Research Reveals Word-of-Mouth Campaigns on Customer Networks Double
Marketing Results
Lithium Finds Identification of Customer Influencers Increases
Campaign Effectiveness by 50 Percent
EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lithium
Technologies, the leading provider of Social CRM solutions to power
the customer network, today announced initial findings from its
collaborative research on the impact of customer networks on
word-of-mouth marketing campaigns. The report marks the first joint
research produced by Lithium’s chief scientist, Michael Wu, and leading
researchers studying marketing and social media, including Barak Libai,
of MIT Sloan School and the Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business in
Tel Aviv; Eitan Muller, of New York University Stern School of Business
and the Recanati School; and Renana Peres, of The Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A white
paper elaborating the findings and providing practical advice for
marketers is available for download today from Lithium.
The goal of this research is to quantify the impact of customer networks
– a set of interconnected online relationships among members of a
company’s customer and prospect base – on word-of-mouth marketing
campaigns. Findings indicate that word-of-mouth campaigns executed
across customer networks can increase product adoption by as much as 107
percent.
Initial research findings highlight the critical nature of
Influencers:
-
Influencers matter: Influential customers within branded customer
communities can increase the effectiveness of word-of-mouth marketing
programs by as much as 50 percent.
-
Influencers accelerate sales: Influencers within branded customer
communities can help accelerate new product adoption. In competitive
markets, almost all of the value of word of mouth programs originates
from accelerated product adoption.
-
Influencers produce high ROI: Companies can achieve more than 80
percent of the potential value of the word-of-mouth campaign by
targeting fewer than 5 percent of the potential audience.
“Identifying your most ardent customers creates tremendous opportunity
for companies,” said Lyle Fong, CEO Lithium Technologies. “We are seeing
that the ability to identify, engage, and create lasting relationships
with passionate, influential customers is a core competitive advantage
for companies today.”
Choosing to build a branded customer community and engaging with users
willing to share their product experiences with others not only enhances
customer support, but also has been found to amplify word-of-mouth
marketing programs and accelerate sales cycles.
This new research builds on Lithium’s
report about community health, where the company identified and
provided open standard metrics that help understand the efficacy of
customer communities. And, the new white paper explains the role that
these health factors play in effective propagation of word-of-mouth
messaging and offers practical suggestions for marketers on how to
ensure that brand communities maximize opportunities for success.
Methodology
The researchers studied the interactions within communities of top
brands focused on consumer products ranging from high-tech to finance,
and with revenues ranging from $15M to more than $70B.
Additional Resources:
For more information about this research, see Lithium’s
whitepaper.
About Lithium Technologies
Lithium is the leading provider of Social CRM solutions to power the
customer network. Working with market leaders such as Best Buy, Sony,
AT&T, Research In Motion Limited (RIM), Univision, and PayPal, Lithium
is delivering the next generation of customer relationships by unlocking
the value of the social customer network. Lithium solutions combine the
power of online customer communities with the broader social web and
traditional CRM business processes to inspire customers to innovate,
promote, and support on the company's behalf. As a result, businesses
measurably improve their marketing and sales, accelerate innovation, and
increase customer satisfaction. Lithium's platform is proven in
high-volume, growth environments and provides the security, analytics,
APIs, and multi-language support that enterprises demand. Founded in
2001, Lithium is privately held with headquarters in Emeryville,
California. For more information, visit www.lithium.com
Horn Group
Erin Maher, 415-905-4019
emaher@horngroup.com
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