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Energy Savings Trust

UK consumers believe in adverts with statistics and evidence more than those backed by celebrities, says Ipsos Mori report

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By Gillian West | Social media manager

January 7, 2014 | 2 min read

Evidence and statistics are key to increasing consumer trust in advertising, with nearly six in 10 claiming this is the best way for advertisers to build belief amongst their target audience.

An Ipsos Mori survey of more than 2,000 consumers, commissioned by the Energy Saving Trust, revealed that 57 per cent of consumers liked to see statistics in advertising to substantiate claims, with 41 per cent claiming that third party support and verification from a trusted organisations impacted on their desire to believe advertising.

Despite brands fondness for celebrity endorsements, just one per cent of respondents said star backing would increase their belief in a product’s advertising.

The results also found consumers to be largely cynical of advertising claims with nearly half (48 per cent) of those surveyed stating that they only trusted advertising claims ‘some of the time’, with four in 10 (38 per cent) professing that they ‘never’ or ‘seldom’ trusted advertising.

Phillip Sellwood, chief executive at the Energy Saving Trust, said: “Clearly advertisers in the UK are suffering from an increasingly skeptical audience. The good news is that there are opportunities for organisations to start building trust with the UK public through their advertising and wider marketing.

"Our survey showed that statistics or evidence was by far and away the best way to increase public trust in any advertising claims. Having supporting statistics and evidence in advertising is just one of the ways to ensure consumers are getting accurate claims about any products or services.”

In addition to statistics and third party backing, personal experience was found to have an impact on consumer trust, with 11 per cent rating word-of-mouth as an important factor in whether or not they believed advertising.

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