Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Can Consumers do all the Work?

When making your purchasing decisions, are you more likely to buy a product if a brand tells you to or if a friend tells you to? 

Taking a guess here, but I am going to assume you answered friend. As consumers, we don't like to be shouted at by brands, rather we like to naturally make our own decisions. However, these decisions can be influenced by other consumers through word-of-mouth. Consumers can spot a paid ad from a mile away; we can tell when someone is being financially compensated to talk about how much they love a certain product. So on the flipside, we can also tell when a consumer is being genuine and willingly speaking about a product they love. While consumers will say whatever they want to say, brands can still have an influence on these words by energizing the base. Li & Bernoff explain energizing the base as "When political candidates get their supporters riled up and spreading the word". Similar to these candidates, brands can also implement strategies to get their consumers talking. 

One brand in particular that strongly values energizing the base and word-of-mouth is Zappos. Zappos most important aspect of their company is customer service; they know they if they have amazing customer service, this will get people talking about their brand in a very positive way. CEO Tony Hseih says they are a "customer service company that just happens to sell shoes." Zappos spends a lot of the money they would have spent on marketing, on customer service. Their philosophy is that if they invest money into the customer experience, the customers will do the marketing for them, and this has strongly worked in their favor, as word-of-mouth marketing and repeat customers have been their leading drivers of growth. 

Zappos is a perfect way of showing how "word-of-mouth marketing cannot be faked but it can be encouraged."

As we can see, consumers value and trust each other, we want to talk and listen to each other. And something that brands do not want to do, is spend money when they don't have to. A way that they can utilize consumers' voices while saving money is by creating communities so that the groundswell can support themselves. "Enable people to connect with each other, and they will, making life easier for both themselves and you." This is a genius element for brands to implement as it shows they care about customer satisfaction, however, they don't have to do the work. 


"Shopify is a user-friendly e-commerce platform that helps small businesses build an online store and sell online through one streamlined dashboard." This platform has become very popular as it is a very easy way for consumers to become sellers. This kind of platform leads to many questions and concerns, and users will need their questions answered quickly. Shopify has created a Shopify community on their website in the "Shopify discussions" tab. This is where users' concerns are divided into categories and within those, users can post their own questions, as well as answers to others. This is extremely helpful as users have access to direct communication with other users which can be even more helpful than direct communication to the brand. 



Sometimes, as we can see, consumers don't even have a specific question that needs a solution, they just want to bond over frustration. In other cases, they have a specific issue they need help with. 
Users who are replying to these questions are not receiving any form of compensation, they are just doing it because they care and want to be able to use their knowledge to help others. However, what they do gain from these interactions is a psychic income. They feel validated, important, and helpful, based on these shared common interests. Allowing users to support each other through these communities will "make them happier, save money, and will generate insights." 

Once these communities are established, brands can embrace the groundswell, and use it as a key component to product development. "Your customers are chomping at the bit to tell you what to do. They're both complaining about and praising your products on forums", as we can see with Shopify. Now that Shopify has a very engaged consumer audience, they now have the opportunity to use them as assistance in developing their product and service. They can do this by posting their own questions in these forums, similar to Gala Amoroso  with Del Monte. This will not only increase product quality, but it will also increase customer satisfaction bringing us back to word-of-mouth marketing. 

Brands have an extremely valuable resource right in the palm of their hands, but how they use it will determine their success. 

Has there ever been a brand you love so much it brings you to act like Jim Noble with eBags? 



Comments

  1. Hello Katy,
    I totally agree with you that we tend to believe in word of mouth recommendation more than the advertisement. To share my personal experience, there was spa and salon in my hometown. They were hospitable, clean and their service was fantastic. I always loved going there and had a good experience there that I couldn’t help but tell my cousins and loved ones about it. In fact, I even took some of them there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Katy, It is very true that word of mouth recommendations are often more important than official advertising. Some advertisments try to create artificial word of mouth by employing celebrities to endorse their product. Because we think we know celebrities more than strangers that familiarity creates reassurance with ourselves and the product. I think my favorite version of word of mouth marketing is when films get a cult following. The entire fandom of the room was completely through word of mouth and only had to do with how terrible the product was, and now it's one of the most famous films in the world. For me the company I try to spread postive buzz about is Cartoon Saloons. It's an irish animation studio which has made four films, all of which wer nominated for best animated feature and lost to disney or pixar despite them being so much better. Every time I meet someone also interested in film I hurl this recommendation at them because they really are one of the best and most unique animation studios out their and they get so little recognition.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Katy,
    I agree that word of mouth is such a powerful tool for marketing that many companies often forget. One of the best examples that I have recently come across that showcases this idea is the company "ILoveChamoy" who has gone viral on TikTok for not only their story but also due to the interactions they have with customers and taking customers feedback. I also believe that effective word of mouth marketing creates leads or sales. Word of mouth conversations can also be about negative aspects of a company or brand, having positive word of mouth conversations is crucial to generating revenue rather than loss.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Katy,
    I agree that word-of-mouth marketing from family and friends is powerful. Most of the time, I purchase items that my friends or relatives have used for a while and have positive things to say about the brand. In contrast, I am skeptical when companies say that their products are the best. My skepticism comes from the self-interests because manufacturers or service providers will always say their products are the best, even when evidence to the contrary exists. Besides family and friends, I read online reviews to see what customers are saying. Although product reviews are not always believable, they give valuable information to consumers. However, I concur that brands should not rely entirely on word-of-mouth marketing in the groundswell. Companies should be proactive and market their products as much as possible.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment