Consumer research shows that for most products, there are a few influential product experts who drive the purchase behavior of almost everyone else. The challenge is learning who these experts are for your brand. Here’s a list of top six characteristics of influential product experts to help identify yours.

1. Credible
The word-of mouth receiver must trust the expert and believe that he or she really knows the product or service in question.

2. Use products on a daily basis
They have a strong familiarity with your brand and know the nuances of each product because they use them in their profession or are a part of their daily lives.

3. Right environment
Trusted networks have less reach but greater impact than those circulated through dispersed communities. A person with 300 friends on Facebook may happily ignore the advice of 290 of them. It’s the small, close-knit network of trusted friends that has the real influence.

4. Create word-of-mouth
Influentials typically generate three times more word-of-mouth messages than non-influentials do, and each message has four times more impact on a recipient’s purchasing decision (McKinsey Quarterly: A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing, April 201).

5. Willing to help
A true expert is willing to help and share their advice to help others find the best product for their needs.

6. Dependable
Influential product experts can always be counted on to give you feedback to make your products even better.

As my wallet can attest, when experts with these characteristics are involved in selling a brand, it leads to higher value, repeat sales. What characteristics do you look for?