This week yet another report suggests that wealthy people spend a lot of time online and that it is more important than ever for those catering to the wealthy to be aware of their online reputation.
In their new survey “Leveraging the Internet Habits of the Wealthy,” the Luxury Institute found that 84% of consumers earning more than $150,000 visit sites where customers write reviews or rate products and services. Some respondents said:
-“It’s so much more important and informative reading about the experiences of product users rather than reading the advertising hype.”
-“I like to see what problems others may have encountered before I purchase. Also, customer service level is sometimes addressed and this is very important to me.”
-“Ratings and reviews are quick way to eliminate bad choices.”
The Luxury Institute found that 61% of wealthy consumers use the online forums provided on web retailer websites (such as Amazon.com and Circuit City), and half are willing to pay for access to the Consumer Reports website, which provides the oranization’s professional ratings and reviews.
Of course the announcement of this survey that I read failed to mention relevant things like the sample size, composition of the sample, and the margin of error. Still, these findings do agree with other phenomena we’ve seen on Janus Thinking recently.
The Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza sums it up:
“Across the luxury spectrum, nimble luxury firms understand that the world has just become transparent and there is nowhere to hide. In a web-connected world the flutter of a butterfly’s wings in Shanghai can generate a massive hurricane in New York. If you have rigid customer processes, such as onerous return policies, confusing fees, conflicted endorsements, etc., fix them now, and favor the customer. If you are not socially responsible, bet that consumers will gang up on you online. If you make a mistake, admit it, apologize, fix it immediately, and overcompensate the aggrieved parties — no excuses, no exceptions. Your luxury brand reputation is at stake, and it can be severely damaged in a nanosecond.”
How lumbering luxury giants will get on in this new world remains to be seen.
previous
next