Bite-Sized Insights: Over 500 Contacts in an Average Parent's Network

For this week’s bite-sized insights question, we were keen to get an idea of how wide a parent’s network is. We know parents have lots of different types of friends, colleagues etc., so we asked them to tell us how many people they know from each of several named categories. Take a quick read of this week’s bite-sized insights to find out what parents are saying about their network size.

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We asked our Insights panel of parents to tell us about their contact networks across categories. Here are some insights we found from their answers:

560 is the average number of people in a parent’s network
The smallest parent network we surveyed still had around 120 members
The largest network was close to 1000
30% of parents said they have 50+ contacts on social media

If you had a good or bad experience with any product or service, how many people roughly do you think you would tell? Comments from our panel members included:

“If it’s a good product or service, I’d inform my whole network via WhatsApp, social media, gym, work colleagues etc. – if it’s a bad experience, I would tell less or only those who it’s relevant to.”

“Majority of family friends. I believe it’s true that if you have a bad experience you will tell more people than if you had a good experience.”

“I am more likely to tell people about a really bad experience and depending on what it is, probably between 10 and 30 people. For a good experience, I will tell around 10 people or more if they are asking for advice.”

“Relevant people. If it’s a child related, would probably mention it to parents of same age group.”

“Depending on the product/service, on average 10-20 people. However if it was really excellent/awful, it could be double.”

Reflections for Parent and Family Brands:

With an average network of 560 people, parents should not be underestimated in the power of their reach. How are you impressing them to share their experiences with their network?
Social media contacts is the 2nd highest on the list with 30% of parents citing 50+ contacts. Are you making it easy for parents to share your brand on social media?
Parents don’t just talk to other parents but to their wider network about their good and bad experiences. When marketing to this cohort it is important to remember that parents’ networks are wide and diverse and can influence beyond the parent-only space.
Gathering insights from parents about what would make them recommend your brand, product or service is critical so that you can optimise your marketing and communications. We can help.