How do you feel about products that are endorsed by influencers online?

The exposure impact alone can be worth the promotional value, and some brands and products have gained huge traction through influencer endorsement. But consumer responses do vary, and there can be a vast difference between a top creator promoting your product, and a smaller influencer giving it the nod.

Essentially, not all influencer endorsements are equal in this respect.

That’s the key finding from a new study conducted by Entribe, which found that 81% of the consumers it surveyed didn’t feel that influencer endorsement had any impact on their purchase activity at all, and can even have a negative impact in some respects.

Indeed, according to Entribe’s survey, only 12% of respondents indicated that they would be inclined to purchase a product when it was promoted by an influencer, while 62% said that they’ve never purchased a product promoted by an influencer online.

So what does influence their decision making?

90% of respondents said that they would prefer to see brands share content from actual customers, while 86% said that they’d be more likely to trust a brand that publishes user-generated content, as opposed to influencers.

Some interesting food for thought – and while you can’t deny the power of influencers in building brand awareness, it could be that we’re reaching peak influencer marketing, and people are starting to tune them out.

You can read more insights from Entribe’s study here, or check out the infographic summary below.