Lecture4 Flashcards
(31 cards)
WOM
Word of Mouth
Word of Mouth (WOM)
WOM is the passing of information from person to person.
WOM is positive most of the time, but it can also be negative due to criticism.
- E.g., Patagonia exploits textile workers and produces in fast fashion factories.
59% of people report that they frequently share online content with others.
Estimates are that WOM drives 13% of consumer sales in the US.
What factors amplify the impact of WOM?
Trusted, expert source
Weak brand
- If you’re a strong brand you don’t need WOM that much.
High-involvement product
- High-involvement product: When people buy it, it has a lot of consequences for them (e.g., expensive)
- It is a risky decision so people want a lot of reviews from others to make sure they make a good decision.
Intangible product
- These types of products (e.g., insurances) are typical products where people would like feedback from others because they are insecure about it.
Does WOM mostly happen offline or online?
Two-thirds of impact happens offline, one-third online.
What is WOM?
It can be anything where people talk about a brand. When people talk about these brands it often helps them with sales.
People informing each other on social media is also WOM.
Reviews are a part of WOM.
Book “contagious” by Jonah Berger talks about why things catch on.
How does Spotify use WOM?
Spotify wrapped is one of the most shared things on social media. This is free advertising for Spotify.
How does ALS use WOM?
Ice bucket challenge for ALS
- A funny game where you had to nominate others which increased WOM of ALS.
How does KFC use WOM?
There was a tweet on the bad fries of KFC
KFC asked the woman if they could retweet the post, the post got traction, more people started to say how much they hated their fries. After a while they introduced their new fries.
How does Zappos (shoe company) use WOM?
They don’t do a lot of advertising, they only focus on customer satisfaction. They are doing this quite well, they get lots of positive reviews for their service etc.
This also increases the WOM.
Why do people share information with others?
Impression management
- You want to share your identity
- E.g., Spotify wrapped
Emotion regulation
- If you feel really emotional, you want to share because it helps to regulate your emotions.
Information acquisition
- People share because they want information from others.
Social bonding
- People share information because they want to feel that others feel the same, they want to feel connected to others.
Persuading others
- People share because you want to persuade others to do the same or not do something. They want others to agree with them.
What can you do when you understand why people share information with others?
You can begin to understand how we can create and present ideas in a way that people want to share them.
WOM on J.K. Rowling and the consequences
She first said that a character from Harry Potter (HP) was gay, sometime later she supported a researcher who made transphobic comments and made some transphobic comments herself. After this, the main actors of HP spoke against her and distanced themselves from her.
How did this affect the sales of the HP books?
- In 2020 there were lower sales in the US after the transphobic comments and support.
- In the UK, the sales were stable in 2020
o In the UK people might’ve been more able to separate the author from the books. In the US they are more intertwined.
o She is from the UK herself, that might’ve played a role. - In 2022 there was a lot of resistance against J.K. Rowling
- In 2024 the sales of HP books are up again, and a Tv series is coming up.
Celebrities can be cancelled. Fandoms are forever.
- Fans are able to separate the books and the fandom from the author.
Transphobic comments might be seen as severe, but there are more severe things going on in the world, so relatively people might not see it as that severe.
WOM on Balenciaga and the consequences
Expensive, luxurious, quite famous brand.
In 2022 they released two problematic ad campaigns
- They were advertising products with child pornography and bondage with children.
First response: blaming the production company and set designer.
Delayed response: claiming responsibility for the “oversight”.
Impact: huge
- The following of the brand went up continuously, but went drastically down after the ad campaigns.
- Loss of celebrity endorsements and partnerships.
- 2024: the brand’s reputation and sales continue to be impacted.
WOM on “Just stop oil” and the consequences
Lots of WOM
Significant public critique: “counterproductive and disrespectful to cultural heritage”
Impact: climate message itself remains resilient, even when specific activist groups face criticism.
Even evidence for increased support for moderate environmental groups.
Radical Flank Effect
- Study suggests disruptive protests by fringe groups give moderate groups more support.
People are able to separate the “Just stop oil” group from the climate.
Reason for the different response on J.K. Rowling and Balenciaga
The response of Balenciaga was very weak.
Child pornography is more universally a bad thing. There are more people that agree with transphobic comments than there are that agree with child pornography.
How did the WOM impact J.K. Rowling, Balenciaga and Just Stop Oil in the short and long run?
J.K. Rowling: reduced sales of Harry Potter books on short term, recovery on longer term.
Balenciaga: damaged reputation and sales on short term, no recovery.
Just Stop Oil: lots of critique, but almost no negative impact on climate message.
“There is no such thing as bad publicity?”
Oversimplification! Impact varies depending on the context:
- Severity
- Relevance to core brand values
- Speed and effectiveness of crisis management
- Strength of existing customer relationships
- Short-term vs. long-term effects
- Prior brand awareness
o Effect of negative reviews on book sales
o Negative reviews in a high standard journal only positively influence the sales if people don’t know the author.
o If you are new, negative reviews increase book sales, because nobody will buy your books if they don’t know you.
o So, if you have no prior brand awareness, bad publicity can be good.
Two dimensions of emotion: valence and arousal
People share things and engage in WOM on the basis of how they respond emotionally to the message.
High arousal makes people more likely to share, whether it’s negative or positive.
The circle plex model of emotions
Any type of emotion can be classified into arousal and valence.
How do trends start?
If you are the first you have to accept people might ridicule you.
As a leader you have to stand out. You must be easy to follow and be public.
The first follower is the most important, it takes guts to stand out.
The first follower turns a lone nut into a leader.
The leader embraces the first follower, they become equals.
Followers can ignite new followers, the leader cannot.
The second follower marks the turning point.
How did Airbnb start to trend?
They were ridiculed at the beginning.
There was a lot of resistance, not only at the beginning but it went on and on. They had to deal with it while finding allies.
They also found allies in refugees organisations.
- This is one of the reasons why people like Airbnb.
- They are genuine in their intentions.
Study on vegetarians
Do-gooder derogation
“Generate three words that come to mind when you think about vegetarians”
People came up with a lot of negative words and some positive words.
The characteristics were more negative to the extent that participants expected vegetarians to see themselves as morally superior to nonvegetarians. “If I feel like you’re judging me, I won’t like you.”
It’s about feeling threatened.
Conclusion: overtly moral behaviour can elicit annoyance and ridicule rather than admiration and respect.
This is something that people have to deal with when starting to do something good.
How can you get from the minority being ridiculed and disrespected to the tipping point?
Bolderdijk & Jans (2021) on environmental problems
Core challenge: majorities recognize environmental problems but resist changing behaviours.
Minority influence
- Minorities can influence social change, but often subtly.
- Initially change private opinions before public behaviours.
o People will be annoyed, but that’s okay, as long as they see you doing it consistently, you can still change those opinions. - Risk social sanctions when challenging norms.
Goal: reaching a critical mass (around 25% population); aka the tipping point to make something normal.
Mechanisms of minority influence according to Bolderdijk & Jans (2021)
- Trigger private opinion reconsideration.
- Challenge perception of current norms as “fixed”.
- Demonstrate alternative behavioural possibilities.
