When other people recommend something, it sends a feeling of security for the customer. But customers talk less to each other than you think and therefore it is important to actively pick up reviews and continue working with them in marketing communication. We have met Erik Modig, author and researcher at the Center for Consumer Marketing at the Stockholm School of Economics.
“It is important to really use and show what customers say in your own marketing”
WOM is a well-researched areaWord of mouth, WOM, exploded about twenty years ago and has gained new highs with the development of social media that more and more people use to do research or discover new brands. Today, WOM is a well-researched area in marketing communications and an important key for platforms such as Amazon.
-It gives a sense of security when others recommend something and it is also an important source when looking for information about a product or service, says Erik Modig.
The ease of sharing reviews 2022Through increased digitization, it has become easier for companies to collect customer experiences, and the threshold for submitting a review is simply lower. Among other things, this has meant a positive control function where rogue senders have a harder time getting into people's consciousness and wallets.
-If there is someone who is looking to deceive people, you will find out pretty quickly, says Erik Modig.
Find the growth factorAccording to Modig, it is important that companies that work with WOM pick up reviews and find ways to use them in their marketing.
- The growth factor when it comes to WOM works best in B2B contexts, and customers talk less to each other than you think. If you have had a positive experience, you mainly tend to talk to others who have had the same experience and who are already loyal customers. That is why it is important to really use and show what customers say in your own marketing, he says.
Modig also believes incentives are needed in order to disperse your message, which means involving your customers.
- You can, for example, work with exclusive offers for customers who share and spread the word about you.
Where you publish your reviews and how good they need to be in order to have any effect is also important. In some cases, low reviews are built into the product itself, which is something you have to take with you and take into account in your marketing communication.
- You also have to look at the risk of people getting annoyed, says Erik Modig.
At the moment, his research focuses on fixation/viewability which means optimising the ads people actually see.
- It is difficult to get people to look at ads, and in the massive flow of ads we are exposed to every day, we see maybe 10-15 percent. For marketers, it is important to be aware of which channels you use and how the ad is displayed there, but also how long it takes to load so that people do not have time to scroll past. It is also important to work with clear messages in both text and image.
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