Gen Z and millennial shoppers prefer to follow influencers they consider relatable with 89% of survey respondents admitting that they followed creators who seemed like a nice person.
That’s according to new research from Cassandra, the insights and cultural strategy group, which asked over 1,000 US and 500 UK young shoppers about their preferences.
Around 85% of respondents said they wanted to follow influencers who were trying to make the world a better place.
“Young consumers want to follow influencers who are relatable, who don’t act like influencers and who fit seamlessly into the social bubble they’ve curated on their feeds,” said Kathy Sheehan, Senior Vice President of Cassandra. “This is important knowledge for brands to understand when deciding to partner with an influencer as well as creating their brand’s online social media persona: be a friend, not a salesperson, and create content that fits within the context of the digital communities you want your brand to have influence over.”
When it comes to the categories that attract the highest conversions, Cassandra found that 79% of consumers who followed beauty influencers were more likely to make a purchase in the same categories. Meanwhile, 63% in the book category and 60% in interior design made a purchase.
TV (47%) and cooking (47%) attracted some of the lowest scores in terms of conversions based on influencer posts.
“Everyone is talking about influencers today, but understanding ROI remains a grey area in the space,” said Kathy Sheehan. “What I find interesting about our most recent findings is that we were able to correlate where the conversations are having an actual impact and driving purchase among Gen Zs and Millennials.”
