In the last post we started our series on word of mouth and
talked about how to make your customers purchasing experience a short, easy
one. We are going to continue with that theme a bit today. We’re going to talk
about the power of word of mouth and how to mold it to your advantage.
The reality is everyone needs an advisor to guide them to
make a decision. We rely on the expertise of others to make the right decisions
as they are explained to us. When you take the time to understand exactly what
and how word of mouth works, you’ll see all the great advantages it has to
offer you. Remember this path when working to understand word of mouth:
·
Accelerate the
decision making process for increased profits.
·
You can
accelerate product making decisions by making the process easier.
·
Instead of
low-ball advertising and the used car salesman approach, try delivering on your
word of mouth promises.
Traditional advertising draws
about one response for every thousand ads and most of those are to ask for more
information before the customer even considers purchasing. When you get
information from a friend, you are more likely to take their word for it and
act. On average customers purchase two out of every five recommendations their
friends make. That’s a HUGE difference.
So, what exactly is word of mouth?
Well, we know how powerful it can be, but to define it: Word of mouth is a
communication that happens between a customer and a potential customer. There
is usually a relationship of some kind between these two people with an
established level of trust.
Now, compare this to advertising
where you are providing a message to a potential customer where they have not
established relationship with you or level of trust. Who are they more likely
to take advice from? The answer is clear!
We talked above about the benefits of word of mouth now let’s take a look at some reasons why it works. Some of these are:
We talked above about the benefits of word of mouth now let’s take a look at some reasons why it works. Some of these are:
·
The information
is custom tailored to the potential customer because of the friendly
relationship of the referrer.
·
It’s more
personal, relevant and believable.
·
It’s customer
driven.
·
It’s self
generating and can take on a life of its own, especially with the information
age of the Internet.
·
It becomes part
of the product’s description.
·
The source of
word of mouth can be important and more effective when coming from an expert.
·
Word of mouth
saves you time and money.
To fully utilize word of mouth you
need to understand:
- Where
is your word of mouth coming from?
- What
products are being affected by word of mouth?
- How
is your word of mouth traveling?
Once you know these things you can
work out a plan on how to trigger more word of mouth. This wraps up this lesson
on word of mouth. If you need help understanding word of mouth and how it can
impact your business, try our FREE test drive to access our wealth of resources
and tools.
Next time we’re going to dive into
the nine levels of word of mouth. These levels help you understand which word
of mouth is positive and which is not.
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