The science behind Word-of-Mouth

1. How to create a successful Word-of-mouth campaign MEC Interaction, Singapore

2. Have you ever wondered why consumers talk? There is a lot of talk today about word-of-mouth. But apart from using successful case-studies to prove it works not much is done on knowing why. It turns out that understanding why consumers choose to communicate is rooted in the cognitive psychological sciences.

3. The brain is designed not to think.

4. Did that line disrupt your thought process? It happens to be true. Our brains are designed to try to remain in a static state, to reserve their processing power for true emergencies or survival. A mechanism the brain uses to remain in this static state is called schemas.

5. Cognitive what? Schemas who?

6. It’s not rocket science…really. There is a mechanism the brain uses to remain in this static state and it’s called schemas. They are simply mental models that we use to make the world work. Schemas enable us to assume things and use the model to fill in the missing details.

7. OK here’s something you might relate to.

8. Have you ever been to the U.S.? (or the U.K if you are from the U.S.) Remember the first time you saw someone driving on the "wrong" side? Your schema was significantly disrupted (even if you knew about the rules of the road in advance). And guess what you did? You talked about it.

9. And here’s another one. A year ago, we all watched in awe the news recounting the successful landing of a US Airways plane on the Hudson River. We are still talking about the "Miracle on the Hudson" today. It goes back to schema disruption. The ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ significantly disrupted many schemas. Our schema is that planes don't land on water. We all had to and still do talk about this because our schemas were so significantly disrupted.

10. OK, just one more… You see the guy over there? Nobody had thought he could sing just because how he looked, probably. But when he sang, he sang so beautifully till some people cried and the crowd was so moved that they gave him a standing ovation. His singing went on YouTube and garnered over 70million views in just a few weeks. Why? Because he disrupts schemas by surprising everyone with his voice.

11. So how does this apply to marketing?

12. Disrupting a schema turns out to be at the core of word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth on brands uses these same cognitive principles. Consumers talk about brands when we disrupt a schema. They talk when we give them a piece of surprise that does not fit inside their mental model. But it’s not the same as buzz marketing. In buzz marketing, the disruption is superficial and consumers are too smart to fall for it.

13. The foundational truth is where it all starts.

14. Effective word-of-mouth disrupts schemas that consumers have on your category or brand. A good disruption should never stray too far from the foundational truth of the brand or the consumer may rejects it. Effective word-of-mouth that drives consumer advocacy disrupts mildly, not wildly, from the consumers' foundational truth.

15. Where do I start?

16. Always start with understanding the brand purpose. This is understanding the reason why the brand exists, and all messages (including word-of-mouth) must be consistent with this purpose. However, disrupting the schemas generally means a disruption from your mass-advertising message.

17. Is there an example?

18. Consumer perceived Korean-made cars to be unreliable, lacking innovation and poorly designed. KIA understood the market perception and went against all odds to produce the new Cerato that challenged consumers assumptions. Without revealing the badge, the car was then introduced by an Italian who discussed the beauty of the design and a German who highlighted the quality engineering. Consumers were asked to guess which automotive brand created the car. Unsurprisingly almost no-one guessed that the car was Korean.

19. When the brand of the car is revealed, thousands of people were surprised that a car in this class and at this price point could come with many high-end features along with design rivaling Japanese cars could actually come from the humble KIA. Their curiosity drove them to the showrooms and, in just 2 weeks, KIA sold almost four times as many cars as expected. Perception of KIA is also changing and they have become the top 3 best selling auto brand. The primary reason why most people talked about this car and more importantly that they just had to go down to the showroom to see it for themselves, was all because their schemas were disrupted. They had expected the car to be costly due to European styling cues and engineering. But they were surprised.

20. Another example… The purpose of this Secret Clinical Strength deodorant is brought to life in an advertising campaign called "Live Life. Don't Sweat It.“ They uncovered that the core schema (insights) in the category is the more active you are, the more you sweat and the worse you smell. They created a disruptive message of "The More You Move, The Better You Smell."

21. It disrupts the schema first and then is supported by the brand technology. (unique moisture-activated deodorants). Note how the word-of-mouth message is different from the traditional advertising message but consistent with the brand purpose. The result was significant conversation, 51,000 website posts, about this product both offline and online.

22. Bringing the world of cognitive science into your marketing can pay huge dividends.

23. Before you become enamored with the Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, stop and ask yourself, "What are the core schemas at play and how are we disrupting them?“ Understanding why a consumer wants to talk about your brand is one of the breakthrough areas of marketing. And it is the key to a successful word-of-mouth campaign.

24. Thank You. Content courtesy of Steve Knox. Made easily digestible by MEC Interaction, Singapore