Does word of mouth ever end?!!!
I just had a look at this video that was sent to me by a good friend (skip watching it if you don’t have 2.5 minutes).
Many would say this is a great summary of how today’s communications world works …and its influence on the purchase cycle. It basically covers most touch points (pre and post purchase). The whole journey starts with envy/need, followed by google, reviews, youtube, blogs, twitter, the uncle, the friend of a friend, the neighbour, ownership, personal reference, facebook, tweeting, recommending etc etc etc
The video finishes with a statistic:
Brands that act on customers behalf have 44% more advocates.
And a tag line…
When advocates talk brands grow
Ok so now we know something we already knew…word of mouth is a powerful thing, and an advocate of a product/service is more likely to tell others about it! I have no intention in questioning this.
I want to talk about something entirely different…. Watching the video did not make me feel enlightened in anyway. However it definitely reinforced another feeling, one I have had for a while.
I CAN’T BE DOING WITH ALL THIS ADVICE AND FEEDBACK ANYMORE!!!!
Where did the time of ‘I would quite like one of these, so I stroll down to the closest shop, do a bit of looking around, touching and feeling, have a chat with the sales guy and Bob’s your uncle’ go? The whole process used to be over and done with in just a few hours, or less in some instances. To me all this ‘help’ seems to be dragging the purchasing cycle right down to infinity!!!!
I know what you’re thinking, I would end up paying X% more than if I had gone on line to buy it ….this is probably true. But looking at it from the bright side, I would not have spent valuable time reading through 1,000,000 reviews, or watching 10,000 Youtube clips.
You’re now asking yourself how, if I go about it this way, can I possibly know that I have chosen the best product. That is the point, I don’t! I don’t because I did not expose myself to a million websites, reviews and chat forums in an attempt to make an educated choice. Because I did not do that my consideration set was a lot smaller. This is exactly what made my choice (and therefore life) easier. But wait it does not end there, because I’m not aware of all the products I could have chosen, I don’t have any post purchase ‘have I made the right choice’ freak out!
In summary I have saved time, my soul is at ease, and that to me is worth any markup on price!
Filed under: Advertising/Media, Findings, Thoughts | 4 Comments
is it perhaps because you are french, that you would prefer to wander the streets rather than spend time searching through millions of sites/videos – and then perhaps stop for an esspresso or two – before completing your purchase? x
It is for a reason we have the phrase ‘Joie de vivre!!!’ and yes the street and an esspresso are most definitely part of ‘La joie de vivre’!!!
You’re right. I think it’s all about the balance and after all I’m sure the time we spend on the Internet looking for advices has a cost. After all don’t we say “time is money”
I agree to your post… if you don’t know what your missing… you don’t miss it.