Keller Fay Blog: WOM Matters

As we at Keller Fay prepared earlier this year to extend our word of mouth tracking research from the U.S. into Britain, I shared the results of our U.S. studies with a number of British agencies and brands.  They found the results fascinating, especially the huge amount of brand-related conversations.  But many then said, “Well that’s the U.S.  We are not as talkative over here.”

Wrong.  In fact, British consumers engage in more word of mouth.  The conversations are mostly positive, and primarily take place offline.  But while the conversations themselves take place offline, the Internet is the #1 medium (besting television) in helping to drive or support word of mouth.

These are some of the topline findings from the inaugural TalkTrack^® Britain, conducted in May 2010 with a sample of nearly 2,600 British consumers ages 16-69, reporting on more than 26,000 word of mouth conversations.  The study measures both offline as well as online conversations about products, services and brands, exploring the quantity of word of mouth, the quality, and the forces that drive it.  This initial study was conducted with the support of Starcom Mediavest Group, News International, and ESPN.

The average British consumer talks about 70 brands per week, somewhat higher than the 65 per week average we see in the U.S.  Women (74 conversations per week) are somewhat more talkative than men (66).

The most talked-about category in Britain, as in the U.S., is food/dining, with nearly two-thirds of Britons saying they talk once or more per day about brands in this category.  Media and entertainment is a very close second (63%), followed by beverages (57%).  Compared to U.S. consumers, British consumers have more conversations in most categories, especially Travel (+24 points), Shopping/Retail (+12), Financial Services (+10) and Technology (+10).

% of British consumers having 1+ conversations per day, by category:

• Food & Dining – 64%
• Media & Entertainment – 63%
• Beverages – 57%
• Sports, Recreation & Hobbies – 50%
• Technology – 48%
• Shopping, Retail & Apparel – 48%
• Telecommunications – 47%
• Travel Services – 45%
• Financial Services – 43%
• Health & Healthcare – 41%
• Automotive – 36%
• The Home – 33%
• Household Products – 30%
• Personal Care & Beauty – 29%
• Children’s Products – 18%

As in the U.S., most WOM conversations (>90%) in Britain take place offline, primarily face-to-face.  Of those that take place online, 3% are via email, 2% via IM or text message, and 1% via social networking sites, chatrooms or blogs.

An important finding that should give comfort to brands that worry about the potential for negative word of mouth, is that most word of mouth is positive, not negative.  Nearly two-thirds (62%) of word of mouth in Britain is “mostly positive”; this is 7 times the level of “mostly negative” word of mouth (9%).

When thinking about strategies for sparking word of mouth, it is important to think about ways to provide consumers with brand experiences, and to activate brand users to talk about your brands.  In 83% of word of mouth conversations, one or more of the conversational partners have had personal experience with the brand, and both credibility and WOM impact are far higher in these situations than when nobody has had personal brand experience.

But at the same time, there is clear evidence that a brand’s media/marketing activities can also spark WOM.  In fact, nearly half of all WOM conversations include a reference to some type of media and marketing, led by advertising (which is mentioned in 17% of conversations).  By medium, the Internet is the most referenced (15%), slightly edging out television (13%).  (This is a reversal from the U.S. where television still enjoys a slight lead over the Internet.)

The most talked-about brands in the U.K. include the nation’s two biggest retailers, and three tech/telecom companies.

• Tesco
• Sony
• BT
• ASDA
• Apple Computer

In addition to the launch of TalkTrack^® Britain, Keller Fay has partnered with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) to introduce word of mouth into its consumer-centric media measurement study, TouchPoints3, and data are available as of July.

The availability of new word of mouth data from these two studies as led Claire Myerscough, business intelligence director at News International, to declare, “2010 will see WOM become a big planning consideration for the first time.”

This post first appeared on Jack Myer’s MediaBizBloggers.com on October 5, 2010.