Shopper Persona: The Crowdsourcer

In our recent Product Content Consumer Benchmark Report, we asked consumers to choose a persona that best encompassed how they shop. We’ve put together this blog series to dive into the habits of each persona.

Explore previous shopper identities in these blogs:

Read on to learn about the 14.8% of respondents who label themselves as “The Crowdsourcer.”

The Crowdsourcer: reviews and word of mouth are the end-all, be-all; if it doesn’t have 4+ stars or more than a handful of reviews, I typically click away.

With customer reviews at top of mind, Crowdsourcers are focused on product specifications and the experience of previous customers.

Interestingly, Crowdsourcers spend more time than the general public researching product content before making a significant online purchase. 61% of these review-focused shoppers research 2-3 sites and 37% research 4-5 products before buying.

As expected, most Crowdsourcers cite the most critical type of product content to be customer reviews. Additionally, this type of shopper will leave a product detail page (PDP) if it has too few product reviews. 66% find that ample positive reviews are the most impactful content for their purchasing decision.

Like the rest of the shopping population, many Crowdsourcers were significantly affected by inflation and make cost-conscious shopping decisions. 60% of crowdsourcers are purchasing fewer non-essential items as a result of inflation, 76% of the goods getting skipped are clothes and accessories. In general, 71% of Crowdsourcers spend more time researching product content to ensure they’re getting the best value for their money.

In terms of where they are shopping, Crowdsourcers are like most shoppers in that they are increasingly making purchases online. 70% of the group have purchased something online in the past 12 months that they had previously only ever bought in-store. 35% are shopping more than before through mobile applications operated by retailers like Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc., while 35% are shopping more on e-commerce sites and marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, Target, etc. Crowdsourcers find e-commerce sites operated directly by major brands and manufacturers to be the most trustworthy shopping avenue.

Even the most review-conscious shoppers end up with purchase regret. 55% of Crowdsourcers have made a return in the past 12 months and 52% of those returns were due to inaccurate or misleading product content.

A commonality we’ve found across all shopper personas is that 360-degree spin photography is consistently named the most helpful photography feature.

To learn more about shopping habits and to read the full dataset, you can download the 2022 Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report here.