All checked claims

106 entries (72 stat checks, 34 reference facts) · 21 unsourced · 14 misquoted · 23 outdated · 48 verified

• Misquoted confidence: highInfluencer marketing returns $5.78 for every $1 spentOrigin: Influencer Marketing Hub, 2020 (2019 data)
• Outdated confidence: highBusinesses make $6.50 for every $1 spent on influencer marketingOrigin: Tomoson, 2015
• Outdated confidence: highEmail marketing returns $36 for every $1 spentOrigin: Litmus, 2020
• Misquoted confidence: high92% of consumers trust influencers, UGC or word of mouth more than adsOrigin: Nielsen, 2012 (fieldwork 2011)
• Misquoted confidence: high61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations vs 38% for brandsOrigin: Matter Communications, 2020
• Unsourced confidence: highThe average person sees 4,000–10,000 ads a dayOrigin: None — traced to a 2006 CBS interview quote, 2005–2007 (myth); real counts 1968–2014
• Unsourced confidence: highHuman attention span is 8 seconds, shorter than a goldfish's 9Origin: None — Microsoft Canada (2015) cited the website Statistic Brain, 2015
• Unsourced confidence: mediumProspects need 7 touches before they buy (the Rule of 7)Origin: Jeffrey Lant (book, 1990) — rule of thumb, not a study, 1990
• Unsourced confidence: highViewers retain 95% of a message in video vs 10% in textOrigin: Insivia (agency), late 2000s
• Misquoted confidence: highA 5% increase in customer retention increases profits by 25–95%Origin: Reichheld & Schefter, Bain & Company / HBR, 2000
• Unsourced confidence: highAcquiring a new customer costs 5–25x more than retaining oneOrigin: None — HBR (2014) cites no specific study, 2014
• Unsourced confidence: mediumContent marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates 3x as many leadsOrigin: Demand Metric (infographic, not a study), 2013
• Misquoted confidence: highBusinesses make $2 (or $8) for every $1 spent on Google AdsOrigin: Google Economic Impact methodology, 2009 model, still used
• Outdated confidence: highB2B buyers are 57% through the purchase decision before talking to salesOrigin: CEB Marketing Leadership Council (with Google), 2012
• Verified confidence: highUS creator economy ad spend reaches $37B in 2025Origin: IAB, 2025
• Unsourced confidence: mediumColor increases brand recognition by 80%Origin: Xerox marketing leaflet (2001/2005), attributed to Loyola University Maryland researchers, 2001 (leaflet)
• Unsourced confidence: mediumEvery 100ms of latency cost Amazon 1% of salesOrigin: Greg Linden (ex-Amazon) blog post and slides, 2006, about a pre-2002 A/B test, 2006 (anecdote about pre-2002 test)
• Verified confidence: mediumUsers form an opinion about your website in 50 milliseconds (0.05 s)Origin: Lindgaard, Fernandes, Dudek & Brown (Carleton University), 2006
• Outdated confidence: high88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendationsOrigin: BrightLocal, 2014
• Unsourced confidence: highPeople are 4x more likely to buy when referred by a friend (Nielsen)Origin: None. The Nielsen release usually cited does not contain it, 2009 (cited source)
• Outdated confidence: highPersonalized emails deliver 6x higher transaction ratesOrigin: Experian Marketing Services, 2014 (2013 data)
• Outdated confidence: mediumWord of mouth drives 13% of consumer sales ($6 trillion)Origin: Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), analysis by Analytic Partners, 2014
• Unsourced confidence: mediumConsumers are 71% more likely to purchase based on social media referralsOrigin: HubSpot blog post with a Killer Infographics graphic; no study named in the post text, 2012
• Outdated confidence: mediumMillennials trust user-generated content 50% more than other mediaOrigin: Crowdtap with Ipsos MediaCT, 2014
• Unsourced confidence: highThe brain processes visuals 60,000 times faster than textOrigin: 3M sales brochure (2001) and a 1998 3M presentation, 2001 (brochure)
• Misquoted confidence: high80% of sales require 5 follow-upsOrigin: Long Island chapter of the National Sales Executives Association (now SMEI), 1942
• Outdated confidence: highText messages have a 98% open rateOrigin: Mobilesquared (for SinglePoint), 2010
• Misquoted confidence: highOnly 7% of communication is words (7-38-55 rule)Origin: Albert Mehrabian (UCLA), 1967
• Unsourced confidence: medium75% of users never scroll past the first page of search resultsOrigin: HubSpot slide deck (2010) citing marketshare.hitslink.com, 2010
• Outdated confidence: high53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes over 3 seconds to loadOrigin: Google / DoubleClick, 2016 (March 2016 data)
• Misquoted confidence: medium89% of companies compete primarily on customer experience (Gartner)Origin: Gartner, 2014
• Outdated confidence: medium49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendationsOrigin: Twitter with Annalect, 2016
• Misquoted confidence: high70% of teens trust YouTubers more than traditional celebritiesOrigin: Google (Ipsos Connect, Google-commissioned), 2015 (Nov 2015 fieldwork)
• Outdated confidence: high80% of consumers are more likely to buy when brands offer personalized experiencesOrigin: Epsilon (with GBH Insights), 2018 (2017 survey)
• Unsourced confidence: highPeople remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear…Origin: D. G. Treichler (Mobil Oil employee), Film and Audio-Visual Communications magazine, 1967
• Outdated confidence: highInbound leads cost 61% less than outbound leadsOrigin: HubSpot, 2012 (Jan 2012 survey)
• Outdated confidence: mediumCompanies that blog get 55% more website visitorsOrigin: HubSpot, 2009
• Unsourced confidence: mediumVideo on a landing page increases conversions by 80%Origin: Attributed to an EyeView case study; no data published, c. 2013
• Unsourced confidence: medium93% of online experiences begin with a search engineOrigin: Attributed to 'Forrester 2006' or imForza; no report found, 2006 (claimed)
• Outdated confidence: highAmericans check their phones 96 times a dayOrigin: Asurion, 2019
• Verified confidence: highAbout 70% of online shopping carts are abandonedOrigin: Baymard Institute, 2026 (rolling)
• Outdated confidence: highThe #1 Google result gets 31.7% of clicksOrigin: Backlinko and ClickFlow, 2019
• Outdated confidence: highInfluencer fraud costs brands $1.3 billion a yearOrigin: CHEQ with University of Baltimore economist Roberto Cavazos, 2019
• Outdated confidence: high80% of B2B leads from social media come from LinkedInOrigin: Oktopost, 2014
• Unsourced confidence: highOnly 3% of your market is ready to buy right nowOrigin: Chet Holmes (The Ultimate Sales Machine), 2007 (book)
• Unsourced confidence: high90% of information transmitted to the brain is visualOrigin: Eric Jensen, Brain-Based Learning (book), 1996
• Verified confidence: mediumUsers read only about 20% of the words on a web pageOrigin: Nielsen Norman Group (Jakob Nielsen), 2008
• Verified confidence: highA 30-second Super Bowl ad costs about $8 millionOrigin: NBCUniversal (as reported by Sports Business Journal), 2026
• Misquoted confidence: highRepeat customers spend 67% more than new customersOrigin: Bain & Company with Mainspring, c. 2000
• Verified confidence: mediumThe influencer marketing industry is worth about $32.55 billion (2025)Origin: Influencer Marketing Hub, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact84% of U.S. adults use YouTube (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact71% of U.S. adults use Facebook (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factHalf of U.S. adults use Instagram (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact37% of U.S. adults use TikTok (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact26% of U.S. adults use Reddit and 32% use WhatsApp (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factAbout a quarter (24%) of Americans are daily TikTok users; about half visit Facebook and YouTube every day (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factAbout nine in ten U.S. teens use YouTube; about six in ten use TikTok and Instagram (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factAbout one in five U.S. teens say they are on TikTok and YouTube 'almost constantly' (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact91% of U.S. adults own a smartphone (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact96% of U.S. adults use the internet (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact34% of U.S. adults have used ChatGPT (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factGoogle users clicked a result link on 8% of visits with an AI summary vs 15% without (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact38% of U.S. adults regularly get news on Facebook, 35% on YouTube and 20% on TikTok (Pew, 2025)Origin: Pew Research Center, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factE-commerce was 17.1% of U.S. retail sales in Q2 2026 (Census Bureau)Origin: U.S. Census Bureau, 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference factU.S. digital (internet) ad revenue was $294.6B in 2025, up 13.9% (IAB/PwC)Origin: IAB / PwC, 2026 (2025 data)
• Verified confidence: high · reference factU.S. social media ad revenue was $117.7B in 2025, and search was $114.2B (IAB/PwC)Origin: IAB / PwC, 2026 (2025 data)
• Verified confidence: high · reference factU.S. podcast ad revenue was $2.9B in 2025, up 17.6% (IAB/PwC)Origin: IAB / PwC, 2026 (2025 data)
• Verified confidence: high · reference factThe FTC's maximum civil penalty is $53,088 per violation, unchanged for 2026Origin: Federal Trade Commission, 2025 (amount); 2026 (no-change notice)
• Verified confidence: high · reference factEach email that violates CAN-SPAM can cost up to $53,088 in penaltiesOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2023 (guide); amount current for 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference factCAN-SPAM applies to B2B email too, not only bulk email to consumersOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2023
• Verified confidence: high · reference factUnder CAN-SPAM you must honor an opt-out within 10 business daysOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2023
• Verified confidence: high · reference factAn influencer disclosure only in the bio or profile page is not enough for the FTCOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2023
• Verified confidence: high · reference factFree or discounted products count as a 'material connection' that influencers must discloseOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2019
• Verified confidence: high · reference factThe FTC says 'sp', 'spon' and 'collab' are not clear disclosures; '#ad', 'ad' or 'sponsored' areOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2019
• Verified confidence: high · reference factRelying only on a platform's built-in 'paid partnership' tool may not satisfy the FTCOrigin: Federal Trade Commission, 2023
• Verified confidence: high · reference factThe FTC's rule banning fake reviews and fake social-media influence indicators took effect Oct. 21, 2024Origin: Federal Trade Commission, 2024
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact58% of Americans 12+ consumed a podcast in the last month (Edison Infinite Dial 2026)Origin: Edison Research at SSRS (with SiriusXM Media), 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact81% of Americans 12+ listened to online audio in the last month (Edison Infinite Dial 2026)Origin: Edison Research at SSRS (with SiriusXM Media), 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference factMeta's apps had 3.60 billion daily active people on average in June 2026Origin: Meta Platforms, 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference factGoogle handles more than 5 trillion searches a year (Google, 2025)Origin: Google, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact15% of Google searches every day have never been searched beforeOrigin: Google, 2025
• Verified confidence: high · reference factMarketing budgets average 7.8% of company revenue in 2026 (Gartner CMO Spend Survey)Origin: Gartner, 2026
• Verified confidence: high · reference factCMOs allocate 15.3% of marketing budgets to AI (Gartner, 2026)Origin: Gartner, 2026
• Outdated confidence: high58.5% of U.S. Google searches end without a clickOrigin: SparkToro (data from Datos, a Semrush company), 2024
• Misquoted confidence: highSearch engine volume has dropped 25% because of AI chatbots (Gartner)Origin: Gartner, 2024 (prediction)
• Outdated confidence: high71% of consumers expect personalization and 76% get frustrated without it (McKinsey)Origin: McKinsey & Company, 2021
• Outdated confidence: mediumPersonalization drives a 10–15% revenue lift (McKinsey)Origin: McKinsey & Company, 2021
• Misquoted confidence: highThe creator economy is worth $480 billionOrigin: Goldman Sachs Research, 2023 (forecast for 2027)
• Unsourced confidence: mediumThere are 50 million creators worldwideOrigin: None found — repeated by Goldman Sachs Research (2023) without a method, 2023 (repeated figure)
• Verified confidence: mediumAI Overviews reduce clicks to the top result by 34.5% (Ahrefs)Origin: Ahrefs, 2025
• Verified confidence: medium96.55% of web pages get no traffic from Google (Ahrefs)Origin: Ahrefs, 2023
• Outdated confidence: mediumA 0.1-second faster mobile site lifts retail conversions 8.4% (Deloitte)Origin: Deloitte (commissioned by Google), 2020 (2019 data)
• Verified confidence: lowA site that loads in 1 second converts 3x better than one that loads in 5 seconds (Portent)Origin: Portent, 2022
• Verified confidence: mediumOnly 5% of B2B buyers are in-market at any time; 95% are not (the 95-5 rule)Origin: LinkedIn B2B Institute with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Undated page (B2B Institute)
• Verified confidence: mediumThe median landing page conversion rate is 6.6% (Unbounce)Origin: Unbounce, 2024
• Outdated confidence: highThe average email open rate is 35.63% (Mailchimp)Origin: Mailchimp, 2023 (data as of December 2023)
• Verified confidence: mediumExtra costs (shipping, tax, fees) are the top reason shoppers abandon carts (Baymard)Origin: Baymard Institute, 2026 (rolling page)
• Misquoted confidence: medium40% of Gen Z use TikTok and Instagram instead of Google for searchOrigin: Google (remark by SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, reported by TechCrunch), 2022
• Misquoted confidence: high50% of all searches will be voice searches by 2020 (comScore)Origin: Andrew Ng (then Baidu chief scientist), interview in Fast Company, 2014 (prediction)
• Unsourced confidence: mediumOne minute of video is worth 1.8 million words (Forrester)Origin: Attributed to James McQuivey (Forrester Research), 'How Video Will Take Over The World' (not public; we could not open it), Undated (attributed Forrester report)
• Unsourced confidence: mediumFor every customer who complains, 26 others stay silentOrigin: None found — attributed to 'Lee Resource Inc' or 'TARP Research 1999', Undated (claimed 1999 or earlier)
• Unsourced confidence: mediumGoogle processes 8.5 billion searches per dayOrigin: None from Google — third-party estimate repeated in roundups, c. 2022
• Verified confidence: medium91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (Wyzowl 2026)Origin: Wyzowl, 2026
• Verified confidence: low82% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI (Wyzowl 2026)Origin: Wyzowl, 2026
• Outdated confidence: high75% of B2B buyers prefer a rep-free sales experience (Gartner)Origin: Gartner, 2023
• Verified confidence: high · reference fact73% of B2B buyers actively avoid suppliers who send irrelevant outreach (Gartner, 2025)Origin: Gartner, 2025 (2024 survey)