Recap of WOMMA Summit 2008

I just finished participating in a 3-day summit of WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and wanted to share some key learnings.  I wanted to be brief.  I failed.  Read on for the key takeaways.  Too tired to add citations, and I hope I got all the numbers right (can't read my notes sometimes...)

 

WOMMA Site

WOMMA Summit Live Blog

WOMMA Summit Presentations

 

Key Takeaways:

·         Focus on Customer Experience is universally cited as the most important driver of success.  Every touch point with a customer, offline or online, is a chance to either build our brand promise, or erode our brand promise.  Zappos CEO talked about the importance of infusing customer experience into culture of the company. Winning hearts and minds doesn’t mean winning “minds.”  We can’t use logic and product features to win hearts. 

·         Bad economy increases need for WOM.  Customers are more careful, more discerning, and will ask for opinions before purchasing.    In tough economic times, the customer with the lowest cost to acquire is the one we already have.  

·         Integrated Marketing as vital to success , according to the biggest companies here (Kraft, P&G, Unilever, Prudential, Pepsi, PBS).  When WOM initiative is part of advertising, online marketing, CRM, community, events, each discipline benefits. 

·         Measurement of WOM activity should focus on organizational goals, not simply reach or page views or clicks or conversions.  Companies that work in silos can optimize for many measures, except customer experience.  Return on “Insight” can be as important as Return on Investment (are we learning from what customers are saying?). 

·         Advertising should target influencers as well as prospects.  Advertising gives influencers the “language of the brand” that they will use in conversation.  Are customers talking about our products in a way that highlights our brand promise?  27% of conversations about Movies is advertising-influenced messaging that continues to carry branded message, and 25.6% of conversations about tech products. 

·         Customer voice needs to be part of every system. 

·         Credibility must be protected/nurtured.  Credibility is gained by Trust, Authenticity, Transparency, Affirmation, Listening, and Responsiveness.  Customers leave a “digital trail” of their customer experience that is permanent, and affects decisions later because of Google, reviews, blogs, etc.  

·         “Fair Exchange of Value” is required for any customer engagement/participation (Customer Generated Content)—if customer doesn’t get value, a program won’t work.  If companies don’t get value, they will stop doing the program.

·         9% of population (Conversation Catalysts) make 22% to 26% of brand recommendations.  New forms of branded messaging are emerging.  NYT is doing branded editorials in Op Ed section—infuse story where influencers are learning/engaging.

·         Jupiter reports 70% of people won’t buy without reading customer reviews.  Customers share opinions online to help others (94%) and help companies improve (84%). It’s altruistic.  User reviews are overwhelmingly positive.  Across industries/products, user reviews average 4.3 of 5.  

·         70% of WOM happens offline.  But online has a 5X ROI because of less expensive reach.  Offline and Online WOM often take different trajectories, but videogames are closely correlated (interesting). 

·         Mobile is emerging as a key communication channel.  91M people in US use SMS, 36M use mobile WAP, 40% have access to mobile web. 

·         Best meat-inspired vehicle: The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. 

·         Worst Hotel.  The Rio.  Internet was flakey.  Rooms were old and smoky.  “Discount rate” was almost 2X the walk-in rate. 

·         The Cake Isn’t A Lie.  Despite the fact I spent my birthday away from home, I did get cake and the happy birthday song at the Voodoo Lounge.  J

 

A Few of my Favorite Best Practices

·         Petco: When Petco incorporated user reviews and moderated Q&A on product pages, conversion increased 72%.  Canadian Tire (Costco-type store in Canada) saw 67% decrease in support call volume when frequently asked questions had 3 user-submitted answers.

·         MESH planning is using mobile phones in the UK to track all “brand touch points”.  Participants text a message when they see one of several brands, report when/where/emotion, then fill out diary later.  Allows tracking of brands and sentiment across multiple media (OOH, radio, TV, conversation, online, mobile, print).

·         Pepsi worked with Keller Fay to measure impact of Superbowl advertising, together with online media and Pepsi Rewards Loyalty program.  They drove an additional 23.8 million conversations (online and off) about Pepsi in the 3 days after the Superbowl. 

 

Word of Mouth Marketing Ethics

As a member, Microsoft has agreed to the WOMMA Code of Ethics.  I'm firmly committed to them, have been for years.  In a nutshell, that means we agree to:

·         Be completely honest about our Relationship (transparency/disclosure), Opinion (won’t express an opinion we don’t share, and don’t tell consumers what to say) and Identity (no false identities, no anonymous misleading posts, full FTC regulation compliance) in all WOM marketing

·         Proactively encourage the same with anyone who is participating with us or sharing our message (press, community, vendors, partners) 

·         Respect the rules of the venue (that means knowing them).

·         Protect privacy and permissions of customers. 

·         Manage relationships with minors responsibly (and don’t include anyone under 13 in any WOM program). 

Comments

[Sarah Browne]

In light of the social-media-fueled MotrinGate that happened over the weekend, everything John recaps above should be thoroughly digested. It was a great summit -- and John's uber-useful and actionable presentation was an important part of it.

[Jean Porcaro]

You have such a gift for writing and marketing. You are very talented. It is good to know a company is trying to be open and honest. Good work son.

Mom

[scott]

Good recap on the Word of Mouth.

For a future blog you may want to consider covering the book Dropping Almonds by Bach Anon. Bach really stresses and emphasizes getting back to the basics of honest hard work in the marketplace.

Thanks for the blog...

[SEO hotels]

Nice blog. It is good to know a company is trying to be open and honest.

[Chris aka Avid]

Hey John, hope all is well.
Love to see some new blogs.
Take care.

-Chris E.

[Jack]

Thanks for this BLOG. True. WOM is still has its own effect to the market.

Keep on coming up with very nice reviews of other useful events.

[bennet]

i would say the same that it is good to know a company is trying to be open and honest.