The importance of Word of Mouth

UK lags behind US in user generated reviews

Recent research shows that there is a huge opportunity for UK based websites who offer ratings and reviews for there products to gain an advantage over their competitors.
marketing technology
In the US three out of four consumers stated it to be extremely or very important to read reviews before making a purchase – in addition to this they also said they prefer peer reviews over expert reviews by a 6-to-1 margin, highlighting the importance of Word of Mouth as a marketing strategy.
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The report shows that in the UK showed that reviews and ratings were important for around 50 per cent of consumers – this would increase should more UK based retailers adopt the strategy.

Peer review

Previously I wrote on the effects of Word of Mouth on product recommendations and also a way of service providers to gain credibility and important peer review portfolio online.

This is especially important as the differentiation between companies becomes less and less - esepcially when your offering is open to price comparison sites.


Differentiation

The timing of the report coincides with WalMart,the worlds biggest retailer announcing the launch of customer ratings and reviews on walmart.com.

It is evident with this there competitors are catching up with the buy low stack it high mentality that has made them the market leader.

This offering now adds additional value to there customer base which is quoted as being over 130 million people, a customer base that is now actively invited to participate offering Walmart a chance to gain valuable insight and extended the relationship beyond the till.

Wall Mart

“The reviews will be available for all products offered on the company's website and will provide consumers a forum for sharing their opinions about a wide variety of consumer packaged goods -- from batteries and dental floss to lip balm and shampoo.

Reviews and ratings is the No. 1 customer-requested feature online at Walmart.com, and we're pleased to offer this service to better help our community of customers shop smart and make informed decisions about the products they purchase both in our Wal-Mart stores and online," said Cathy Halligan, Walmart.com's chief marketing officer.

Wal-Mart introduced a test phase of customer reviews and ratings in June to gauge overall performance and customer feedback which generated favorable results. In fact, customer review submittals more than doubled the company's expectations during the test phase with a significant number of reviews and ratings received in the categories of electronics, home and garden, media, and baby. Also, with today's official launch of the feature, close to 15 percent of items in these favored categories have published reviews.”
Source CNN