Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Why is 'word of mouth' gaining interest?

WOM, or Word-of-mouth used to be the old method of spreading information. Then along came technology...

.... and I don't mean the Internet. I mean the printing press, then everything else afterward (which has been accepted by consumers in increasingly quicker timescales)

But now, with social media, we are seeing a shift back to WOM and WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing). But just who do consumers listen to for references and recommendations? Well suprisingly its not just their online friends.. its their real ones!

According to a Mintel report this month, 34% of US Internet users who bought a product or service based on a recommendation got the information from a friend or relative, and a quarter got it from a spouse or partner. However only 5% of respondents bought something based on the recommendation of a blogger or someone from an Internet chat room.

Chris Haack, senior analyst at Mintel said
“Young adults are somewhat more likely to turn to the Internet for advice and referrals, but even they listen to their peers first.

So whilst the modern methods of Word of Mouth via social media are rapidly gaining interest, we shouldn't forget how powerful human-to-human contact is.

2 comments:

Sean said...

It's the old story, if people get a bargain, they tell their friends. If they get ripped off, they tell everyone. Whilst business can control what they do to "kick start" the word of mouth effect, it's amazing how much it relies on customer service and quality being "right first time".

Time and time again our social networking tells us that it's word of mouth that's doing the selling (as well as the physical branding generating awareness.)

Hayden said...

Sean
Whilst you're right that word of mouth is responsible for amplifying the negative feelings by far more than the positive sentiment, modern (digital) media makes it possible to tell not just everyone you know, but everyone you could know.
This is a powerful lesson than many brands have learnt recently, but more have yet to experience.
H