Half of Influencer Shoppers Regret a Purchase. Trust Is Still Rising Anyway

Influencers are becoming more trusted at the exact moment buyers are admitting how often that trust goes wrong. A Morning Consult survey for Business Insider found that 62 percent of Gen Z adults and 64 percent of millennials trust influencers. Yet half of the people who had purchased because of a creator said they regretted at least one of those purchases. The contradiction is not proof that influence has collapsed. It shows how quickly credibility can be spent.

The survey was conducted September 23 and 24 among 2,003 U.S. adults. Nearly half of Gen Z respondents said they often or sometimes buy products because of influencers, and the figure reached 52 percent among millennials. Creators are also becoming a news source, with 64 percent of Gen Z and 61 percent of millennials saying they get news from them. That places product advice and public information inside the same relationship.

Creators increasingly shape product discovery, but audiences still want clearer disclosure and more useful recommendations. Image: Solomon203 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Trust in a creator is not the same as satisfaction with every recommendation. A viewer may believe someone is generally honest and still buy a product that does not suit their skin, budget or lifestyle. The regret can come from an overpromised result, an impulse purchase or a discount code that created urgency. It can also come from assuming a creator’s personal experience will transfer perfectly to thousands of different people.

Disclosure is where audiences see the clearest gap. The survey found 69 percent of adults believe paid promotions should be disclosed, but only about one in four think influencers do so consistently. Clear labels do not automatically make a recommendation untrustworthy. They give viewers the context needed to evaluate it. A paid relationship, gifted product or affiliate commission can shape how a post is framed even when every sentence is sincere.

That makes influencer disclosure rules more than a legal box. A label placed after a long caption or hidden among hashtags may technically exist without helping anyone understand the relationship. Strong creators identify the material connection before the sales pitch, explain how long they used the product and name any limitation that would affect a buyer. The extra detail may reduce immediate conversions, but it protects the trust that future recommendations depend on.

The findings also explain why de-influencing became another sales pitch. Viewers responded to creators who openly said what was not worth buying, then brands and affiliates learned to use the same language to sell alternatives. The format did not fail because criticism was fake by definition. It became less useful when every “skip this” ended with another item in the cart. Audiences notice when honesty is only a new conversion style.

Smaller accounts are not automatically safer or more authentic. They may feel closer because comments receive replies and the creator’s life appears less produced. That intimacy can make a recommendation powerful, but it does not remove commercial incentives. Viewers should look for evidence: repeated use over time, specific strengths and weaknesses, comparisons with products the creator did not receive, and a disclosure that can be understood without pausing the video.

Creators can lower regret by narrowing their claims. “This worked for my dry skin in winter” is more useful than “everyone needs this.” Price should be stated early, especially when a product requires refills or a subscription. Beauty, fashion and wellness recommendations benefit from measurements, ingredient context and unedited views. A creator does not need to sound negative. They need to give a follower enough information to decide that a product is not for them.

Buyers can add a pause between entertainment and checkout. Save the product, compare the full price without a countdown and search for reviews from people with different needs. Ask whether the item solves a problem that existed before the video. A creator’s link can still be used later if the recommendation holds up. The goal is not to punish creators for earning money, but to separate a good story from a good purchase.

Influencer trust is rising because creators are useful, familiar and often faster than traditional media at showing how a product fits real life. Purchase regret is rising beside it because familiarity can feel like personal advice. The future belongs to creators who respect that difference. Disclosure, specificity and the freedom to say “do not buy this” will matter more than a perfect conversion rate. Trust can survive one disappointing product, but not a pattern of hidden incentives.