At Least 80% of WOM Still Offline
When it comes to spreading word of mouth, offline communication still far outweighs the Internet. In a study from GfK NOP, face-to-face contact was cited by 80% of general consumers as the main way they give recommendations to each other. For influencers, that number was even higher at 90%.
The telephone was the second most popular medium for word of mouth at 68%. Surprisingly, email was mentioned as the key medium for less than half of consumers:
* Personal email -- 37%
* Email forwarding -- 32%
* Mass emails -- 12%
Source: GfK NOP, "NOP World Word-of-Mouth Study".
