Word Of Mouth Marketing -- Lessons Learned

After reading Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz, I came away with these important key points:

1. Simple actions that show your gratitude for your customers can win you customer loyalty and big word of mouth. It seems intuitive that companies would treat their customers with respect, and that they would strive to provide excellent customer service. However, this isn't the norm, and unfortunately many businesses refuse to listen to their customers, and continue, time after time, to provide anything but service. Yet, if companies spend the time to show their customers that they ARE appreciated, they will be successful. One tip that Andy mentions in his book is to send thank you cards to "talkers" to show that you appreciate them. I can personally attest to the power of the thank you card: After shopping online at a clothing store and purchasing a few items, I received a personalized, hand-written thank you card from the company. Most of the time, shopping online is impersonal, but the thank you card made my experience memorable, and I felt appreciated (and told all my friends). 

2. Great word of mouth is spread through topics that are "portable, clear ideas that one person can repeat successfully" (pg. 19). Sometimes, companies present ideas that are too complex, and customers get lost trying to figure out what the company is offering. By keeping the idea simple and easy, word of mouth can be spread quickly without distortion. To illustrate this, Andy used the example of kids playing "telephone," where a simple phrase is passed from child to child until the last child reveals what he/she heard. Usually, it's completely different from the original phrase. 

3. It is imperative to say who you are. This concept stood out to me quite a bit. I have read "customer" reviews that appeared not to have been written by customers, and it turns me off from products completely. If companies want to generate positive word of mouth, they need to join the conversation but identify themselves so that customers are not turned off. The "Stay out of Trouble" Checklist is helpful for making sure that you don't make blunders when participating in conversations with customers.