The participation economy is the idea that customers, visitors and fans create value through more than purchases. They recommend places, contribute useful content, help others choose, return, and bring people into a community. The research below does not prove that one platform causes all those outcomes. It does show why a business or destination should measure them separately and design a practical route from contribution to customer value.
Last reviewed: November 2026. This page uses direct links to the organisations that produced the studies. The studies cover different years, markets and methods; their percentages should not be added together or treated as a forecast for one program.
See the system in practice: Start with what the participation economy means, then follow the Loop operating system guide for regions, businesses and creators.
What the evidence says at a glance
| Finding | Original source | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| 88% of global respondents most trusted recommendations from people they knew. | Nielsen 2021 Trust in Advertising Study, covering 56 countries. | Word of mouth is trusted; this is not a measured referral conversion rate. |
| 94% of surveyed US adults were open to writing a review, and 69% had written one in the preceding 12 months. | BrightLocal 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, 1,002 respondents. | Customers may contribute feedback, but review requests must follow each platform's rules. |
| 61% of surveyed travellers found trip ideas on social platforms, up from 35% in 2022; 73% said influencer recommendations had influenced a booking decision. | Expedia Group 2025 Traveler Value Index, more than 11,000 consumers in 11 markets. | Creators and social content influence planning. Self-reported influence is not the same as an attributed sale. |
| 71% of surveyed travellers said video influenced travel decisions, compared with 24% for static images in the study. | Expedia Group, Science of Wanderlust, research released in 2025. | Useful creator and visitor video can help discovery; test the formats that suit your destination. |
| 86% of surveyed shoppers engaged with creator content before buying. | Bazaarvoice Shopper Experience Index Vol. 18, more than 8,000 shoppers across seven markets, research conducted in 2024. | Creator content can be part of the decision journey; it does not prove a specific uplift for every retailer. |
| 29% of surveyed consumers said they had stopped buying from a brand because of poor online or in-person customer experience. | PwC 2025 Customer Experience Survey, US consumers. | Participation works best when the underlying experience is good. |
| In McKinsey's analysis, active loyalty members spent 10% more than enrolled but inactive members; redeemers spent 25% more. | McKinsey, Next in Loyalty. | Look beyond signups to activation and redemption. Observed differences do not establish causation. |
Recommendations carry trust, but attribution requires more work
Nielsen's trust study is often quoted as a reason to invest in referral marketing. Its actual result concerns perceived trust in recommendations from people respondents know. A business can use that insight to make recommendations easy to share, but it still needs to observe what happened next. A referral link clicked, a form submitted, a reservation confirmed and a first purchase are four distinct events.
For a café, a referral might bring someone who becomes a weekly regular. For a hotel, the same recommendation may lead to a booking several months later and through a different channel. A DMO or BID may see a visitor explore a second business even when the final purchase occurs in a merchant's system. Agree on what counts as a referral before reporting results.
A credible report includes the number of people invited, the number who accepted, the number who took a useful action and the number of confirmed transactions where those can be measured. Compare the quality and cost of referred customers with other sources over the same period. See partner marketing and coalition loyalty for ways businesses can recommend one another.
Reviews are participation, but a reward cannot buy a Google review
BrightLocal's 2026 US survey suggests that many consumers are willing to write a business review, especially when asked. A review can help a future customer judge whether a restaurant, attraction or service fits their needs. Recency, detail and consistency matter alongside the average rating.
Review participation must be separated from paid or incentivized public ratings. Google Maps' user-generated content policy prohibits incentives in exchange for posting, changing or removing a review. Ask for honest reviews without offering a reward or asking only happy customers. A program can reward other eligible actions, such as verified visits or rights-cleared content, while keeping public review requests independent.
A DMO or BID can also collect direct feedback about a trail or event. Private feedback can identify confusing instructions, missing accessibility details or a booking handoff that fails. Report a survey response, a public review and an approved piece of content as different types of contribution.
Creator content can connect discovery to a trip
Expedia Group's 2025 traveller research shows the importance of social discovery and creator recommendations. Yet an inspirational post still leaves the traveller with practical questions: where to stay, what is open, what fits the dates and how to book. Destinations can work with creators to answer those questions through a route, itinerary or local collection that points to real operators.
A cycling creator, for example, can explain route difficulty, equipment, season and food stops in a way a generic listing rarely can. The destination can contribute current local information and participating businesses. A visitor can save the route and take a booking action. The creator may invite fans into a club with appropriate participation rewards. Those are potential components of a partnership, not outcomes guaranteed by the Expedia survey. See the destination and creator partnership guide for the operating model.
When reporting such a campaign, distinguish content reach, itinerary views, plans saved, business profile views, booking links clicked and reservations confirmed. Record which metrics came from a creator channel, the destination site or a booking partner. The connected region guide explains where trip planning, bookings and rewards fit in that sequence.
Activity matters more than a member count
McKinsey's comparison of active, redeeming and inactive loyalty members suggests that joining alone is a weak measure of value. A meaningful program gives someone a first action, shows progress and offers a reward that fits the experience. That could be a second visit to a small business, a check-in at a lesser-known district stop, an approved photo from a trip or participation in a creator fan club.
Members who already favour a business may be more likely to participate, so observed spending differences should not be sold as proof that points caused an increase. Use a baseline or comparison group where possible. For a single venue, track first visit, second visit, reward redemption, repeat spend and referral. For a district, add cross-visitation between members. For a creator, include fan activation, direct purchases and partner actions.
Loop's Yarra Valley Pass report offers a first-party example of early regional participation measures. Its reported pilot indicators should be cited with the pilot's scope and period; they should not be turned into a generic industry benchmark. The case study summary explains what was observed and what still needed measurement.
How to measure a participation program honestly
- State the objective. A program intended to disperse visitors should not be judged only by signups. A booking program needs a confirmed-booking metric where available.
- Define each action. A visit, a QR check-in, an itinerary save, a referral and a sale each require a clear rule.
- Record the denominator. Show how many eligible people saw the invitation before reporting an activation percentage.
- Separate claims from observations. Surveyed influence, site clicks and verified transactions are different evidence.
- Include partners. Ask businesses whether the activity brought them new or returning customers, then identify whether that answer is self-reported.
- State limits. If a booking happened on an external provider and no confirmation returned, report the outbound click rather than claiming a sale.
- Include costs. Software, rewards, staffing, creator fees and promotion all affect the return.
For a small business, start with the business journey hub and the Loyalty & Rewards product. For a region or BID, see Digital Passports and the AI Trip Planner. For a creator, see the fan community hub. Each route can start small and grow as measured participation makes the next step worthwhile.
Turn research into a testable participation plan
Start with one action that matters to the organization and feels worthwhile to the participant. A region might test verified business visits; a restaurant might test referrals and repeat reservations; a creator might test a paid membership benefit. Record the eligible audience, the people who actually took the action, the cost of any reward and what happened afterward. A sign-up total alone cannot show whether an action changed behavior.
Before using third-party statistics in a pitch, write down the gap between the published study and your own situation. An international travel survey can reveal a planning habit, but your local visitor mix may differ. A review survey can demonstrate influence, but incentivized Google reviews violate platform policy. Use the evidence to choose what to test, then publish your own results with the denominator, time period and limitations visible.
Sources and limitations
This article links directly to the original Nielsen, BrightLocal, Expedia Group, Bazaarvoice, PwC and McKinsey publications beside their findings. The sources vary in geography, fieldwork date, sample and question wording. Most findings are surveys or observed relationships. None is a controlled test of Loop Fans or a guarantee that a specific business, destination or creator will see the same result.