The Negative Impact of Word-of-Mouth

Submitted by Dan Crites on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 5:23pm.

I listened to a story on NPR this afternoon about the negative impact of bad word-of-mouth, you can listen to it here. Very scary. This is part one of a two part story by Wendy Kaufman, hopefully the second part will bring out the positive aspects from good word-of-mouth.

The basis for the article comes from research by the Wharton School of Business. They found that 1 out of 2 customers has a customer service problem when they shop. Worse is the fact that they then tell friends, family, and colleagues about it and embellish the story in the retelling. The overall result is that 1/2 of those that hear the bad news story won't shop at those places they heard about. Ouch! Those that improve on the situation certainly create a business advantage.

It goes to show the need for businesses to hear from their customers, the bad news as well as the good. Hearing the bad news you can make efforts to correct the situation so that bad embellished stories won't be spread. You even have the opportunity to turn a detractor into a promoter. You can also get to the root cause and fix it to reduce future bad experiences.

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Word of Mouth Experiences

Submitted by PBX Phone Systems (not verified) on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 7:51am.

As far as word of mouth for customer service, bad news travels faster than good nes.

word of mouth

Submitted by Blaine Millet (not verified) on Mon, 09/10/2007 - 11:42pm.

Those facts have been out there forever. And the sad part is it doesn't change anything - people still act the way they do and don't believe the data. What is more relevant is what is the CAUSE of something like this - good or bad. I will give you something to think about that is relevant and that does get peoples attention when you are talking about word of mouth - PROMISES!! We have been doing research and consulting in this area and one thing is for certain, the majority of people absolutely believe that companies don't keep their promises. Further more, they don't believe the even understand the promises their customers want so how can they keep them.

So if you are looking for the BEST and STRONGEST word of mouth to work in your favor and to your benefit - figure it out. Figure out what promises your customers want and then how you are going to keep them, not occassionally, but every day of every week. That is the type of word of mouth that gets you noticed big time. If you don't, they will tell everyone that you don't keep your promises - how's that for a reputation.

Is that you?

Submitted by Lisa B from Texas A&M (not verified) on Sat, 08/18/2007 - 5:21pm.

Dan, Just checking to see if this is you. If so, send me a reply. Lisa

Word Of Mouth

Submitted by Cade @ Write To Right (not verified) on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 5:10pm.

I have to say that this is so true. I think that is why you see so many companies worry just about pleasing the customer even if they are blatantly wrong. I do have to say though that if you are smart then you try to get rid of the headaches and focus on your customers that are bringing you a good deal of income and not causing you so much stress and anxiety.

negative WOM

Submitted by Vladimir Orlt (not verified) on Sun, 05/27/2007 - 12:58pm.

IMHO most negative WOM, esp. from bricks-and-mortar or service experiences, comes about because of defects which should be obvious to businesses (at least to their managers), such as unreturned phone calls, missed appointments, indifferent or reluctant service, etc. Surely businesses don't need a-pirori "customer feedback" about these...

As a rule, I don't participate in surveys, including custsomer-feedback ones... mainly because I feel that businesses don't compensate people for them adequately, considering their reveune-increasing potential.

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