Word-of-mouth better than SE referrals

SE referrals don't get no satisfaction from sites

[quiet_man]

Interesting new research [tnsofres.com] from Taylor Nelson Sofres claims that word of mouth is far more important than search engines or links for attracting regular users. Does this ring true with people here?
Personally I don't get their wording for their other findings, where they say 'respondent stated they were particularly unsatisfied with or indifferent towards ...'. Surely a big difference between dissatisfaction and indifference. Were they dissatisfied because they didn't have the ability to personalise a site, or were they just indifferent to such a feature?

[bigjohnt]

This is not news to me.

Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising anywhere, anytime. Why would the 'net be immune from that power? Sure broadcast and the 'net can deliver more impressions, but having a friend tell you an "inside scoop" outperforms anything on Madison Avenue, OR the WWW.
I once heard a claim that ALL advertising and marketing is merely to support and encourage word of mouth. I tend to agree.
Even good advertising and excellent PR will not overcome bad WOM. SG's work, IMHO, is very good, but merely a re-naming and repackaging of good old word of mouth. (Virus? Yuck..)

[Winooski]

Agreed! Also, for those in this discussion who've emphasized that word of mouth has a limited range (e.g., my town, my province, etc.) think about all the cool products, Web sites, even memes [dictionary.com] that you've been introduced to by your numerous faceless friends right here on WebmasterWorld.

I've certainly tried new products because various reputable members of this community recommended them...

[fathom]

>> I once heard a claim that ALL advertising and marketing is merely to support and encourage word of mouth. I tend to agree. <<

WOM is very powerful ... however, please indicate how many companies only rely on this form of marketing or use this method as their primary marketing method?

If it is the "best" then why do most companies throw away marketing dollars in other media and mediums.

WOM disadvantage - referrals are not company employees that MUST refer and regularly, therefore not reliable revenue stream but a "bluebird" and alway nice to get.

Example: a recent FLUB of a client for a sale half way around the world, produced this.

Libby wrote:

Hi. Your company sent me the wrong order. I ordered the ......... set and you sent the ........... Set. How shall we remedy this? My son needed the ..... for a ....... project.

Thank you,

Libby

Rodney wrote:

Hi Libby, your order was accidentally sent to a customer who wanted the ........ set and you obviously receive their order.

I deeply apologize for this error and .... (company) is sending the correct ..... set today.

You may keep the other ....... as this was indeed an error made by ...... (company)

I hope that the ....... Set will make it in time for your son's ....... project.

With Regard,

Rodney

Libby wrote:

You are extremely kind and I deeply appreciate how quickly you have taken care of this. I will certainly pass on the good word to other ....... and ....... about the courtesy and service they will recieve with your company. Thank you again and I hope you have a wonderful day.

A FLUB to a potential WOM referral? But where is the guaranteed revenue steam. Can any company rely on WOM referrals. IMO they are "bluebird" and alway nice to get.

[monolift]

I would agree that WOM is extremely important, especially locally.

My only question, however is how does the WOM get started initially. I need to be able to find a site before I can tell anyone about it.

This whole question seems kind of like a chicken and egg debate.

[bigjohnt]

>>If it is the "best" then why do most companies throw away marketing dollars

It needs to be developed. That is a given, the ultimate goal is top of mind branding (in the short term it is direct, immediate sales), and WOM does this better than anything.

Its like building the better mousetrap. After you've done the requisite advertising, good WOM will beat the path to your door, and continue doing so long after ads have run, and per click accounts exhausted. This is one of the BEST parts of good WOM.)

Consider folks linking to your site as WOM. (Word of Mouse.) Even without the Google Effect, links pointing to your site are precious.

Developing WOM costs you either cash or time or both.
Keeping it merely costs you good customer service.

[brotherhood of LAN]

WOM can still be abused though.

Interesting to note the link above referencing the term "meme"....I assume its not the parasitic meaning?

The thing with WOM is that its based on how much you trust the person that is telling you, if it involves someone you know.

I guess the email a friend approach is much less personal, but in the case of friends among friends, its possible that you would not want certain people to reference your site!

Ideally, I'd prefer people to have some previous knowledge of my site before they visit, so alias, WOM as its being coined works for me

[txbakers]

why do most companies throw away marketing dollars

Well, even though I rely mostly on WOM, I still have to spend marketing dollars, mostly on trade shows.

WOM is generated by FACE TIME. It's expensive, but it beats mass mailings and magazine ads.

[Bentler]

Interesting that this thread came up when it did because I've recently been considering adding "send to friend" links on the best of my pages based on GVU survey results [searchenginewatch.com], an old study of Web usage. According to this study, 85% of Web users studied found new sites using search engines, 88% by browsing, and 65% from friends. I think the results would relatively be better for SEs now, but referrals from friends is compelling. It makes sense that the combination of extremely targeted visitors with trusted endorsements would provide a strong draw and stickum, if the content is good enough.

[madmatt69]

I think it all depends on your demographic. For example - Did a site for a local car dealership. They don't get many referals from se's because they don't cater to people outside of their city. Sure, people find them via search engines, but for the most part, they receive visitors from people in the community that know the business. The month with the most visits came when we held a contest to win a car, and advertised it on the radio, in the papers, and all that. The response dwarfed anything the search engines have ever provided.

But on other sites, I get tonnes of se referals, and it's great, because they aren't otherwise advertised..It all depends on your target market I think, and what works for you.

[Filipe]

My opinion is, that while some sites benefit more from word-of-mouth than Search Engine referrals (e.g., localized sites), and some sites just get more referrals from SE's than from word of mouth - It seems that regardless of the site, word-of-mouth is a referral of much higher quality than SE referral.

I often find random sites on Google that I think are really good, but I don't really go back to them that often. When a friend tells me about a site they really like, I usually go to it and it sticks (perhaps because I was forced to remember and type in the url instead of just clicking a hyperlink).

Plus, like a Directory, it's a human-reviewed site (your friend) and since the person is so close to you, the review is more in tune with what you're looking for.

[bigjohnt]

It is one of my unstated goals to achieve more traffic from other websites, bookmarks and direct URL typing than search engines, all the while maintaining adequate traffic. That to me would indicate a successful job of either branding, or really good WOM.

At the end of the day, WOM traffic is more likely to be quality traffic, than say, SE referral - from searchers who are arguably in research mode. The stamp of approval from a friend weighs heavily in buying decisions. How many posts do you see here at wmw asking for recommendations for software or services? Thats WOM in action, "solicited" WOM. (Trust me on this, after several years working at a chamber of commerce - where networking and referrals are the reason for being.)

"Who do you know that does _____." "Oh yeah? I'll give them a shot."

[DrDoc]

My own experience proves that Word of Mouth is the most powerful referal.

About two years ago I built an online community. There were no ad campaigns or anything to tell people about the new site -- it was meant to spread by word of mouth between friends. After a year, the site had had over 13 million visitors (visitors -- not page views!) and had 45,000 registered members.

I can only think of a handfull of those members who found the site through a search engine.

[Ranger]

Yes, it makes sense, for REGULAR users. My favorite book on the subject of word of mouth marketing: The Anatomy of Buzz, by Emmanuel Rosen. Close second on a similar theme would be Gladwell's The Tipping Point.

But interestingly, we built a "recommend this to a colleague" into one of premiere sites... and we haven't yet seen a strong correlation between people who receive a "recommended link" and newsletter subscriptions (admittedly only one way of tracking regular visitors). Could be a lot of reasons why that's happening, though, albeit its one of the few ways we have of tracking that currently.

[KGIII]

I do not usually post to too many online (or even newsgroup type) forums as I haven't the time nor the inclination but this is relivant and this forum appears interesting enough to warrent me returning. Very briefly thank you for the content.

Issue #1... I am here via WOM
Issue #2... I own a SEO company
Issue #3... We don't submit our company at all
Issue #4... We can get millions of hits from SEs
Issue #5... We make 100% Sales through direct and inderect marketing (ie Through our own efforts and our reputation.)

The irony is we are too busy to accept new clients and we don't dare put the service in a search engine for fear of additional unwanted/un-needed traffic. To add to this our main service is seach engine submission and full service web site promotions. All of our advertising is done via online email marketing to the targeted audience.

Relivance? I am not sure but when I join a forum I might as well do it with a bang eh?

KGIII

[KGIII]

I can not find an edit button but that is probably due to a lack of sleep... From the informative article that began this post:

Notes

*The research was carried out using Webeval™ Satisfaction - TNS’online website evaluation tool - across 14 countries: Argentina, China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom in the six months between November 2001 and April 2002. For further information please go to: www.tnsofres.com/webeval

The above is a direct quote... Where is the USA? Did our opinion not matter? I thought that we were the capitalist center of the universe? *Now wonders about the veracity of statistics as everyone knows that statistics can be proven to show that statistics are generally wrong*

KGIII

Edited for spelling and to be able to make sure I found the edit button for later posts.

[bizsubmit]

It depends on the industry and products/services sold. With e-commerce, search engine referrals are about the cheapest way to get new customers that a business can dream of.

However, service-based companies like SEO or web site design, or traffic analysis - referrals can be cheaper than a web site's visibility in search engines.

[fathom]

KG111 you should chance this thread.

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