Talking Cars

I've caught several stats recently showing how powerfully word-of-mouth influences auto purchases. Here's an article in ClickZ sharing a study by research firm Compete which found that 24% of online consumers altered their decision about a vehicle purchase on account of consumer generated media. Further, the CGM-influenced respondents rated CGM just as credible as expert advice: CGM being considered credible by 71%, expert advice by 73% - and information coming directly from the brands...by only 35%. BIGresearch's latest Simultaneous Media Usage Survey showed word-of-mouth as the top influence on consumers buying a car. One more: a study by Yahoo and Create with Context of brand advocates (defined by the report as "adventurous opinion leaders who are socially well-connected, express their opinions and viewpoints and continually discover new content online") found that 52% of advocates who had bought a car in the last six months wrote about their purchase online.  More surprisingly, 20% of the non-advocates had also written about their purchases online. So cars, being the major purchase that they are, seem to inspire the sharing and heeding of considerable word-of-mouth.

How, as a marketer, can you harness all this? How can you encourage positive WOM and help spread it? Part of me wants to go with the simple WOM tactic: Ask customers to share what they think in a public venue, like your site. For a few good examples of this tactic in action, check out this article in the Wall Street Journal Online. Online gardening retailer Burpee.com has experienced tremendous sales growth simply by asking customers to post product reviews. EBags.com and CustomInk.com report increased customer loyalty on account of user reviews. But what about negative reviews? The article suggests that businesses should "embrace, rather than fear, unflattering reviews." While you may have to remove the occassional mean-spirited or offensive review, allowing for fair criticism offers valuable learnings and makes the positive reviews credible.

But could it be that simple with cars? It seems people are less likely to get heated about gardening equipment than cars.  There's so much image and money involved in cars. You would not only face authentic negative reviews, but probably fans of other brands posting nasty comments just because they can. We see that type of vehicle brand competitiveness in bumper stickers and whatnot, so it'd probably make its way to a vehicle site. So how could a vehicle brand do it? How can you assess the risk of negative contributions? Is the opportunity to put peer reviews front and center, right on a vehicle brand site, worth the specks of mud on your face that'll certainly show up?

I'm recalling a book I read on client relationships, and I believe it referenced a remark from President Lincoln on his preparing for meetings by spending more time thinking about what the other person was going to say than he did about what he was going to say. The point being that if he could figure out all that the other person would say, he could prepare effective thoughts beforehand with which to respond. Maybe that same type of preparation would make it possible for brand sites to take this leap, and offer content that would be truly valued by consumers. Preparation might include ready-to-serve "manufacturer comments" that could be offered in response to predictable criticisms and rules to manage the quick removal of innappropriate posts (for example, customer service complaints or profane language). Tactics to encourage reviews by those who probably have something nice to say (should be your customers - if you're selling decent cars) could be employed. Maybe asking new owners at the three-month mark to submit a review, or incenting owners on their one year anniversaries to comment.

It just seems that if people are posting reviews anyway in easy-to-find places (the first product-category tab at the top of the Epinions.com homepage is "cars"), it seems something worth figuring out. (By the way, check out how much some people are willing to write - this guy has 27 reviews on Epinions.) I think that if a manufacturer began allowing people to post vehicle reviews right there, on their own site, accessible right alongside the other vehicle content, vehicle shoppers would find that content extremely useful, would spend more time on that manufacturer site researching the vehicle, and would be guaranteed (assuming the vehicles are good quality) to find wonderfully positive reviews - which will be considered far more credible than any claims made by the manufacturer itself.

Be brave. Be prepared. Who will be first to give it a shot?

P.S. If I've somehow missed a vehicle that's really doing this, let me know. And I mean for real - not like that highly-controlled hybrid testimonial thing on Toyota's site. That may deserve its own post...

Comments

[Sean Murphy]

Interesting post on car brands posting uncensored user reviews on their brand websites. I think it is a great idea.

I head up marketing for CustomInk.com (online custom t-shirt company) one of the companies cited in the WSJ article. We post 100% of our customer reviews on the front page of our website and it is definitely worth it.

In your post you ask whether the risk of possibly having negative reviews is worth it for a car company - especially since car buying is such a significant purchase.

I can say with us it has been valuable to our website visitors who are considering using us. Moreover (and some may dispute this) I think the gravity and peer pressure that comes with designing and ordering custom t-shirts for your group of friends approaches the consideration and apprehension one has when buying a car.

Given this I think the car brands (and dealerships) shouldn't let concerns about negative reviews keep them from giving this a go.

A final thought but I would think giving your customers a voice could work especially well with new car launches where early adopters may be particularly generous in the comments yet provide valuable constructive comments that will give the car company valuable user feedback on areas where they can improve the next year's vehicle -- allowing the company to maximize their investment in the new model over the years.