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Amazon Crowdsources Friends’ Product Recommendations
Amazon is testing a new “Consult-a-Friend” feature that allows shoppers to request, view, and manage their friends’ feedback on products within the Amazon Shopping app.
“Sometimes, it helps to get a little advice from your friends or family,” Oliver Messenger, director of Amazon Shopping, wrote in a blog entry. “But when it comes to online shopping, it can be hard to keep track of feedback from multiple people across messaging apps.”
To use the feature, Amazon app users have to:
- Select a product they’d like to “Consult-a-Friend” on and tap the “Share” button. First-time users need to toggle the “Ask for your friends’ votes” button from the default off position to on. Users then select their preferred messaging app and designated recipients.
- Their friends will receive a message directing them to tap the Consult-a-Friend link to enter the Amazon Shopping app, where they can view product details and select a quick emoji reaction (😍, ☹️, or 🤔). They also have the option to add commentary.
- Once friends reply, the user can view their collective sentiment and scroll to see all text commentary in the app.
As an example, Messenger said, “Not sure what to get your notoriously hard-to-buy-for dad? Survey your siblings on the newest model smart TV and see their responses in one spot.”
Surveys regularly show that product recommendations from friends and family are among the most trusted sources. A recent survey of Gen Z adults from Momentive found the most trusted sources for product recommendations were family, cited by 34%; followed by friends, 31%; influencers or creators I follow, 11%; and online forums, 7%.
Amazon noted that its customers so far this year have used the “Share” button in the Amazon Shopping app “billions of times” to share products via messaging services, social media apps, and e-mail.
Initial testing of “Consult-a-Friend” shows customers are particularly interested in getting feedback on apparel, shoes, electronics, and furniture, offering promise as a holiday shopping tool.
Amazon noted that it has been adding other features to “make shopping more collaborative,” including Inspire, an in-app TikTok-like feed of photos and videos customized to each user’s interests and created by brands, influencers, and other customers. As part of the “Consult-a-Friend” launch, a new “Create” feature on Inspire makes it easier to take and upload pictures and images from phones, tag the product, and share.
Discussion Questions
How much consumer appeal do you see for Amazon’s “Consult-a-Friend” feature? How does such as feature complement or pose a threat to social shopping executions on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Ken Morris
Managing Partner Cambridge Retail Advisors
Lisa Goller
B2B Content Strategist
Amazon’s “Consult-a-Friend” feature is yet another good example of folding user generated content (UGC) into the shopping experience. UGC already seeing solid results in online fashion, improving conversion rates and reducing returns. Amazon’s brand status creates the trust needed for friends and family to dare to click through to chime in on potential purchases. This feature adds to the shopping experience and mimics the old customer journey you had with friends and family at the mall or the department store. I view this as a back-to-the-future feature that will be wildly popular. It sounds a bit complicated to use, but it’s probably quite intuitive. Other platforms should be very wary of Amazon’s play here, as they really own the shoppers.
Great points Ken! While anonymous reviews are important, consumers value the opinions of their friends and family more than anything. I am curious how easy it is to create your personal network of family and friends on the Amazon site. If it is too cumbersome, it will hinder adoption.
As I recall, IBM was touting this about a decade ago. They talked about social shopping with friends back then, and as I recall, were backing an app that helped users show their interests (particularly in-store) to friends, and discuss. Or send photos, etc.
If you think about it, there are many ways to share with a friend. Take a screen shot (I’m not sure anything is easier than that, really), send a link, Facetime. Maybe I’m missing something, but it feels like what Amazon is doing, already exists. If it can be easier, okay. But I can’t see it.
Put TikTok, etc. on the side for a minute. Sharing with your friends is a different beast.
Typically, I’m critical of any actions that add friction to a transaction, and that was my first reaction here. However, I think this makes a lot of sense. For some purchases, asking around from friends and family makes sense. This creates a digital version of my dragging my kids to a store to “help” me buy something for my wife. This sounds engaging and fun, and I suspect it is much easier than trying to get on my kid’s schedule. I think this will be a bit for Amazon.
Amazon gets that the real influencers are friends and family. Teens already crowdsource their purchase decisions from fitting room selfies. Younger shoppers will love how Consult-a-Friend streamlines the social feedback mechanism at the point-of-sale.
By encouraging interaction, Amazon evolves toward social commerce. Social sharing is the start. Adding group buying incentives could attract bigger crowds to Amazon’s online mall, giving it a competitive edge.
I am thinking it’s a good idea, will entirely depend on execution and will need a huge incentive to use it. For one thing, I think getting ppl to turn on Amazon Friend Notifications will be an issue.
Reviews and ratings are important, helping customers make their buying decisions. Going to the next level is a review from a friend or family member. And according to the article, a family member or friend’s rating, review, or recommendation has the highest level of trust. And the byproduct of lower returns has to get retailers even more excited about finding ways to “crowdsource” reviews from friends and family. One word to describe this: Brilliant!
There is significant opportunity in this space, not just for soliciting thoughts on purchases, but also to move through the purchase funnel by adding the ability for group purchases (split the cost for things like weddings, graduations, larger presents, etc.). Whether or not this succeeds is usability. If it is not intuitive to use, adoption and scaling will be limited.
My thoughts exactly, Lisa. As long as the “Consult-a-Friend” feature is user-friendly, consumers will utilize it since it allows them to solicit feedback from family and friends before purchasing items online. Whether through product ratings and reviews or influencers’ videos, most consumers look to outside opinions when deciding on a purchase, so this is a natural extension.
I’ll try not to go on a rant here, but this stikes me as a perfect example of all that is good, and at the same time bad, about Amazon (and many of it’s bretheren like Meta or google). Superfically it sounds great: who to trust more than your friends, so why not make it easier to consult them ? What could go wrong? What goes wrong, of course is the ever growing amount of info you have to hand over to participate. Many will no doubt find this useful, and join. Others will be wary, and avoid it. I think I’ll be in that latter group: if I want a freind’s advice, I’ll just ask them…I don’t need Amazon to run interference.
A great idea! I wonder how many users Amazon will need to participate in order to reach critical mass/adoption….another potential hurdle will be whether or not those receiving one’s request for feedback actually give it.
One second thought maybe another reason to be glued to our phones is not such a great idea…
It really depends on the category and peoples’ buying criteria. Personally I wish I could consult other reviewers rather than friends. And ideally ones that have like products that I’ve like as well, especially when it comes to apparel and footwear, where body shape and fit are really important attributes.
Imagine if you go to your favorite shoe brand’s site and see a list of products that was rated 5 stars by people who rated products you already own 5 stars. Amazon already has a lot of data on it’s reviewers – leveraging that data could be a ‘social shopping’ differentiator for them.