01-05-2026
It’s been 12 years since the hours humans have spent playing Call of Duty surpassed the time humankind has existed on the earth. Gamers, Kaggle users, and Discord communities spend millions of hours interacting with strangers yearly, and they’re influencing each other’s consumer behavior online.
Researchers have documented the influence of interactions, but new research from Wooyong Jo (Purdue’s Daniels School), Sarang Sunder (Indiana University), Jeonghye Choi (Yonsei University), and Minakshi Trivedi (Texas Christian University) digs into why gamers respond to strangers. The findings offer product design and marketing managers a practical blueprint for turning brief digital encounters into engines of engagement and revenue. The study, set in a massive online game, reveals that even short, spontaneous interactions among strangers can drive real purchasing behavior — powered not by status rivalry, but by people’s tendency to learn from the visible choices of others.
People are shaped by social context, including what they observe online. Traditionally, marketing has focused on known ties like friends and family, but today, people may spend more than 10% of their day in interactive games or chat groups, meeting strangers and looking to them for social cues on how to thrive in the digital universe. Product designers and marketers can work together to maximize social influence, target the right users and connect them to the products they'll buy.
The study shows that peer influence is strongest among less experienced users, who look to others for cues when lacking certainty about product choices. Product managers can identify and segment these “newcomers” who are mirroring others’ purchases online as a confidence boost. Highly visible product placement of in-game, in-platform purchases is one subtle but effective method to accelerate adoption even without direct communication.
The study finds three core mechanisms drive peer effects:
Product designers and marketers should identify which mechanism is dominant in their category and tailor their strategies, either to emphasize product visibility for normative effects or facilitate knowledge-sharing informational influence.
Not all users respond equally; experience, expertise and demographic traits moderate peer influence. Research shows targeting receptive segments (less experienced, newer users) yields far stronger promotional results than broad campaigns. Understanding consumer profiles goes beyond demographics — expertise level within a product domain can be a better predictor of peer effect strength.
Platforms like TikTok, Discord and the metaverse should consider all forms of user interaction — even brief or anonymous — as potential catalysts for behavioral change. Mining user network data can uncover actionable moments to promote products. Features that make product use socially visible, integrate social “proof” or surface influential recommendations can measurably boost adoption.
The research underscores a crucial operational lever: Visibility fuels influence. When players see others using certain digital items — even without exchanging a word — they are more likely to buy those same items themselves.
“Even without explicit communication, simply making the use of certain in-game items more visible can stimulate interest and adoption among other players,” Jo emphasizes.
Product design should prioritize features and updates that make peer activity and purchase patterns immediately noticeable to users. This could mean prominent display of recent purchases, popular items, or usage highlights within the interface, ensuring that mere observation translates into social learning.
Marketers may want to remember that not everyone is equally influenced by their peers. The study’s simulation found targeting specific users delivers the greatest return on promotional investments.
“We found that targeting the subgroup of users who are more receptive to peer effects — such as less experienced or newer users — led to much stronger promotional performance than applying a broad, undifferentiated targeting strategy,” says Jo.
Peer influence in e-commerce is not just about known relationships; it’s about finding opportunities in digital happenstance and visibility to tip consumer decisions. By understanding these dynamics and embedding them into strategy, product designers and marketers can drive actionable, measurable business growth online.
