Supercharging the Path to Purchase: Using Word of Mouth to Drive More Consumers to Buy

Using Word-of-Mouth to Drive More Consumers to Buy

Supercharging the Path to Purchase

Ed KellerCEOKeller Fay Group

Tony CardinaleEVP, Brand Planning &

Strategic InsightsNBC Universal

Women at NBCU

•A sales, marketing, and research initiative that partners with agencies and advertisers on high ROI custom solutions

• Its Insights area is charged with delivering marketing partners new intel to guide impactful campaigns and measure corporate-wide results

What Made This Investigation Valuable

1. Women are WOM drivers

2. Women drive more purchasing in more categories than ever

3. Women are more trusted and influential

…but little is known or has been studied about the dynamics of Women’s word-of-mouth in the path to purchase

Popular Assumption

Need identified

Aware of choices

Research &narrowing

Final decision

Brandadvocate

Purchase$$$

Consumer as “prospect” Consumer as “marketer”

A New Way of ThinkingWe believed that consumers could act as effective marketers for brands even before purchase, and we wanted to understand how to effect that

Purchaseprospect

Brandadvocate

Purchase$$$

Pre-purchasemarketer

Our Partnership with Keller Fay

•NBCU had already been using Keller Fay's TalkTrack® to help our clients locate Conversation Catalysts™ across many categories

•We formed a partnership on this custom research to move beyond what we collectively knew about getting women talking at critical marketing moments

Source: Women at NBCU Power of the Purse Study Fall 2009. Total Women 18+.

Negotiating to buy a car

Planning for retirement

Buying a computer

Buying or selling stocks to make money

Dealing with a repair person

86%

80%

68%

63%

89%

97%

94%

95%

83%

98%

+11pts

+14

+27

+20

+9

2000 2009 ChangeWomen 18+ who say they do the following:

What Inspired Us? We Knew…1. Women are “in category” and driving purchasing more than ever in key general market areas

84

92

Male Female

Source: Keller Fay Group’s TalkTrack®

What Inspired Us? We Knew…

# of brands talked about weekly

2. Women are WOM drivers when it comes to brand conversations

53%46%

33%

45%

62%53%

36%

51%

Credibility ofBrand WOM

Propensityto Relay

Propensity to SeekMore Info

Propensityto Purchase

Male Female

Source: Keller Fay Group’s TalkTrack®

What Inspired Us? We Knew…

Response to word-of-mouth received from each gender

3. Women are more trusted and influential than Men, even among Men

New Questions to Answer

1. How does word-of-mouth change throughout the path to purchase?

2. What triggers WOM in different phases of the path to purchase?

Methodology

• Online survey of 4,999 representative women 18-54

• March 2010

• Measured dynamics of person-to-person communication, whether face-to-face, over the phone, or online

• Identified the point along the purchase path that each woman is at in all of the 12 categories within the 6 industries studied

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Not Relevant Needs Met Starting to Look Researching Narrowing Final

All Categories Average

WOM Plays an Increasing Role Closer to the Point of Purchase Among Women

% of WOM among women by purchase stageAll categories

Industries studied:auto, financial, payment

cards, electronics, telecom, movies

(movies not included in “all categories” analysis)

Source: NBC WOM Custom Study, March 11th – 25th 2010. Conducted by the Keller Fay Group

36%

of women have a conversation during the

narrowing or final decision-making purchase stage

Advertising Plays a Bigger Role Than Women Think


What Consumers BelieveConsumers acknowledge they rely on advertising to learn about products, but claim it plays a smaller role as they approach an actual decision

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Awareness Phase Research Phase Decision-MakingPhase

advertising as important resource

Advertising Plays a Bigger Role Than Women Think

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Awareness Phase Research Phase Decision-MakingPhase

What Consumers BelieveConsumers acknowledge they rely on advertising to learn about products, but claim it plays a smaller role as they approach an actual decision


advertising as important resource

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Needs Met Starting toLook

Researching Narrowing Final

What Consumers Do…But when consumers talk about brands, the closer they get to a decision, the more they talk about things they learned about from advertising

advertising as topic of conversation

“Pre-purchase Promoter” Period

TV & Internet Drive WOM More Than Other Paid Media at All StagesWOM % containing media/marketing references at each purchase stage

11%

5%

3%2%

1% 1%1%

13%

8%

3%2%

1%2%

1%

17%

12%

4% 4%

2% 1% 2%

14%

7%

3% 3% 3%

1% 1%

TelevisionAd

InternetAd

NewspaperAd

MagazineAd

RadioAd

Cell/MobileDevice Ad

BillboardAd

Starting to look

Researching

Narrowing choices

Final decision


Study Highlight: TV is Often the SparkRole of TV & Internet in brand WOM, across all categories

31%

24%

14%16%

Medium promptedconversation immediately

Medium promptedconversation later

Television Internet


…While WOM Often Stimulates ResearchActions taken/likely to be taken based on WOM at each purchase stage

18%

30%

33% 32%

9%

15%18%

25%

8%10%

12%

22%

3%4% 5%

11%

Needs Met Starting to Look Researching Narrowing Choices

Get More Info/Do Research on it

Visit the Brand/Company Website

Visit a Store to Find Out More About it

Spend More $Than Planned


WOM is Most Influential Later in the Purchase FunnelPurchase likelihood based on WOM by purchase stage, across all categories

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Starting to Look Researching Narrowing Final

Top 3 Box (8, 9 or 10 on 0-10pt. scale) + Already Bought


Industries studied: auto, financial, payment cards,

movies, electronics, telecom

…the Vast Majority of WOM Occurs as it Always Has…Mode of WOM by purchase stage, across all categories

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Not Relevant Needs Met Starting to Look Researching Narrowing Final

Face to Face On the Phone Online (NET)


Different Categories, Different DynamicsWOM % among women consumers containing paid media/marketing references at each purchase stage


0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%


Researching NarrowingChoices

FinalDecision

Telecom Payment Cards

Though the categories we studied showed general trends, each had its own “personality” with discrete implications as well

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%


Researching NarrowingChoices

Final Decision

Television

Internet

Magazine

Radio

Newspaper

Cell/ MobileDeviceBillboard

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%



Different Categories, Different DynamicsWOM % among women consumers containing paid media/marketing references at each purchase stage


Though the categories we studied showed general trends, each had its own “personality” with discrete implications as well

Automotive Tech/Electronics

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%



Television

Internet

Magazine

Radio

Newspaper

Cell Phone/MobileDevice

Billboard

Implications

1. Consumers are “marketers” in all purchase phases, not just post-buy

2. Word-of-mouth increases as consumers get closer to buying; indeed, there is a “Pre-Purchase Promoter” peak in the latter half of the funnel when WOM is elevated and more influential

3. TV often sparks a conversation that pushes toward online, even late in the funnel

4. Think about WOM as a key outcome of media and advertising, with different media working together along a purchase path

5. Research plays a key role: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, as patterns vary by category

Thank You!

[email protected]/kellerfayfacebook.com/kellerfay

[email protected] Keller Tony Cardinale

mailto:[email protected]�

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Supercharging the Path to Purchase: Using Word of Mouth to Drive More Consumers to Buy