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Womma Term Framework

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Mindblossom Toronto

This document provides a terminology framework for discussing and measuring word-of-mouth marketing. It defines key terms like word-of-mouth, participants, actions, WOM units, venues, and outcomes. Qualities are also described for each that provide additional context, like the propensity of a participant, velocity of an action, or topicality of a WOM unit. The framework aims to create common terminology across both online and offline word-of-mouth techniques to better plan, measure, and compare campaigns.

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womma Word of Mouth Marketing Association WOMMA Terminology Framework A Standard Method for Discussing and Measuring Word of Mouth Marketing Co-Authored by the Members of WOMMA’s Research and Metrics Council July 12, 2005 The practice of word of mouth marketing is composed of a diverse set of techniques, many of which are being newly implemented by firms from a wide range of industries and specialties. Until now, there has been no common language or methodology available for discussing, measuring, or comparing the impact of various word of mouth marketing efforts. Word of mouth marketing is increasingly viewed as an important complement to traditional media and an essential part of the marketing mix. However, the lack of consistent measurement tools has made it extremely difficult to allocate budgets or plan campaigns using these techniques. © 2005 Word of Mouth Marketing Association
WOMMA Research and Metrics Council Co-Chairs Drafting Committee Jonathan Carson - BuzzMetrics Idil Çakim - Burson-Marsteller Ed Keller - GfK NOP Walter Carl - Northeastern University David Godes - Harvard Business School Karthik Iyer - Intelliseek Gregory Wester - VoodooVox Council Members Terry Pittman - AOL Pete Blackshaw - Intelliseek Sarahbeth Grossman - Buena Vista Home Trish Powell - Intuit Entertainment Gary Stein - Jupiter Research Joe Pilotta - BIGresearch Joshua Sinel - Kaava John Moore - Brand Autopsy Lance Porter - Louisiana State University Matt McGlinn - BzzAgent George Silverman - Market Navigation Ted Morris, Bradley Silver - Brandimensions Matthew Stradiotto - Matchstick Sarah Dietz - Burson-Marsteller Pete McCoy - Moroch Max Kalehoff - BuzzMetrics Ann Green, Lisa Parente - Millward Brown Kathy Baughman, Steve Hershberger - ComBlu Charles Buchwalter - Nielsen//NetRatings Daniel Hess, Alissa Ostrowski, Jeremy Shermak Jon Berry, Brad Fay - GfK NOP - comScore Networks Michael Lewis - OnMessage Communications Laurent Florès - CRM Metrix Promise Phelon - The Phelon Group Andrew Bernstein, Jeffrey Feldman, Cindy Sullivan Neil Foote - Reach Media - Cymfony Dan Buczaczer, Richard Fielding - Starcom David Reis - DEI Worldwide Max Kilger - Simmons Market Research Bureau Karen Kraft - Decision Analyst Larry Burns, Michael Weiss - StartSampling Carl Mela - Duke University Jim Sterne - Target Marketing Lori Henderson - Fidelity Investments Barbara Venza - Thomas Industrial Network Jeff Eisenberg - Future Now Chris Dellarocas - University of Maryland Dave Evans - GSD&M Sean Glass - Higher One WOMMA Terminology Framework 2
Objective Purpose Process The purpose of the WOMMA Terminology Framework This document was drafted by the WOMMA Research and is to provide a unified framework for describing and Metrics Council, a mixed-industry working group of mar- measuring word of mouth marketing. ket research experts, agencies, brand marketers, academ- ics, and word of mouth marketing specialists. Drafting This Framework provides the units and nomenclature took place from November 2004 to June 2005 through that media companies, word of mouth marketing services online, teleconference, and in-person discussions and de- firms, and brand marketers can use to plan, price, buy, and bates. measure word of mouth marketing campaigns. Complex issues and decisions that were faced during the The goals of the WOMMA Terminology Framework are: drafting process include: • Create common terminology that enables discus- • Avoiding pre-existing marketing sion and measurement across techniques. terms. Since many of these terms have different meanings in different media, • Support existing research and services without re- every effort has been made to set media- quiring major reconfiguration. neutral definitions. To improve clarity, we • Remain media-neutral and support both offline created new terms to replace terms com- and online word of mouth. monly used in other marketing contexts. • Enable calculation of the ROI of word of mouth For example, the committee suggested campaigns that work with standard media plans. using "impression" instead of "receipt" to avoid confusion between online advertis- • Support non-traditional campaign objectives, in ing and word of mouth marketing mea- addition to impression-, conversion-, or awareness- sures. based goals. • Avoiding bias toward online media. Word of mouth marketing occurs both Scope in online and offline environments. The Rather than produce a definitive set of rigid standards, council established standards that would the goal has been to keep this document simple. WOMMA apply to any technique. members hope to build on the proposed framework • Avoiding bias toward active word of through open discussions with the larger marketing com- mouth campaigns, as compared to "or- munity. ganic" word of mouth, which is generated through day-to-day customer experience Basic Building Blocks: As the official trade association for and product design. the word of mouth marketing industry, our job is to create building blocks for this marketing technique. Individual companies can then tailor these blocks to build more so- Future Work phisticated models according to their own business needs This document is the first step in bringing order to a new and requirements. and complex marketing environment. We expect that this document will continue to evolve as the industry evolves. No Pricing Discussion: Federal anti-trust law prohibits The terms defined in this document are not being pub- trade associations from discussing pricing issues or mod- lished as final definitions, but as a starting point for intense els, so these topics are neither addressed here nor will they discussion. We chose to publish at this point because the be in future documents. framework is mature enough to be tested and vetted by the marketplace. We look forward to your feedback and participation. WOMMA Terminology Framework
Framework Overview Basic Definitions Qualities • Word of mouth (WOM): The act of a consumer Terms that describe Participants creating and/or distributing marketing-relevant • Propensity: The likeliness of a consumer to take information to another consumer. an action. • Word of mouth marketing: An effort by an • Demographics: Descriptive data such as age, organization to affect how consumers create and/or gender, location, etc. distribute marketing-relevant information to other • Credibility: Ability to impact the behavior or consumers. (Alternative: An effort by an organization opinions of others. to encourage, facilitate, and amplify marketing- relevant communication among consumers.) • Reach: A Participant's potential audience size. • WOM Episode: A single occurrence of word of mouth communication, which includes Participants, Terms that describe Actions Actions, WOMUnits, Venues, and Outcomes. • Velocity: The speed at which a WOMUnit moves • Distribution Spread: The number of Receivers reached by a Sender. Objects • Source Diversity: The number of different Participants — Creator, Sender, Receiver Senders that send a WOMUnit to a Receiver. Individuals whose actions make up a WOM Episode. Participants may serve multiple roles. Terms that describe WOMUnits Action • Topicality: Degree that the marketing message is What participants do to create, pass along, or contained in the WOMUnit. respond to a WOMUnit. • Timeliness: Whether the WOMUnit arrives in time to be relevant to a campaign. WOMUnit • Polarity: Whether the message content is A single unit of marketing-relevant information positive or negative. shared by a consumer. • Clarity: Whether the message is understood by the receiver. Venue The medium or physical location where the • Depth: The aspects and/or qualities that increase communication takes place. persuasiveness. Terms that describe Venues Outcomes • Population: Total possible audience for a The marketing impact of a WOM Episode WOMUnit in a Venue. • Consumptions: The Receiver directly consumes the • Audience: Number of Receivers that actually get WOMUnit but takes no further action. the WOMUnit. • Inquiries: The Receiver seeks more information after • Rules: Whether a WOMUnit complies with consuming the WOMUnit. policies set by a Venue. • Conversions: The Receiver completes a desired action after consuming the WOMUnit. • Relays: The Receiver re-distributes the WOMUnit • Re-creations: The Receiver creates a new WOMUnit after consuming the WOMUnit. WOMMA Terminology Framework 4
Visual Summary This chart illustrates what happens during a Word of Mouth Episode. A Participant takes an Action on a WOMUnit in a Venue, resulting in an Outcome. Each of these objects can be further described by several Qualities. WOM Who How What Where Result Episode Objects Participant Action WOMUnit Venue Outcome Topicality Propensity Velocity Timeliness Population Demographics Distribution Qualities Spread Polarity Audience Credibility Source Clarity Rules Reach Diversity Depth WOMMA Terminology Framework 5
Participants Participants are . . . … the individuals whose actions make up a WOM Episode. In most cases, a Participant is a consumer, not a marketer. (This is one of the key elements that distinguishes a word of mouth communication from traditional marketing.) Types of Participants Creator: A consumer who creates a WOMUnit Sender: A consumer who distributes a WOMUnit Receiver: A consumer who receives a WOMUnit Notes: • Participants can fill multiple roles. A Creator and a Sender are often the same person. For example, someone who posts comments on a message board both created and sent the message. A Creator becomes a Sender when he or she relays a message. • Marketers may act as Participants to start a WOM campaign, but it doesn't become WOM until a consumer passes it along. Example: A marketer creates a viral email, sends it to consumers, who then become Senders when they pass it along. Qualities that describe Participants Quality Description Example Propensity A measure of how likely • A high-Propensity Creator would be a person who a Participant is to take an frequently makes recommendations about a brand. action. • A frequent blogger who mentions products has high Propensity. • A high-Propensity Sender could be someone who forwards the WOMUnit to many different people. Demographics Standard descriptive • Age, Income, Gender, Education, etc. demographic characteristics of Participants. Credibility A measure of a Participant's • A close friend may have more Credibility than an ability to impact the acquaintance. behavior or opinions of • Other doctors may have more Credibility to a others, as perceived by the physician than pharmaceutical sales reps. Receivers. • The rating of an Amazon.com reviewer. Reach A measure of a Participant's • The number of individuals that an individual has on potential audience size. their IM “Buddy List.” • The number of blogs that link to a particular blogger. • The number of members of organizations to which an individual belongs. • The number of people in an individual's social or “recommending” circle. WOMMA Terminology Framework
Actions Actions are . . . . . . what Participants do with a WOMUnit in a word of mouth communication. Types of Actions Creations: Number of WOMUnits created • A Participant initiates a conversation with one or more people containing marketing-relevant information. • A Participant writes a review about a new restaurant on a city entertainment web site. Distributions: Number of WOMUnits distributed • A Participant recommends a product they have tried to five friends. • A Participant forwards an email with a review of a software product their company is considering purchasing to three executives. Receipts: Number of WOMUnits received • A Participant reads several posts on a message board. • A Participant hears a recommendation for a product. Notes: • Distributions may not always be separate from Creations. For example, verbally telling a friend about a product involves a simultaneous Creation and Distribution. • Distributions are related to the traditional media measures of Reach and Frequency. Qualities that describe Actions Quality Description Example Velocity A measure of the speed • A high Velocity viral email is forwarded to a large with which a WOMUnit is audience very quickly. being distributed. • A low Velocity WOMUnit is a personal recommendation that reaches a target Audience over months. Distribution The number of Receivers • High Distribution Spread is when one Sender tells many Spread reached by a single Sender. different people about a movie they enjoyed, or posts the review on a web site. • Low Distribution Spread is when one Sender tells only a few friends. Source The number of different • High Source Diversity is when someone hears about a Diversity Senders that send a movie from many different people. WOMUnit to a Receiver. • Low Source Diversity is when someone hears about a movie from just a few people. WOMMA Terminology Framework
WOMUnits A WOMUnit is . . . . . . a single unit of marketing-relevant information. This term describes the message passed from one con- sumer to another. The term WOMUnit was chosen because it is media-agnostic. Since word of mouth takes place both online and offline, a WOMUnit is a neutral term that reflects the unique nature of word of mouth as a cross-medium form of communication. Creating a standard unit that works across media is the first step toward measuring ROI across all media. A WOMUnit is a consumer comment — not advertising, PR, or other corporate-driven messaging. If a com- pany purchases an ad, it's an ad. If people talk about the ad, it's a WOMUnit. Examples: Conversation, comment on a message board, letter to the editor, Amazon.com author review, email, blog post, comment on a blog post, or talk about a news story or PR event. Qualities that describe WOMUnits Quality Description Example Topicality A measure of the degree • In a campaign to promote brightly colored PCs, a to which a desired message about microprocessors would have low marketing message Topicality. is contained in the • A protest campaign about chicken-raising practices WOMUnit. against a fast food outlet would have low Topicality for the restaurant, but high Topicality for an activist group. Timeliness A measure of whether • An email about a retail promotion has low Timeliness if the WOMUnit arrives in it is forwarded after the sale is over. time to be relevant to a specific campaign. Polarity A measure of the • Participants on a travel web site can post reviews and positive vs. negative rate their vacation experiences as positive or negative. content of the WOMUnit. Clarity A measure that • Many customer service web sites now include a link determines if a message that asks Was this helpful? is understood by the Receiver as it was intended by the Sender. Depth The richness or amount • High-production-value video email may be more of visual, written, or persuasive than a text email. verbal information • An in-depth conversation with a friend is a richer included in a WOMUnit, WOMUnit than a casual mention. assuming that these • A communication that gives specific reasons why a aspects increase consumer had a positive experience with a brand message persuasiveness. will usually be more persuasive than a simple recommentation. WOMMA Terminology Framework
Venue A Venue is. . . . . . the medium or location where the communication takes place. Examples • In-person conversation • Blog • Email • Concert • Online community • Water cooler • User-group meetings • Trade shows or conferences • Social gatherings or civic meetings Qualities that describe Venues Quality Description Example Population The total possible audience for a • The total number of people at a concert is WOM Unit in the Venue. the Population. Those who get told by a street team about a special promotion are the Audience. Audience The number of Recipients who • A popular blog has a large Population; those receive or are exposed to the who actually read or forward a particular post WOMUnit, in a given Venue. are the Audience. • A small Population fan club for a band could still be an important WOM venue. Rules Rules set by the Venue that • WOMUnits created by a blog-spammer, limit WOM activities or make a an actor impersonating a consumer, or WOMUnit invalid. vandalizing property would be against the Rules. • WOMMA encourages reporting that identifies unethical WOMUnits that violate the Rules of a Venue. WOMMA Terminology Framework
Outcomes Outcomes are . . . . . . the marketing impacts of a WOM Episode. Preferred outcomes vary based on the campaign objectives. Types of Outcomes Consumptions The Receiver directly consumes the WOMUnit and forms an impression of the brand or product/ser- vice, but takes no further action. Consumptions correlate to the Action of “Receipt.” Inquiries The Receiver seeks more information after consuming the WOMUnit. Conversions The Receiver completes a desired action after consuming the WOMUnit. Relays The Receiver re-distributes the WOMUnit (thereby becoming a Sender). Recreations The Receiver creates a new WOMUnit after consuming the WOMUnit (thereby becoming a Creator). Discussion of Outcomes When discussing Outcomes, perspectives and priorities varied widely based on the drafters' fields. For example, agen- cies were strongly in favor of creating Outcomes that correlated much more strongly with traditional purchase-focused media measures. Grassroots or PR firms saw the Actions themselves as the priority — where getting people to relay or create a message was a worthy outcome in its own right. We chose to take the broader definitions to avoid limiting cam- paign objectives (and the utility of WOM in general). Objectives may be purchase-related or they may be intermediate objectives (awareness, favorability, consideration). Many WOM programs address different aspects of the communications lifecycle. • A traditional promotional campaign may desire Conversions or Inquiries. • An evangelism/grassroots motivational campaign may desire to inspire a high number of Actions. • An information-gathering objective may desire participants to provide feedback for study without at- tempting to drive sales. WOMMA Terminology Framework 10
Sample Usage of Framework Terms Objective: Drive brand awareness of a product. Objective: Drive sales to a retail store. • Example: Use a viral email campaign. • Example: Shoppers were sent coupon codes in the mail • 00 Participants were recruited to Distribute ,000 mes- that they could give to friends via email or in person. sages (the WOMUnits). These were further Relayed by • 0% of the seed group became Senders, each another 1,000 Receivers, who became Senders. The mes- Distributing to an average of Receivers. More than sages had a high Topicality because they were Relayed 14% of those Receivers visited the store and 10% of with the original text. The Outcome was 15,000 Inquiries them Converted. Timeliness was low, because a signifi- to the target web site. cant number of visits happened after the promotion had ended. 20% of Recipients also became Senders by Objective: Activate a loyal user base to get them Relaying the offer. involved with a product. • Example: Use an outreach campaign with active users. Objective: Create awareness of an issue. • A postcard was sent to 00 active users of the company's • Example: Team hats were distributed to consumers at a online community, asking them to post messages on the basketball game Venue to promote a sale of new mer- community site. There were few Senders and Receivers chandise. since the objective was not to have messages sent out- • Group 1 had very appealing Demographics and mid- side the community. A total of 00 WOMUnits were cre- level Propensity to share the message. Their message ated by Participants who Re-created their own posts had low Topicality because all that was mentioned was based on the content. The Polarity was highly positive the brand name, not the target attributes. Group 2 was because everyone was a supporter of the cause. much smaller, but much more active. They described the product with a great deal of detail about colors, features, Objective: Promote awareness of a food product and other attributes, providing a much more Credible using evangelists. and Deep WOMUnit. This group resulted in far more Inquiries and Conversions. • Example: Give out free samples to recruited evangelists. • 150 evangelists took the samples and talked about them Objective: Introduce a new portable electronics in real world settings such as stores and community cen- product. ters. Credibility was very high because Receivers knew the Senders personally. Topicality was low because the • Example: Advertise in a series of magazines whose audi- desired brand message was about health and most of ence Demographics are skewed toward people interest- the conversations were about low price. Nonetheless, ed in the product category and have a high Propensity Consumptions and Inquiries were very high even if they to engage in word of mouth. The ad includes a “call to weren't based on the original brand message. action” that offers a free product demonstration for “you and your friends.” Objective: Create buzz about an upcoming movie • The promotion resulted in more than the target num- premiere. ber of Inquiries from friends of those who read the ad. Velocity was low, but Topicality was high based on the • Example: Outreach to blogs read by three groups of number of well-informed Receivers asking about the highly influential consumers. product. • Readers of Group 1 were very high Propensity Senders, which resulted in 1,000 Distributions and a large num- ber of Consumptions. Readers of Group 2 had very low Propensity to become Creators themselves, but those who did turned out to have high Credibility. Group was very actively viral, resulting in a large number of new Creations and Distributions. However, Polarity was nega- tive and Topicality was low because this group was active mainly because they were angry about intrusive market- ing on their favorite blogs. WOMMA Terminology Framework 11
womma Word of Mouth Marketing Association About WOMMA Contact Us WOMMA is the official trade Word of Mouth Marketing Association association for the word of mouth W. North Avenue, #500 marketing industry. Chicago, IL 010 Our mission is to build a prosperous 12-5-005 word of mouth marketing industry based on ethics, best practices, and www.womma.org measurable ROI. Our members are leading the efforts necessary to create a new, successful marketing field. We’re growing WOM from a small specialty into an essential part of the marketing mix. • We’re fantastic brands and marketers who know that happy customers are our most powerful advocates. • We’re innovative agencies who understand how to empower and amplify the voice of the consumer. • And we’re the good guys, committed to protecting consumers with strong ethical guidelines. Join us!

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Womma Term Framework

  • 1. womma Word of Mouth Marketing Association WOMMA Terminology Framework A Standard Method for Discussing and Measuring Word of Mouth Marketing Co-Authored by the Members of WOMMA’s Research and Metrics Council July 12, 2005 The practice of word of mouth marketing is composed of a diverse set of techniques, many of which are being newly implemented by firms from a wide range of industries and specialties. Until now, there has been no common language or methodology available for discussing, measuring, or comparing the impact of various word of mouth marketing efforts. Word of mouth marketing is increasingly viewed as an important complement to traditional media and an essential part of the marketing mix. However, the lack of consistent measurement tools has made it extremely difficult to allocate budgets or plan campaigns using these techniques. © 2005 Word of Mouth Marketing Association
  • 2. WOMMA Research and Metrics Council Co-Chairs Drafting Committee Jonathan Carson - BuzzMetrics Idil Çakim - Burson-Marsteller Ed Keller - GfK NOP Walter Carl - Northeastern University David Godes - Harvard Business School Karthik Iyer - Intelliseek Gregory Wester - VoodooVox Council Members Terry Pittman - AOL Pete Blackshaw - Intelliseek Sarahbeth Grossman - Buena Vista Home Trish Powell - Intuit Entertainment Gary Stein - Jupiter Research Joe Pilotta - BIGresearch Joshua Sinel - Kaava John Moore - Brand Autopsy Lance Porter - Louisiana State University Matt McGlinn - BzzAgent George Silverman - Market Navigation Ted Morris, Bradley Silver - Brandimensions Matthew Stradiotto - Matchstick Sarah Dietz - Burson-Marsteller Pete McCoy - Moroch Max Kalehoff - BuzzMetrics Ann Green, Lisa Parente - Millward Brown Kathy Baughman, Steve Hershberger - ComBlu Charles Buchwalter - Nielsen//NetRatings Daniel Hess, Alissa Ostrowski, Jeremy Shermak Jon Berry, Brad Fay - GfK NOP - comScore Networks Michael Lewis - OnMessage Communications Laurent Florès - CRM Metrix Promise Phelon - The Phelon Group Andrew Bernstein, Jeffrey Feldman, Cindy Sullivan Neil Foote - Reach Media - Cymfony Dan Buczaczer, Richard Fielding - Starcom David Reis - DEI Worldwide Max Kilger - Simmons Market Research Bureau Karen Kraft - Decision Analyst Larry Burns, Michael Weiss - StartSampling Carl Mela - Duke University Jim Sterne - Target Marketing Lori Henderson - Fidelity Investments Barbara Venza - Thomas Industrial Network Jeff Eisenberg - Future Now Chris Dellarocas - University of Maryland Dave Evans - GSD&M Sean Glass - Higher One WOMMA Terminology Framework 2
  • 3. Objective Purpose Process The purpose of the WOMMA Terminology Framework This document was drafted by the WOMMA Research and is to provide a unified framework for describing and Metrics Council, a mixed-industry working group of mar- measuring word of mouth marketing. ket research experts, agencies, brand marketers, academ- ics, and word of mouth marketing specialists. Drafting This Framework provides the units and nomenclature took place from November 2004 to June 2005 through that media companies, word of mouth marketing services online, teleconference, and in-person discussions and de- firms, and brand marketers can use to plan, price, buy, and bates. measure word of mouth marketing campaigns. Complex issues and decisions that were faced during the The goals of the WOMMA Terminology Framework are: drafting process include: • Create common terminology that enables discus- • Avoiding pre-existing marketing sion and measurement across techniques. terms. Since many of these terms have different meanings in different media, • Support existing research and services without re- every effort has been made to set media- quiring major reconfiguration. neutral definitions. To improve clarity, we • Remain media-neutral and support both offline created new terms to replace terms com- and online word of mouth. monly used in other marketing contexts. • Enable calculation of the ROI of word of mouth For example, the committee suggested campaigns that work with standard media plans. using "impression" instead of "receipt" to avoid confusion between online advertis- • Support non-traditional campaign objectives, in ing and word of mouth marketing mea- addition to impression-, conversion-, or awareness- sures. based goals. • Avoiding bias toward online media. Word of mouth marketing occurs both Scope in online and offline environments. The Rather than produce a definitive set of rigid standards, council established standards that would the goal has been to keep this document simple. WOMMA apply to any technique. members hope to build on the proposed framework • Avoiding bias toward active word of through open discussions with the larger marketing com- mouth campaigns, as compared to "or- munity. ganic" word of mouth, which is generated through day-to-day customer experience Basic Building Blocks: As the official trade association for and product design. the word of mouth marketing industry, our job is to create building blocks for this marketing technique. Individual companies can then tailor these blocks to build more so- Future Work phisticated models according to their own business needs This document is the first step in bringing order to a new and requirements. and complex marketing environment. We expect that this document will continue to evolve as the industry evolves. No Pricing Discussion: Federal anti-trust law prohibits The terms defined in this document are not being pub- trade associations from discussing pricing issues or mod- lished as final definitions, but as a starting point for intense els, so these topics are neither addressed here nor will they discussion. We chose to publish at this point because the be in future documents. framework is mature enough to be tested and vetted by the marketplace. We look forward to your feedback and participation. WOMMA Terminology Framework
  • 4. Framework Overview Basic Definitions Qualities • Word of mouth (WOM): The act of a consumer Terms that describe Participants creating and/or distributing marketing-relevant • Propensity: The likeliness of a consumer to take information to another consumer. an action. • Word of mouth marketing: An effort by an • Demographics: Descriptive data such as age, organization to affect how consumers create and/or gender, location, etc. distribute marketing-relevant information to other • Credibility: Ability to impact the behavior or consumers. (Alternative: An effort by an organization opinions of others. to encourage, facilitate, and amplify marketing- relevant communication among consumers.) • Reach: A Participant's potential audience size. • WOM Episode: A single occurrence of word of mouth communication, which includes Participants, Terms that describe Actions Actions, WOMUnits, Venues, and Outcomes. • Velocity: The speed at which a WOMUnit moves • Distribution Spread: The number of Receivers reached by a Sender. Objects • Source Diversity: The number of different Participants — Creator, Sender, Receiver Senders that send a WOMUnit to a Receiver. Individuals whose actions make up a WOM Episode. Participants may serve multiple roles. Terms that describe WOMUnits Action • Topicality: Degree that the marketing message is What participants do to create, pass along, or contained in the WOMUnit. respond to a WOMUnit. • Timeliness: Whether the WOMUnit arrives in time to be relevant to a campaign. WOMUnit • Polarity: Whether the message content is A single unit of marketing-relevant information positive or negative. shared by a consumer. • Clarity: Whether the message is understood by the receiver. Venue The medium or physical location where the • Depth: The aspects and/or qualities that increase communication takes place. persuasiveness. Terms that describe Venues Outcomes • Population: Total possible audience for a The marketing impact of a WOM Episode WOMUnit in a Venue. • Consumptions: The Receiver directly consumes the • Audience: Number of Receivers that actually get WOMUnit but takes no further action. the WOMUnit. • Inquiries: The Receiver seeks more information after • Rules: Whether a WOMUnit complies with consuming the WOMUnit. policies set by a Venue. • Conversions: The Receiver completes a desired action after consuming the WOMUnit. • Relays: The Receiver re-distributes the WOMUnit • Re-creations: The Receiver creates a new WOMUnit after consuming the WOMUnit. WOMMA Terminology Framework 4
  • 5. Visual Summary This chart illustrates what happens during a Word of Mouth Episode. A Participant takes an Action on a WOMUnit in a Venue, resulting in an Outcome. Each of these objects can be further described by several Qualities. WOM Who How What Where Result Episode Objects Participant Action WOMUnit Venue Outcome Topicality Propensity Velocity Timeliness Population Demographics Distribution Qualities Spread Polarity Audience Credibility Source Clarity Rules Reach Diversity Depth WOMMA Terminology Framework 5
  • 6. Participants Participants are . . . … the individuals whose actions make up a WOM Episode. In most cases, a Participant is a consumer, not a marketer. (This is one of the key elements that distinguishes a word of mouth communication from traditional marketing.) Types of Participants Creator: A consumer who creates a WOMUnit Sender: A consumer who distributes a WOMUnit Receiver: A consumer who receives a WOMUnit Notes: • Participants can fill multiple roles. A Creator and a Sender are often the same person. For example, someone who posts comments on a message board both created and sent the message. A Creator becomes a Sender when he or she relays a message. • Marketers may act as Participants to start a WOM campaign, but it doesn't become WOM until a consumer passes it along. Example: A marketer creates a viral email, sends it to consumers, who then become Senders when they pass it along. Qualities that describe Participants Quality Description Example Propensity A measure of how likely • A high-Propensity Creator would be a person who a Participant is to take an frequently makes recommendations about a brand. action. • A frequent blogger who mentions products has high Propensity. • A high-Propensity Sender could be someone who forwards the WOMUnit to many different people. Demographics Standard descriptive • Age, Income, Gender, Education, etc. demographic characteristics of Participants. Credibility A measure of a Participant's • A close friend may have more Credibility than an ability to impact the acquaintance. behavior or opinions of • Other doctors may have more Credibility to a others, as perceived by the physician than pharmaceutical sales reps. Receivers. • The rating of an Amazon.com reviewer. Reach A measure of a Participant's • The number of individuals that an individual has on potential audience size. their IM “Buddy List.” • The number of blogs that link to a particular blogger. • The number of members of organizations to which an individual belongs. • The number of people in an individual's social or “recommending” circle. WOMMA Terminology Framework
  • 7. Actions Actions are . . . . . . what Participants do with a WOMUnit in a word of mouth communication. Types of Actions Creations: Number of WOMUnits created • A Participant initiates a conversation with one or more people containing marketing-relevant information. • A Participant writes a review about a new restaurant on a city entertainment web site. Distributions: Number of WOMUnits distributed • A Participant recommends a product they have tried to five friends. • A Participant forwards an email with a review of a software product their company is considering purchasing to three executives. Receipts: Number of WOMUnits received • A Participant reads several posts on a message board. • A Participant hears a recommendation for a product. Notes: • Distributions may not always be separate from Creations. For example, verbally telling a friend about a product involves a simultaneous Creation and Distribution. • Distributions are related to the traditional media measures of Reach and Frequency. Qualities that describe Actions Quality Description Example Velocity A measure of the speed • A high Velocity viral email is forwarded to a large with which a WOMUnit is audience very quickly. being distributed. • A low Velocity WOMUnit is a personal recommendation that reaches a target Audience over months. Distribution The number of Receivers • High Distribution Spread is when one Sender tells many Spread reached by a single Sender. different people about a movie they enjoyed, or posts the review on a web site. • Low Distribution Spread is when one Sender tells only a few friends. Source The number of different • High Source Diversity is when someone hears about a Diversity Senders that send a movie from many different people. WOMUnit to a Receiver. • Low Source Diversity is when someone hears about a movie from just a few people. WOMMA Terminology Framework
  • 8. WOMUnits A WOMUnit is . . . . . . a single unit of marketing-relevant information. This term describes the message passed from one con- sumer to another. The term WOMUnit was chosen because it is media-agnostic. Since word of mouth takes place both online and offline, a WOMUnit is a neutral term that reflects the unique nature of word of mouth as a cross-medium form of communication. Creating a standard unit that works across media is the first step toward measuring ROI across all media. A WOMUnit is a consumer comment — not advertising, PR, or other corporate-driven messaging. If a com- pany purchases an ad, it's an ad. If people talk about the ad, it's a WOMUnit. Examples: Conversation, comment on a message board, letter to the editor, Amazon.com author review, email, blog post, comment on a blog post, or talk about a news story or PR event. Qualities that describe WOMUnits Quality Description Example Topicality A measure of the degree • In a campaign to promote brightly colored PCs, a to which a desired message about microprocessors would have low marketing message Topicality. is contained in the • A protest campaign about chicken-raising practices WOMUnit. against a fast food outlet would have low Topicality for the restaurant, but high Topicality for an activist group. Timeliness A measure of whether • An email about a retail promotion has low Timeliness if the WOMUnit arrives in it is forwarded after the sale is over. time to be relevant to a specific campaign. Polarity A measure of the • Participants on a travel web site can post reviews and positive vs. negative rate their vacation experiences as positive or negative. content of the WOMUnit. Clarity A measure that • Many customer service web sites now include a link determines if a message that asks Was this helpful? is understood by the Receiver as it was intended by the Sender. Depth The richness or amount • High-production-value video email may be more of visual, written, or persuasive than a text email. verbal information • An in-depth conversation with a friend is a richer included in a WOMUnit, WOMUnit than a casual mention. assuming that these • A communication that gives specific reasons why a aspects increase consumer had a positive experience with a brand message persuasiveness. will usually be more persuasive than a simple recommentation. WOMMA Terminology Framework
  • 9. Venue A Venue is. . . . . . the medium or location where the communication takes place. Examples • In-person conversation • Blog • Email • Concert • Online community • Water cooler • User-group meetings • Trade shows or conferences • Social gatherings or civic meetings Qualities that describe Venues Quality Description Example Population The total possible audience for a • The total number of people at a concert is WOM Unit in the Venue. the Population. Those who get told by a street team about a special promotion are the Audience. Audience The number of Recipients who • A popular blog has a large Population; those receive or are exposed to the who actually read or forward a particular post WOMUnit, in a given Venue. are the Audience. • A small Population fan club for a band could still be an important WOM venue. Rules Rules set by the Venue that • WOMUnits created by a blog-spammer, limit WOM activities or make a an actor impersonating a consumer, or WOMUnit invalid. vandalizing property would be against the Rules. • WOMMA encourages reporting that identifies unethical WOMUnits that violate the Rules of a Venue. WOMMA Terminology Framework
  • 10. Outcomes Outcomes are . . . . . . the marketing impacts of a WOM Episode. Preferred outcomes vary based on the campaign objectives. Types of Outcomes Consumptions The Receiver directly consumes the WOMUnit and forms an impression of the brand or product/ser- vice, but takes no further action. Consumptions correlate to the Action of “Receipt.” Inquiries The Receiver seeks more information after consuming the WOMUnit. Conversions The Receiver completes a desired action after consuming the WOMUnit. Relays The Receiver re-distributes the WOMUnit (thereby becoming a Sender). Recreations The Receiver creates a new WOMUnit after consuming the WOMUnit (thereby becoming a Creator). Discussion of Outcomes When discussing Outcomes, perspectives and priorities varied widely based on the drafters' fields. For example, agen- cies were strongly in favor of creating Outcomes that correlated much more strongly with traditional purchase-focused media measures. Grassroots or PR firms saw the Actions themselves as the priority — where getting people to relay or create a message was a worthy outcome in its own right. We chose to take the broader definitions to avoid limiting cam- paign objectives (and the utility of WOM in general). Objectives may be purchase-related or they may be intermediate objectives (awareness, favorability, consideration). Many WOM programs address different aspects of the communications lifecycle. • A traditional promotional campaign may desire Conversions or Inquiries. • An evangelism/grassroots motivational campaign may desire to inspire a high number of Actions. • An information-gathering objective may desire participants to provide feedback for study without at- tempting to drive sales. WOMMA Terminology Framework 10
  • 11. Sample Usage of Framework Terms Objective: Drive brand awareness of a product. Objective: Drive sales to a retail store. • Example: Use a viral email campaign. • Example: Shoppers were sent coupon codes in the mail • 00 Participants were recruited to Distribute ,000 mes- that they could give to friends via email or in person. sages (the WOMUnits). These were further Relayed by • 0% of the seed group became Senders, each another 1,000 Receivers, who became Senders. The mes- Distributing to an average of Receivers. More than sages had a high Topicality because they were Relayed 14% of those Receivers visited the store and 10% of with the original text. The Outcome was 15,000 Inquiries them Converted. Timeliness was low, because a signifi- to the target web site. cant number of visits happened after the promotion had ended. 20% of Recipients also became Senders by Objective: Activate a loyal user base to get them Relaying the offer. involved with a product. • Example: Use an outreach campaign with active users. Objective: Create awareness of an issue. • A postcard was sent to 00 active users of the company's • Example: Team hats were distributed to consumers at a online community, asking them to post messages on the basketball game Venue to promote a sale of new mer- community site. There were few Senders and Receivers chandise. since the objective was not to have messages sent out- • Group 1 had very appealing Demographics and mid- side the community. A total of 00 WOMUnits were cre- level Propensity to share the message. Their message ated by Participants who Re-created their own posts had low Topicality because all that was mentioned was based on the content. The Polarity was highly positive the brand name, not the target attributes. Group 2 was because everyone was a supporter of the cause. much smaller, but much more active. They described the product with a great deal of detail about colors, features, Objective: Promote awareness of a food product and other attributes, providing a much more Credible using evangelists. and Deep WOMUnit. This group resulted in far more Inquiries and Conversions. • Example: Give out free samples to recruited evangelists. • 150 evangelists took the samples and talked about them Objective: Introduce a new portable electronics in real world settings such as stores and community cen- product. ters. Credibility was very high because Receivers knew the Senders personally. Topicality was low because the • Example: Advertise in a series of magazines whose audi- desired brand message was about health and most of ence Demographics are skewed toward people interest- the conversations were about low price. Nonetheless, ed in the product category and have a high Propensity Consumptions and Inquiries were very high even if they to engage in word of mouth. The ad includes a “call to weren't based on the original brand message. action” that offers a free product demonstration for “you and your friends.” Objective: Create buzz about an upcoming movie • The promotion resulted in more than the target num- premiere. ber of Inquiries from friends of those who read the ad. Velocity was low, but Topicality was high based on the • Example: Outreach to blogs read by three groups of number of well-informed Receivers asking about the highly influential consumers. product. • Readers of Group 1 were very high Propensity Senders, which resulted in 1,000 Distributions and a large num- ber of Consumptions. Readers of Group 2 had very low Propensity to become Creators themselves, but those who did turned out to have high Credibility. Group was very actively viral, resulting in a large number of new Creations and Distributions. However, Polarity was nega- tive and Topicality was low because this group was active mainly because they were angry about intrusive market- ing on their favorite blogs. WOMMA Terminology Framework 11
  • 12. womma Word of Mouth Marketing Association About WOMMA Contact Us WOMMA is the official trade Word of Mouth Marketing Association association for the word of mouth W. North Avenue, #500 marketing industry. Chicago, IL 010 Our mission is to build a prosperous 12-5-005 word of mouth marketing industry based on ethics, best practices, and www.womma.org measurable ROI. Our members are leading the efforts necessary to create a new, successful marketing field. We’re growing WOM from a small specialty into an essential part of the marketing mix. • We’re fantastic brands and marketers who know that happy customers are our most powerful advocates. • We’re innovative agencies who understand how to empower and amplify the voice of the consumer. • And we’re the good guys, committed to protecting consumers with strong ethical guidelines. Join us!