The true word of mouth

Let me tell you a story about how a customer can behave and how a product gets purchased in today’s world. Word of mouth and context are so important to a level that you would not even imagine.

Joe is a gamer. He is playing world of warcraft on an HP computer. The computer is not super powerful and is crashing sometimes. Indeed it is a 2 years old computer. While playing in the evening, Joe is talking live to the other gamers. Via his headset, he is having conversations and he started to ask others which computer they would recommend. He asks one who says Asus. Another one says the same and so on.
Joe then reads some reviews on the web about this computer. He goes to best buy to see if they carry it. Unfortunately they do not have the one he is looking for. He goes on the internet and look for the locations close to his home that do carry this computer. It happens that a small store, 45 minutes from his home, does have the computer. He goes there…and purchases it!

The conclusions are:

• Customers do ask advice to experts in the internet,

• Customers do get advice from the places where they are,

• Customers value reviews,

• Customers are ready to drive far to find the product they want.

The way customers do enter the purchasing process can come from different places. Networks and communities are definitely at the heart of the new behaviors. People talk about products everywhere and brands advocates can be in places where you would not even imagine.