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Survey Confirms Offline WOM Still Tops
Online word of mouth tools like viral email and blogs may get all the press attention, but real consumer-to-consumer communication still primarily happens offline. According to the April TalkTrack survey from Keller Fay Group, 92% of word of mouth conversations take place offline (71% face-to-face and 21% by phone). Just 6% of word of mouth took place via email, IM, blogs, and online chat rooms.
The survey also revealed a key aspect of what consumers are referencing when talking about brands in their conversations:
* 41% referenced something heard or seen in the media
* 15% referenced an ad
* 8% referenced editorial or entertainment content
* 5% referenced information given at the point of purchase
* 4% referenced a coupon or other promotion
Source: Keller Fay Group, "TalkTrack survey".
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Years ago the Editor of AutoWeek magazine started a monthly promotion that drove WOM. This was the most effective "automatic" WOM stimulator I had seen at the time. He produced a series of standard postcards. One side was a car that was coveted by a car nuts and the other side contained a simple sales comment about AutoWeek demos.
As a regional salesman for AutoWeek I found our postcards in coffee break rooms, in hallways, posted on doors, on bulletin boards, and on desks.
This was a spectacular promotion that started conversations among peer group leading journalists and advertising agency car lovers. Offline (there was no "line" then!) and extremely effective.