media such as those found on ratings and review sites are becoming more influential in the purchase-decision process," said Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at eMarketer, who are about to release their latest findings in a new report, User-Generated Content and E-Commerce, next month.
