Finding Valid Word Of Mouth Marketing Data

Davetherave at the WOM, Buzz, & Viral Marketing Communication blog for Dr. Walter Carl's class on word of mouth marketing writes, "One of the parts in Anatomy of Buzz gave evidence to the fact people communicate a bad experience to more people then a good experience." Gave two examples of recent poor customer service he had experienced. His post reminded me of an interview I conducted with Mary Beth Weber about the validity of blogging research.

Mary Beth said, "I think if someone is going to blog about a company or product, they will have had either an exceptionally good experience or an exceptionally bad experience. So if you are listening to customer bloggers you may think you have more problems than good, as typically people are more motivated to express their bad experiences."

Companies have to be cautious when evaluating online data, does it represent a valid overview of their audience?

Posted by johncass at May 15, 2006 5:52 PM