Word-of-Mouth

Graphics courtesy of UserGuidingOpens in new window A growing number of companies are trying to attract new customers through word-of-mouth (WOM) influence, also known as buzz. Word-of-mouth can be defined as follows:

WOM has been shown to influence receivers’ knowledge, emotions, intentions and behaviors, and because of its apparent separation from commercial influence is regarded as independent and trustworthy.

Brands such as Body Shop, Amazon.com, YouTube.com and Krispy KremeOpens in new window owe much of their success to WOM. Marketers can promote WOM by identifying and sponsoring opinion formers such as radio show hosts or bloggers.

Giving people something to talk about is a high priority for buzz marketers — this includes ads, slogans and product innovations that are high in conversational value and capture people’s attention and interest. An example of Budweiser’s use of “Whassup?” in its TV commercials — the expression caught on in everyday communication.

A number of agencies, such as Buzzador, Soup and Fizz now offer WOM marketing services. Typically, they maintain a panel of members who agree to sample new products, share them with friends and talk about them.

Brand owners contract these agencies to kick-start word-of-mouth. Sometimes, brand owners take a simple multiplicative approach to computing the effects of a WOM Marketing (WOMM) campaign. They assume that if 200 campaign participants each tell 15 people and each of those tells a further 5 people, then the campaign has reached 15,000 people. However, there is evidence that transitivity of social ties constrains campaign reach.

The more ties there are between members of a social network, the more transitive it is. Groeger and Buttle found that 21 pecent of all WOMM campaign-related conversations were multiple exposures – i.e. the conversation was with someone who had already been told about the campaign.