Stackla Survey Finds Authenticity Drives Brand Affinity and Consumer-Created Content Influences Purchases

86 percent of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., November 9, 2017 – Stackla, the leading user-generated content (UGC) platform, today released a new study, titled “The 2017 Consumer Content Report: Influence in the Digital Age”. The study examines the content being created and shared online, and what influences consumers’ purchasing decisions most.  

Stackla surveyed 2,000 adults in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, finding that even in today’s consumerist and celebrity-centric culture, authenticity drives brand affinity. The vast majority of consumers (86 percent) said authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support. And people find consumer-created content to be the most authentic form of content. Consumers are three times more likely to say that content created by a consumer is authentic compared to content created by a brand.

The report also found that brands can’t fake authentic content: on average, adults can correctly identify if an image was created by a professional or generated by a consumer 70 percent of the time. In fact, the study revealed that customers will punish brands that try to fake it, with 30 percent of Millennials saying they have unfollowed a brand on social media because they felt their content was inauthentic.

“Today, authenticity is king. Consumers are inundated with content, and the only way brands can cut through all that noise is with authentic content,” said Peter Cassidy, co-founder, CMO and Chief Product Officer at Stackla.

“Since consumers see UGC as inherently authentic and trustworthy, the best marketers among us are increasingly leveraging it to build lasting relationships with customers, deliver relevant brand experiences and ultimately drive revenue.”

Key Findings for Marketers:

Authenticity drives brand affinity

• 86 percent of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support
• More than half (57 percent) of consumers think that less than half of brands create content that resonates as authentic

Consumers can spot professional vs. user-generated content

• On average, people are able to identify if an image was created by a professional or brand vs. generated by a consumer 70 percent of the time

User-generated content is more authentic and influential than professional and celebrity content

• Consumers are three times more likely to say that content created by a consumer is authentic compared to content created by a brand
• On average, 60 percent of consumers say content from a friend or family member influences their purchases decisions, while just 23 percent of consumers say content from celebrities influenced their purchasing decisions
• 57 percent of Millennials have made travel plans based on an image or video they saw a friend post on social media
• 56 percent of Millennials have decided to eat at a restaurant because they saw a friend post about it on social media

Massive amounts of UGC are at brands’ fingertips

• 85 percent of people (and 97 percent of Millennials) say they would share a positive travel experience on social media
• 76 percent of people say they would share a positive food or beverage experience on social media
• Nearly 52 percent of people say they post on social media at least once a month about products they’ve purchased