The Positive Effects Of Word-Of Mouth

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Word of mouth is the process of transferring information from one individual to another by means of communication. Every single day word of mouth is visible: friends recommend restaurants to one another, a teacher praises a book for a student, a blogger writes about their new computer. In business, word-of-mouth (WOM) is harnessed as a marketing technique used to advertise a product by indicating customer approval (or disapproval). This is commonly completed by electronic means (also known as electronic word-of-mouth); online product reviews, message forums and Facebook comments are all methods of eWOM marketing. Word-of-mouth is successful as consumers have a tendency to trust other consumers over the business who provide the product or service. …show more content…
Dargan (2008) suggests that it is useful; he declares that consumers like to know the possible faults of the product they are buying. It is possible that negative comments reassure consumers; customers can see when they are buying an item that there are imperfections. This helps the consumer to trust the product and put faith in the manufacturer. Customers are able to compare the negatives of different products, thus they can see which product is more flawed. Doh and Wang (2009) conducted an experiment to test the impact of electronic word-of-mouth. They subjected a certain number of consumers to a certain amount of eWOM, whilst also varying the positivity of the eWOM. They discovered that a minor amount of negative word of mouth had little difference to the consumer when buying a product. In fact, a minor amount of negative word of mouth resulted in more purchases than completely positive …show more content…
He illustrates that consumers are more likely to discuss negative experience than they are positive. Moreover, he indicates that according to research, negative word-of-mouth undesirably impacts the credibility of a business. The example of Dell is cited in the text; cynical WOM was spread which resulted in increased media attention. Media attention ensures that several customers, whether they read online reviews or not, are aware of the flaws of a product. If word-of-mouth reaches this height of infamy, then it can start a decline in product sales, or a failure of trust with the business/manufacturer. ‘Rumours’, information that is passed around without certain truth, are frequent in the use of WOM. A rumour can have an undesirable impact for a business, false information could be spread which may lead to an impact in sales, or an undesired reputation for a brand. An example of this is when Bio Business International spread the information that Terra Femme’s tampons contain dioxin, this resulted in a large number of complaints for the product, which instigated a decrease in business (Solomon, 2013).
However, there is further evidence to suggest that word-of-mouth is beneficial. Curry’s, Tesco and several more businesses decide to display online reviews whether positive or negative, this could be indicative

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