Blogs influence online buying behavior

Over the last four years, blog readership spiked at over 300%. It is perhaps no surprise then that blogs now play an important role in influencing product decisions. In fact, blogs have more influence than social networking sites, found BuzzLogic's recent study, "Harnessing the Power of Blogs".

The survey of over 2,200 online consumers found that 50% of blog readers found blog content useful for making purchasing decisions. In particular, over half (56%) sourced blogs with a niche focus and topical expertise to be their key source of information. BizReport recently reported on a study by Ad-ology which came to similar conclusions.

Blogs covering technology products held the most sway among online consumers with 31% finding them useful for making product purchase decisions, followed by media and entertainment (15%), games and sporting goods (14%), travel (12%), automotive (11%) and heath services (10%).

But at what point in the purchase cycle are blogs at their most influential? According to BuzzLogic it's at the very beginning of the cycle when consumers make the decision to buy (21%). Blogs continue play a role throughout the entire decision making process from refining choices (19%) through to executing a purchase (7%).

"Blogs are becoming trusted guides, steering users who are seeking very specific information to places of interest online," said Rob Crumpler, CEO, BuzzLogic.

Tags: blogs, BuzzLogic, influence, product decision, purchase cycle, purchase intent, social networks