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Cited by 837Digital Marketing and Social MediaMarketing and Advertising StrategiesComplex Network Analysis Techniques

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 60 of the 60 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Firm-Created Word-of-Mouth Communication: Evidence from a Field Test

Godes, David, Mayzlin, Dina·2009·Marketing Science
DOI 10.1287/mksc.1080.0444
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Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of a firm's proactive management of customer-to-customer communication. We are particularly interested in understanding how, if at all, the firm should go about effecting meaningful word-of-mouth (WOM) communications. To tackle this problem, we collect data from two sources: (1) we implement a large-scale field test in which a national firm created word of mouth through two populations: customers and noncustomers, and (2) we collect data from an online experiment. We break our theoretical problem into two subproblems. First, we ask: “What kind of WOM drives sales?” Motivated by previous research, we hypothesize that for a product with a low initial awareness level, WOM that is most effective at driving sales is created by less loyal (not highly loyal) customers and occurs between acquaintances (not friends). We find support for this in the field test as well as in an experimental setting. Hence, we demonstrate the potential usefulness of exogenously created WOM: conversations are created where none would naturally have occured otherwise. Then, we ask: “Which agents are most effective at creating this kind of WOM?” In particular, we are interested in evaluating the effectiveness of the commonly used opinion leader designation. We find that although opinion leadership is useful in identifying potentially effective spreaders of WOM among very loyal customers, it is less useful for the sample of less loyal customers.

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Crossref · 10.1287/mksc.1080.0444

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Show all 59 references

Research works printed but not linked: 15

  1. Cialdini R., 2005, Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives, 143
  2. Engel J. E., 1969, J. Advertising Res., 9, 3
  3. Godes D., 2004, Case Study: Hasbro Games—POX
  4. Holmes J. H., 1977, J. Advertising Res., 17, 35
  5. Katz E., 1955, Personal Influence
  6. Keller E., 2003, The Influentials
  7. Khermouch G., 2001, Bus. Week, 50
  8. McConnell B., 2003, Creating Customer Evangelists
  9. O'Malley G., 2005, MediaPost
  10. Neff J., 2006, Advertising Age
  11. Petty R. E., 2005, Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives, 81
  12. Reichheld F. F., 1990, Harvard Bus. Rev., 68, 105
  13. Swan J. E., 1989, J. Retailing, 65, 516
  14. Verlegh P. W. J., 2004, Adv. Consumer Res., 31, 304
  15. Walker R., 2004, New York Times

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Metadata

Authors
Godes, D., & Mayzlin, D.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Yale University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Marketing Science
Publisher
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Published
2009-07
Volume
28
Issue
4
Pages
721-739
ISSN
  • 0732-2399 (ISSN-L)
  • 1526-548X
DOI
10.1287/mksc.1080.0444
OpenAlex
W2132559268
Cited by
837
References
59
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 72 · 2014: 73 · 2013: 81 · 2012: 53
FWCI
155.67
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Marketing Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Digital Marketing and Social Media
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Marketing and Advertising Strategies
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Network Analysis Techniques
Keywords
word of mouth, opinion leadership, customer loyalty, sales effectiveness, customer awareness

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