ONLINE vs OFFLINE WOM -- Are the Differences a Big Deal?
Clearly, the interest on behalf of both managers and scholars regarding WOM and WOM marketing has increased recently. This is for a variety of reasons, including issues with traditional marketing media (fragmentation, lack of credibility, cost, and PVRs) as well as new communications technologies (such as the internet and mobile phones). For consumers, the Internet, provides the opportunity to talk to each other more often and more easily. We know that online reviews affect product sales , that "cool" influencers are more responsive online, that online communities boost customer engagement , and so on.
How do we know this? Well, much of the recent WOM research was conducted with online data. For researchers, the Internet has provided a vast opportunity to analyze (semi-) permanent archival data of real -- ONLINE WOM conversations -- the low hanging fruit of WOM research, if you will. I wonder, how generalizeable is all of this new online WOM research to the offline WOM context? This Q seems particularly important, since we know that 92% of WOM happens OFFLINE
An important placeto start in answering this question is to list the differences between the online and the offline communication domains:
THE CONSUMERS
* Offline WOM usually entails a two(or more)-way, interactive discussion. In online chatrooms and bulletin boards, there are posters (those who post their product experiences on the Internet ) and lurkers (those who read others' postings without communicating or interacting in any way with the posters)
* The open structure of the Internet means a diverse, multiple audience (i.e., anyone can post or access content), (therefore) posters are often speaking to an audience composed of diverse individuals...
* Consumers may be more likely to talk to their close family and friends offline, but to strangers online.
* Consumers can create their own identities online -- not just aliases, but they can craft what they say to create a persona.
* The world wide web is an incredibly vast reseource with effective search functions. As such, it is possible for consumers to find very specific information as well as groups of other consumers who are interested in a specific topic. These 'groups' are probably less common offline. ('I have only 2 friends that participate in triathlons, but there are thousands online!')
THE MESSAGE
* Consumers have the opportunity to edit their comments online -- whether in an email, a chatroom, or a blog -- like this one! Offline, consumers may be forced to be more spontaneous.
* In a one-on-one offline conversation, there is no permanent archive of what you said. However, online, many (most ) conversations are archived (whether we want them to be or not...)
This list is just a start (please reply with more! ). But every one of these differences between online and offline WOM contexts has significant implications for WOM: who is talking, what is being said, and the implications of such communication. Yes, the differences are a big deal. Therefore, we need to be very careful about generalizing from one context to the other.
