While there is plenty of evidence to show the impact of chambers of commerce on their communities, it is much harder to find data that quantify the impact of belonging to a chamber. This study, commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives with support from Small Business Network, Inc., is designed to do just that: determine the real value to companies in terms of consumer outcomes of joining and being active in their local chamber of commerce. Do consumers really support businesses because they are chamber members?
What makes the study unlike most, however, is that almost every question on it is part of one of several imbedded experiments. This means that respondents were randomly assigned to different groups at several points during the survey. Each group reads something slightly different—like a description of a company that changes only a little for each group—but then everyone is asked the same questions thereafter, regardless of which company description they just read. Therefore, when there are statistically significant differences in how different groups answered the same questions, we know exactly why it happened.
• Most consumers (59%) think that being active in the local chamber of commerce is an effective business strategy overall.
• It is 29% more effective, however, for communicating to consumers that a company uses good business practices and 26% more effective for communicating that a business is reputable.
• When consumers know that a restaurant franchise is a member of the chamber of commerce, they are 40% more likely to eat at the franchise in the next few months.
• When consumers know that an insurance company is a member of the chamber of commerce, they are 43% more likely to consider buying insurance from them.
• When consumers know that a small business is a member of the chamber of commerce, they are 44% more likely to think favorably of it and 63% more likely to purchase goods or services from the company in the future.
Click here to read the study in full.