The Word on WOM from "Down Under" - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

The results of Australia's most in-depth study of word of mouth finds that Australians have an average of 67.8 conversations about products, services, and brands per week, exceeding slightly the number of weekly conversations for people in the U.S. (65.7).

The research, conducted by Keller Fay for Australia's leading word-of-mouth marketing company Soup, was conducted in April and early May, 2010, and employs a methodology that captures both offline as well as online word of mouth. Comparisons are made to a comparable research study by Keller Fay that has been running in the U.S. since 2006.

Like the U.S., the categories where Australians engage most often in word of mouth are food/dining, media/entertainment, and sports and recreation. In each case, a larger proportion of Australians have daily conversations than Americans. In fact, Australians engage in more word of mouth than their U.S. counterparts in a number of categories – with the sharpest differences coming in travel services and shopping/retail.

Australians Engage in More WOM than Americans in Most Categories

Source: TalkTrack® Australia (Keller Fay for Soup) and TalkTrack® US (Keller Fay), April 2010

The specific brands that are most talked about are drawn primarily from telecom, food, tech, and autos. The following table shows the top brands for overall word of mouth (both positive and negative). Out of the top 10 in Australia, four are also WOM leaders in the US:

When it comes to brands that garner the highest levels of positive word of mouth, a somewhat different picture emerges. The top four Australian brands from the "all WOM" list remain at the top, with Apple ascending to the number one position. But numbers five through 10 are all new to the list. And clearly, Toyota's issues have not dominated the Australian water cooler as they have in the U.S., as Toyota is #6 in Australia for positive WOM.

The Australian findings further dispel the myth that word of mouth tends to be negative, as nearly two thirds of WOM conversations about brands are positive. More than half also contain an active recommendation to buy/try a brand – exactly the kind of active advocacy that marketers seek to propel them forward. The majority of advice comes from people's "inner circle" – spouses/partners (29%), friends (25%), or family (24%).

Influencers are an extremely important part of Australia's branded conversation landscape. With a social graph that is 74% larger than the general public, they have twice as many conversations about brands each day compared to the total population and they give advice 2.5 times as often – across all product categories. Influencers also rely more heavily on word of mouth from others, rating the advice they get via word of mouth as being more credible than the general public, and they are more likely to pass along what they hear to others.

As in the U.S., the Australia WOM research finds that the vast majority of word of mouth takes place offline, either face to face (82%) or via the phone (10%). Less than 10% of WOM takes place via online channels such as social networking sites, texting, or emailing. In commenting on the results, Katie Rigg Smith, Partner, Communications Planning at Mindshare – a partner in the research with Soup – noted, "The advent of digital and online social communities has put word of mouth in the form of 'online buzz' at the forefront of the communications agenda. However, there is still a massive knowledge gap in the measurement of 'real world buzz.' What excited us most about being part of this study is the ability to glean insights around the impact that 'real world buzz' can have for our brands and then the relative impact of this to online buzz and how one combined with the other can drive the best response for our clients."

Ed Keller, CEO of the Keller Fay Group, has been called "one of the most recognized names in word of mouth." The publication of Keller's book,The Influentials, has been called the "seminal moment in the development of word of mouth." Ed can be contacted at ekeller@kellerfay.com.

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