For a quantitative research course at Vanderbilt, my team set out to answer a question the beauty industry: does Tarte’s high-budget influencer trip strategy actually move product, or does it just move the conversation? We designed a survey, collected consumer data, and ran it through SPSS to find out.
Our multiple regression analysis revealed that TikTok is the only social media platform that statistically predicts purchase behavior following an influencer trip, and we found a significant disconnect between brand interest and actual buying intent. Consumers who saw the #TrippinWithTarte content were more interested in Tarte, but that interest didn’t translate to a purchase, especially not one they attributed to the influencer content itself.
It sharpened how I think about the gap between awareness and conversion, and pushed me to get more comfortable with SPSS, Qualtrics, and presenting data-backed strategy to an audience.