Word of Mouth
My 10-year-old daughter, Hanna, is suddenly obsessed with pencil toppers. She can’t get enough of them. Everywhere we go, she is on the lookout for one. She recently found a website that sells the toppers and, needless to say, was ecstatic! She saved her allowance for two weeks to get the selection of toppers she had her eye on – in this case, they featured barnyard animals.
I asked her the other day how this initial fascination came about. She explained to me that Alexa in her class had a collection that she brought to school one day. Soon all of the girls, and a few of the boys, were collecting them as well. The chatter became so disruptive that the teacher had to temporarily ban all pencil topper sharing in the classroom. The website Hanna found quickly sold out of their limited supply due to her classmate’s numerous orders.
Whether you are 10 or 100, word of mouth is powerful stuff. Who hasn’t run out to get the latest and greatest make-up a friend can’t live without, or the new snack chips a co-worker said they can’t get enough of? Conversely, who has refused to buy a particular treadmill because their mother’s best friend’s cousin said it broke the first time they used it? Your best spokesperson is a happy customer, and your worst… an unhappy one.
Pay attention to your purchases, especially those that relate to a new product. Why are you interested in the product? Did you hear someone talking about it? Did you see a story featuring the product? Did one of your Facebook friends become a fan? Either way, it led you to purchase the product. Powerful, huh?