The Word on Word-of-Mouth
In the fall of 2005, we conducted a proprietary study with 800 adult consumers in which we examined the incidence and influence of word-of-mouth in several dozen product/service categories. The following white papers (pdf format) are available for downloading.
- Category Norms for Word-of-Mouth Influence. The relative importance of WOM
varies widely from category to category. Everybody wants their brand to
benefit from it, but this form of non-commercial communication is rare in
some categories and bountiful in others. Where are you?
- The Complexion of Interpersonal Influence. We define WOM
broadly to include more than literal over-the-backyard-fence conversations. In
some categories, seeing others using or interacting with brands can have a major
impact. Likewise, many report being influenced by what they absorb from
non-commercial written sources.
- Venus, Mars and Word-of-Mouth. Guess
what!? Men and women often differ in the incidence in which they talk about
brands, and are not influenced to the same degree within many categories.
Mixed Pickles
- Applying Archetypal Analysis in Marketing Research.
A paper documenting the method and illustrating it with data from a
proprietary study of U.S. Baby Boomers.
- A review of archetypal analysis
in marketing research and allied fields.
- 50 Ways to Cluster Data.
Apologies to Paul Simon.
- Brand Tracking In a
New Key. A review of our point of view about the appropriate content
for tracking surveys--which varies by context.
- A Critical Test of Self-Explicated Utility Measurement vs. Decompositional
Conjoint. A paper presented at the AMA Advanced Research Techniques
Forum in 2003. A revised version was later published in the Canadian Journal
of Marketing Research.
Newsletters
We mail a brief newsletter to clients on a quarterly basis. Newsletters include a variety of commentary, methodological notes, summaries of key points from academic articles, and reflections on interesting books from all fields that we find relevant to understanding consumers.
Following are lists of selected topics we have covered with one or more links to the original newsletters; they are available here as PDF files.
Our Action Line newsletters are available for downloading.