Data Collection for Research on Impact of Cosmetic Influencer Marketing on Purchase Intentions
An overview:
Shadma Tamanna, research scholar at Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi (JMI – New Delhi), led the academic research on effect of social media cosmetic influencer marketing on consumer purchase intentions. The researcher’s academic focus involves social media advertisements, consumer psychology, and influencers. Through survey-based primary research method, the researcher wanted to explore the role of cosmetic influencer’s credibility and content on purchase behaviour of their followers.
The Context: Why Studying the Impact of Cosmetic Influencer Marketing Matters
Social media influencer marketing is a marketing approach in which an online personality shapes consumers’ attitudes through tweets, posts, blogs, or any other formats of communication on their social media channels.
In the current landscape of digital marketing, social media influencers have gained prominence due to their specialized expertise and knowledge of various niches. An increasing array of brands now harness the power of micro-celebrities, encompassing travel bloggers, food enthusiasts, beauty and fashion connoisseurs, and more, to effectively promote their products and services
While much of research on cosmetic influencer marketing and its impact on purchase intentions exists globally, India lacks region-specific behavioral data from real, everyday users. The goal of this research was to fill that gap — by capturing insights directly from Indian social media users across age, geography, and purchase habits.
The researcher wanted to understand:
Do participants really follow and stay updated with the content & promotions their favorite influencer post?
What kind of content users perceive as trustworthy?
How influencer marketing impacts purchase intentions?
Whether demographics or digital literacy levels affect purchase behaviour?
Challenges in Online Survey Data Collection on Cosmetic Influencer Marketing
The researcher faced the most common hurdle while conducting this social media research – how to reach hundreds of real female Indian social media users across diverse age groups. A single source that can enable collection of reliable, fast, and authentic survey data.
During our initial conversations, the researcher mentioned some of the challenges faced by scholars working in the same field:
- Limited reach
- Non-availability of female participants
- Low completion rates
- Concerns over data integrity
Traditional panels were either too expensive, lacked the granular Indian targeting needed, or involved complex onboarding processes.
That’s when the researcher discovered ThinkSurvey.
Why the Researcher Chose ThinkSurvey for Data Collection
ThinkSurvey stood out for three reasons:
- India-specific participant pool – Spread across tier1, tier2 & tier 3 cities
- Rapid turnaround – High-quality responses delivered in under 10 days
- Academic research alignment – Used by multiple research scholars and faculties
Unlike generic survey platforms, Jamia Milia Islamia University researchers trust data collection services by ThinkSurvey, as it is built for Indian academic researchers. The researcher appreciated the supportive onboarding, flexible targeting, and transparency in response quality.
“I had a good experience with this platform and will approach them in future too. Work sincerity and timely delivery sets them apart.” Shadma Tamanna
Research Design & Methodology
ThinkSurvey took up the task. We created the questionnaire on our platform, applied the demographics filters mentioned by the researcher and commenced the online survey data collection. The researcher also captured – which social media platform is used, frequency of usage, and which cosmetic influencer is followed by the participants.
The survey on cosmetic influencer marketing focused on several key variables like – expertise, trustworthiness, quality of content, and attractiveness of influencer; plus consumers’ willingness to search for more information about the product in the post/video, product knowledge and purchase intention.
The respondent profile required:
- Female participants only – active social media users
- Should follow any cosmetic influencer on social media site
- Balanced representation of age groups (18–40 years), and cities
ThinkSurvey collaborated to ensure precise participant screening and incentivized completion without biasing results.
The Final Outcome
ThinkSurvey successfully delivered 132 responses from female participants only, in less than 3 days. All the participants mentioned a total of 95 unique influencers when asked to list one or two of their favorite social media cosmetic influencers whose pages/channels they visit and follow regularly.
This social media research study unveiled significant insights that cosmetic influencer credibility, driven by trustworthiness and content quality, significantly impacts purchase intentions. Product knowledge acts as a mediator, connecting credibility and willingness to search for more information to purchase intentions.
