Peer Index Marketing: Targeting Influencers in the Audience

Marketers have long believed that some customers have a disproportionate influence on others when it comes to purchase decisions, and they have tried different strategies to identify and target those customers. Indeed McKinsey & Co. reckons 20-50 percent of purchases involve a peer reference.

Recently academics have confirmed this contagion does happen. There are customers who are opinion leaders, and they tend to bring other customers with them.

The marketing community is clearly interested in these individuals. For example, the pharma industry dedicates, by some counts, 20 percent of marketing budgets to peer influence marketing. However, for many other sectors, the practical challenges of mass influencer targeting dissuade them from investing significantly in the area.