Measuring Word of Mouth Marketing - Conference Notes

As my colleague Julie Woods mentioned in her last post, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association hosted a conference yesterday focused on measuring word of mouth.  I was fortunate to attend this sold out event with over 200 people packed into a room at the Chicago Sheraton. WOMMA president Andy Sernovitz greeted the crowd and immediately informed us that he had to close registration 20 days before the conference (an unprecedented event in his eyes).  I must say, Andy and his staff (including Communications Director Michael Rubin and a couple of star interns) did a terrific job pulling the conference together in a short amount of time.

As Andy (full of energy and anticipation) addressed the crowd he reminded us of a conference he held in July of 1994 entitled "Measuring Interactive Marketing". Skip ahead 11 years to the month and we are holding the first-ever conference on measurement and metrics in word of mouth marketing. 

WOMMA was founded on the premise that word of mouth should be part of the mainstream marketing mix.  And although it was clear from the presenters that word of mouth is nothing new, WOMMA and its members introduced a new field they called "Word of Mouth Measurement".  The hope is that both the conference and WOMMA inspire further discussion and debate throughout the rest of the industry.

The measurement conference was first organized to release the WOMMA Terminology framework- a standard method for discussing the measuring of word of mouth marketing.  To summarize Andy and backtrack a bit, members of WOMMA realized early on that everyone was talking about he same thing, but using different words and contexts.  Additionally, everyone was saying that certain people and companies invented these terms and already trademarked many of the best terms.  The association decided to address this and formed the Research and Metrics Council.  The goals of the council include:

1. To develop a common language of word of mouth-related terms and definitions
2. Figure out how to measure and track word of mouth
3. Learn how to integrate word of mouth with other forms of marketing media

You can read more on the terminology framework here. 

Sessions at the conference tackled issues such as The ROI of WOM:  Measuring the Impact of Word of Mouth in Your Marketing.  Laurent Flores of CRM Metix offered a "10 Point Road Map to Planning and Measuring ROI"

1. Measure to Manage
2. Involve "the right people"
3. Develop the "right message" for the right people
4. "The right process" - involve your opinion leaders in the "name of research"
5. Actively measure the short term effects on sales that your WOM program generates
6. "Passively listen" to the buzz that your WOM program generates"
7. "Actively listen" to your opinion leaders online community - suggesting a Consumer-to-Consumer model
8. Measure and value the long term impact of WOM on your company brand growth and bottom line
9. Measure provides the knowledge that is critical to improve and refine
10. Be confident, you did your homework...but make sure you are listening

Ann Green of Millward Brown suggested that companies measure WOM by first using (software) tools, then by

• looking at WOMunits (according to the terminology framework - a WOMUnit is a single unit of marketing-relevant information.  The term describes the message passed from one consumer to another)
• Number of advocates
• brand recommendations
• strength of recommendation
• perceptions
• depth

Ann did a great job in her response to the question "why do big brands and companies launch WOM campaigns in the first place?" basically since they are already so well known? She said that companies want to appear different or express themselves differently, they want to grow in popularity and want to appear innovative.  I would also suggest that they want to stay fresh and relevant.

Overall, a big congratulations goes out to all involved with this first of its kind conference.  As WOMMA reminds us, word of mouth marketing is increasingly viewed as an important complement to traditional media and is an essential part of the marketing mix.