Word of mouth Free edit Add a meaning name

Due to the important role it plays in influencing consumer attitudes and behavior, word of mouth is known as the "zero medium". Word of mouth is regarded by modern marketers as the world's cheapest information dissemination tools and high-credibility publicity media. As far as the marketing research field is concerned, some people advocate to study the spread of the mouth stone as a marketing method to enrich the existing marketing theory.

There are three main reasons for word-of-mouth communication in the context of service marketing: service quality, customer commitment to service providers and high customer abandonment commitment. As an attitude indicator, service quality air load is used to evaluate the performance of each dimension of service. As a kind of commitment, customer commitment and customer high abandonment commitment have both attitude and behavior components.

The service quality evaluation form generally adopts five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, reactivity, insurance and empathy. Although this five-dimensional scale accurately defines quality of service, there are still doubts. Some studies have pointed out that when the research is conducted from different service providers, it is found that some problems do not fall on the same dimension, and the research results of different industries also show that the service quality will be composed of different numbers of total dimensions of de-hybridization. Since then, some studies have modified the five-dimension scale into a two-dimension scale, one of which refers to tangibility, the other includes reliability, reactivity, insurance and empathy, and the result has improved the reliability of the scale.

According to Boulding et al. (1993), customers strongly believe that service quality has an impact on important behavioral outcomes such as loyalty and word-of-mouth. They proved through experiments that the higher the perceived quality of corporate service, the more likely it is that customers will have behaviors conducive to the strategic health of the company, such as generating positive word-of-mouth communication and recommending services to others. Therefore, there is a positive effect between service quality and word-of-mouth transmission.

Customer commitment forms the strength function of customer identification service organization. Buchanan understood customer commitment as a kind of emotional maintenance of customers to organizational goals and values, and should realize that its performance is not only limited to treating the organization as a pure tool for obtaining services, but also loyalty to the organization based on its own interests. An attachment to the important role that self-defence plays in achieving organizational goals and values. Just as job performance is a behavior that affects the strategic health of an organization, word-of-mouth communication is also a behavior that customers can use to influence the health of an organization. Therefore, customer emotional commitment is assumed to have a positive correlation with word-of-mouth communication.

Customer commitment is the tendency of customers to continue to accept services at all costs under the consideration of conversion costs. Service switching costs include the loss of customer benefits and seniority, the disruption of the relationship of individual listeners to other service providers, and the cost of finding new suppliers. Different from the customer commitment that actively goes to the organization, it is a commitment to the organization after considering the high cost of switching service providers. Therefore, because of the passive component of the customer commitment, there is no positive correlation between the customer commitment and word-of-mouth communication.

The level of word-of-mouth communication is a kind of stratification based on the connotation of word-of-mouth communication. Looking at the previous research literature, the connotation of word-of-mouth communication includes two levels of word-of-mouth communication and word-of-mouth communication effect. Most of the previous studies on the connotation of word-of-mouth communication stayed on the positive effect of word-of-mouth communication, and overstudied the receiver because of the old training. In fact, from the marketing point of view, the behavior of the Ikenuro is more important, that is, the research of the word-of-mouth communication activity itself is more important. This research model divides the connotation of word-of-mouth communication into three levels: word-of-mouth communication activities, positive effects and negative effects of word-of-mouth communication.

Word-of-mouth communication activities even solid wind to raise tea some elevation of the communication passion and communication details involving the transmitter. The former is related to the frequency and breadth of word of mouth communication (that is, how many people will pass word of mouth information to), and the latter is related to the depth of word of mouth communication (that is, how much word of mouth information will be involved). The scale of the receiver, the frequency of transmission and the amount of word of mouth information constitute the word of mouth communication network, from the marketing point of view, these factors are very important and necessary.

There are many researches on the communication effect of word-of-mouth communication, and mainly focus on the positive effect, that is, the praise effect. After receiving high-quality service, customers will feel satisfied and happy, and then they will have the impulse to convey their feelings to others, which is the praise of service providers.

In fact, negative word-of-mouth communication also exists. For example, when customers perceive that the service quality is lower than customers' expectations, they will feel dissatisfied and complain, and pass on this feeling to others. Therefore, word-of-mouth communication is actually a double-edged sword. When the quality of service fails to continuously improve with the improvement of customer expectations, the service provider will only be negatively affected by the word-of-mouth communication.

Gilly et al. 's two-way research method on interpersonal communication information has established a preliminary foundation for the research on the influencing factors of word-of-mouth communication. Their study, while informative, clearly has limitations. This is mainly reflected in the fact that only the influence of product purchase factors is taken into account, and the influence of service purchase factors is not taken into account. Factors that are considered to be prominent and valuable in future research, such as risk, relationship strength, and the degree to which word of mouth is actively sought out of a particular category, are not taken into account.

The active search of word of mouth consists of active search and finally get information. Through purposeful design and effort, word of mouth information is understood and obtained. In order to emphasize the two-way communication that occurs in word-of-mouth communication, some scholars believe that in the process of word-of-mouth communication, the transmitter and the receiver take the initiative to collect. The receiver often initiates a conversation about a product or service by asking the sender for information. Especially in the service environment, the intangibility of the service increases the choice risk, thus stimulating the active search of the word of mouth. The receiver's behavior of seeking word of mouth is assumed to be an important part of the process of word of mouth communication.

Few studies have looked at the effect of social structure on word-of-mouth communication, as it occurs within a particular relationship. The whole order only discusses whether the relationship is short, shallow or fleeting, or lasting, deep-rooted or eternal, and all word-of-mouth communication must occur in a certain social relationship. Bristor(1-speed Waicosiye cooling block 990) explains that a word-of-mouth network is a social network consisting of a group of people who participate in word-of-mouth communication.

The relationship between people is a basic influence, and this influence is represented by the relationship strength structure. Therefore, relationship strength becomes an important factor in the study of word-of-mouth communication influence. Frenzen and Davis(1990) regard closeness, intimacy, support, and association as the intrinsic interpersonal dimensions of this element.

Early researchers found that people who perceived risk were more likely to actively seek out information than those who did not. Since the 1990s, scholars have emphasized the role of risk in the service environment. They point out that the consumption of services carries a high risk. This is mainly because services are intangible, standardless and sometimes "sold" without guarantees. Customers often have a higher perceived risk when purchasing services than when purchasing products. The same is the service, the perceived risk also has high or low points.

For example, medical treatment is more likely to have associated risks than catering. The more frequent the word-of-mouth campaign, the greater the risk, Arndt says. In an effort to mitigate this risk, customers frequently receive information about services through word of mouth. Murray(1991) reports that word of mouth is the most important source of information for risk reduction and has a more significant impact on consumers because there are more opportunities for clarification and feedback.

Expertise refers to the extent to which the information source is able to provide correct information. Expertise is expected to have a persuasive effect because the recipient lacks initiative and tests the authenticity of the source by recalling and repeating their own thoughts. From the receiver's perspective, the bearer of word-of-mouth information is considered to possess a high level of expertise, because his or her work, social training, and social experience are in a unique position. In general, the unique position of the preachers contributes to their expertise. In addition to being related to the extent to which word of mouth is actively sought, the expertise of the messenger also affects the influence of word of mouth on the receiver's purchase decision. If the word of mouth of an expert messenger is searched, then this information is expected to influence the buyer's purchase decision.

The recipient's level of expertise also has a significant impact on the outcome of word-of-mouth communication. It can influence not only the purchase decision, but also the recipient's perceived risk and how actively they search for word of mouth information. Previous studies have established a relationship between the degree of expertise and active search for word-of-mouth information in the product environment.

Research has shown that a negative relationship is established between the amount of information seekers' experience (which represents a type of expertise) and the extent to which information is sought externally. Gilly et al. further state that "the majority of evidence supports this negative relationship" and that, in general, people with high levels of expertise are less likely to actively participate in product information searches than those with low product expertise. Similarly, we can argue that in a service environment, receivers with higher service expertise are more likely to actively search for word-of-mouth information and have a greater influence on their purchasing decisions.

The results of word-of-mouth communication are mainly reflected in the two stages of pre-purchase and post-purchase. Consumers in the pre-purchase decision-making stage will be influenced by word of mouth information, resulting in certain purchase behaviors. Similarly, consumers in the post-purchase evaluation stage will also be influenced by word of mouth information and make positive or negative evaluations.

Due to the asymmetry of product information, especially the decision risk brought by intangible services, consumers tend to receive word-of-mouth information when purchasing products or services, and even actively search word-of-mouth dissemination. When the word-of-mouth communication information is basically consistent with the product or service quality perceived by the word-of-mouth recipient, the word-of-mouth information is easy to influence the purchase decision of the word-of-mouth recipient, and finally prompt the purchase behavior consistent with the word-of-mouth information. That is, under the effect of praise of word-of-mouth communication, consumers will accept the products or services recommended by the communicators, while under the effect of negative word-of-mouth communication, consumers will give up the choice of products or services complained by the communicators.

When consumers find that the actual quality of a product or service is inconsistent with their expectations, they are easily influenced by word-of-mouth communication and make evaluations in the same direction as word-of-mouth communicators. In fact, the evaluation here includes both the pre-purchase consumer's evaluation of the purchase object and the post-purchase consumer's evaluation of the consumption experience.

When consumers perceive the quality of products or services beyond their expectations, consumers will feel satisfied, but not all satisfied customers will have word-of-mouth communication. At this time, if consumers receive word-of-mouth information consistent with their consumption experience, they will strengthen their sense of satisfaction, thus generating the impulse to further word-of-mouth communication.

(A) The focus of attention in the application

1. Correlation degree. Bansal et al. point out that in an effort to stimulate word-of-mouth messages and increase their effectiveness, market operators must attempt to clearly focus on understanding the strength of the relationship between the sender and the intended recipient. For example, if a long-distance phone service company profits from word of mouth among students, their promotional efforts not only reflect the nature of their service, but also suggest that potential customers seek word of mouth from other student customers who consider themselves friends, rather than from other customers. It is recommended to seek information from friends to highlight the role of relationship strength components in potential consumers' purchasing decisions.

2. Positive word-of-mouth process. Positive word of mouth process refers to a strong positive relationship between the recipient's expertise and the degree of active search for word of mouth information. Building on this relationship and turning it into a kind of capital, market operators can stimulate positive word-of-mouth dissemination by trying to get recipients to actively search for word-of-mouth information about the services they desire. Its mechanism of action can be explained through a framework of more than one stage.

The multi-stage theoretical framework includes: the first is to try to stimulate the demand for a particular service information. The second is to use the relationship between search activities and expertise to plan advertising campaigns to push potential consumers to the range of medium level knowledge of relevant service information. Through market research efforts, potential target consumers with low levels of expertise can easily be educated into the category of intermediate levels.

On the contrary, those who are considered to have a high level of expertise are led to doubt themselves, eventually realizing that they do not know as much expertise as originally analyzed, and thus move to the category of the intermediate level. Both of these shifts can be achieved through targeted advertising campaigns. Third, possible sources can come from friends, or from objective third party sources, such as Consumer Reports. It should be emphasized that the information source should provide the information that the sender wants most. Finally, because information is highly sought, it has the potential to have a significant impact on the receiver's purchase intent.

Since the above framework is based on an assumption that positive word of mouth flows from the transmitter to the receiver, the implementation of this framework is also risky, and negative word of mouth may have a bad impact on the actual purchase. Therefore, business operations must do all they can to maintain customer satisfaction, and those engaged in business activities must realize that by providing good service (in line with customer expectations), they can greatly influence word-of-mouth. Market relations should be actively and effectively coordinated and all activities should be customer-centric.

3. Issues of culture and internationalization. Word-of-mouth communication is actually culture-oriented, which has been paid attention by scholars in some previous studies, including communication content, communication process and communication scenario. Therefore, cross-cultural and trans-regional communication should pay attention to the target object characteristics, communication scenarios and effective communication of products and services, and condition analysis has become one of the indispensable work contents of the organization's communication related departments. In addition, the internationalization of communication has brought about significant changes in the mechanism, validity and difficulty of word-of-mouth communication, and has complicated the "understanding" and "control" of cultural effects.

4. Applicable scenarios for application communication. Not all goods are suitable for word of mouth marketing, and the effectiveness of word of mouth marketing in different goods is not the same. Daily consumer goods or products or services with large consumer groups are more suitable for word-of-mouth communication; Toys, sports goods, movies, television, entertainment and leisure are particularly affected; Financial institutions (such as banks), hotels, resorts, tobacco products, publishing products, electronics, pharmaceuticals, medical services, agriculture, food, etc., are also partially affected. However, oil, natural gas, chemical industry, rail transit, insurance, public security and other fields are basically not affected by word-of-mouth advertising.

(2) The deficiency of the theory

In the previous researches on word-of-mouth communication, we seldom see the research discussion based on Prospect Theory. In fact, prospect theory points out that when people search and receive information, they make more decision choices to avoid losses, and this process is not like the relationship predicted by traditional utility theory. Information reception is therefore influenced by the existing outlook framework, reference points, and the current "level of wealth "(the amount of useful information available to avoid losses). In other words, researchers should pay proper attention to the circumstances under which the recipient is willing to accept risky information or non-risky information and the degree of acceptance, rather than simply and linearly thinking that the recipient will always avoid risks or uncertain information.

(3) Effective word-of-mouth management

Under the background of integrated marketing, word-of-mouth communication is not a passive interpersonal communication process. Word-of-mouth communication is different from interpersonal communication in the general sense, but its commercial nature. Therefore, effective word-of-mouth communication management is particularly important.

1. Implement effective active word-of-mouth communication

The approach, like DELL's, focuses on the "customer experience." The so-called customer experience is the process in which customers interact with enterprise products, people and processes. It is to put customers in the whole process of production and manufacturing, or let customers personally enjoy the fun of consumption, so as to form a strong consumption desire of "getting what they want at the price they want, at the time they want, in the way they want." The more unforgettable the experience brought by experiential consumption, the more vivid the word-of-mouth communication formed, and the stronger the appeal will be. In fact, this is a trend in the IT era to cater to customized marketing and relationship marketing.

Use typical stories or events to build positive word of mouth. Stories or events are effective tools for spreading word of mouth because they spread with emotion. In many cases, immediate consumption is often an emotional or subliminal capture of information, rather than a lot of laborious rational analysis. For example, the Italian "Farreno" brand of men's leather shoes is associated with the story of the Crusades.

2. Conduct effective management of negative word-of-mouth communication

The integrated communication philosophy holds that it is more meaningful (efficient and effective) to retain customers than to develop them. Studies have shown that only 4% of dissatisfied customers will bring their complaints to the manufacturer, but 80% of dissatisfied customers will talk about their unpleasant experiences to those around them. Of all customers who express complaints, 54-70% will re-engage with the company if their complaints are resolved. Therefore, the establishment of a complete customer file system and effective feedback mechanism is the key to eliminate negative word-of-mouth transmission.

In fact, the idea of "treating customer complaints as capital" is a "best practice" for effective word-of-mouth management. First of all, customer complaints can enable enterprises to find and correct the mistakes of products or services in time, and obtain innovative information, so some people regard this as "free consultation". Second, customer complaints can make it possible to win customers again, providing lifetime value rather than a single transaction. Thirdly, customer complaints can provide enterprises with materials to establish and consolidate a good corporate image.

A satisfied customer is the real advertisement. To implement effective word-of-mouth management, it is necessary to eliminate the hindrance factors of customer complaints. These factors often include: not having a proper complaint channel; Customers have doubts, such as fear that the company will ignore, deal with injustice, retaliation, etc. To overcome these obstacles, companies should: encourage customers to complain, such as through incentives and compensation; Training customers on complaints (how to complain and get solutions); Establish customer complaint convenience network; Establish an effective complaint handling team.

(4) Thinking based on quality improvement

Word-of-mouth communication is studied as a marketing method, which can enrich the existing marketing theory. In the field of marketing research, word-of-mouth conceptual models are mostly built from the perspective of customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction comes from the comparison between customer perceived quality and customer expected quality. Positive word-of-mouth communication not only affects consumers' purchasing decisions, but also improves consumers' expectations of the product and its service. However, the company overindulged in praise, ignored the changes in consumers' expectations, failed to update and improve its products and services in a timely manner, which disappointed consumers and ultimately turned positive word-of-mouth communication into negative publicity. In order to keep customers satisfied, enterprises must improve the quality of products and services through continuous innovation to meet customers' increasing consumption expectations.