By Allwell Nwankwo

Let’s start by unravelling the acronyms in the headline of this write-up.  WOM stands for Word of Mouth.  It sounds familiar and it simply means what the words say – what one person tells another.  On the other hand, WOW stands for Word of Web (I’d thought it was an original coinage from this writer until I came across a website bearing that as its domain name!)  It means what one person tells another through the web.  WOW is just WOM via the web!

In recent times, word of mouth has gained much currency in (services) marketing circles.  Marketers are getting more and more interested in what customers tell their relations, friends, colleagues or even other customers.  Studies indicate that people tend to believe what they hear from other people more than the advertisements from organisations.  It is also proven that the more involving and expensive a service is, the greater the reliance of potential customers on word of mouth recommendations.

It is important to note, however, that word of mouth is a double-edged sword.  It could be negative or positive.  If customers are happy with your organisation they are more likely to spread positive word of mouth.  If they are not, you know what to expect.  You may want to believe, however, that there is a limit to the number of people one can easily reach through word of mouth – if that’s any consolation.

Enter word of web.  Today, a customer doesn’t have to step outside his living room to inflict substantial damage on an organisation.  The options for him are too many.  He may start a blog overnight to thrash an erring organisation. You can bet he will pull many sympathisers.  He may also post details of poor service encounters on social networking sites – Facebook, Myspace or Nairaland.

Some five years ago, I stumbled on a debate by nairalanders on which bank in Nigeria delivers the best customer service.  (I was quite surprised recently to find the posts still there, although some of the banks no longer exist in the way they did then.  Take a look, especially if you work in the banking industry: http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-116748.0.html. Also check out http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-59709.0.html.) You’ll find the exchanges very intriguing

What’s more? In world that sends over 400 million tweets daily,  a twitterer (someone who uses Twitter) with a good following can hit hard on an organisation, using less than 140 characters! There may also be numerous retweets (tweets forwarded) if people feel strongly about whatever went amiss.

Make no mistake about this.  Technology has made it easier for dissatisfied customers to bash you!  But the good news is that your truly happy customers can also easily root for you (don’t bank on this, anyway).  So what to do?

Let’s get back to the basics. To avoid negatives WOM and WOW, you need to deliver exceptional service – that is service with speed, courtesy, empathy, fairness and, yes, a smile.

In addition, when things go wrong, take a smart step to resolve matters “out of court.”  You may not easily win in the court of the mouth or web!

You may also want to take the proactive step of finding out what people are saying about your organisation.  If you manage customer service or a brand, I suggest you google your company (or brand) name at least twice a week to find out what people are saying.  Search for something like “complaints about XYZ” (assuming that’s the name of your company).  Someone also said you should look out for “XYZ sucks.”  That way you may catch and fix some negative WOM that turned WOW before they do much damage.

Now think about it.  What can you do to encourage your customers to spread positive WOM and WOW?  That’s your challenge.  Savvy organisations are beginning to look for ways of moulding the WOM and WOW from customers.