Why word of mouth doesn't happen | Hacker News Reader

Why word of mouth doesn't happen

sethgodin.typepad.com

37 pointsbreily10 comments

Personally, I recommend things I use when they are awesome and/or useful to the party I'm talking to. It's basically that simple. I tell people about Pandora because I think it's an awesome way to discover new music, not because telling them gains me anything. I told my father about Xobni because he practically lives in Outlook. Hell, I can't even think of a time I've said "you should join XYZ social network because I'm on there."

"not because telling them gains me anything"

You are gaining something, indirectly, even if you don't realise it - more users for Pandora, for example, means they are less likely to go out of business. Also, it may not mean anything to you, but there's a certain cachet in being the one in your social circle who recommends 'cool' new products.

Most people are flattered to be asked for advice, and would like to think that their recommendations show what good taste they have.

Granted, but I was referring to the phrase from the message above -- "direct incentive." These are both indirect and completely unmarketable to boot.

I am a strong believer that everything we as human beings do, no matter how "selfless" it seems, is always done because it benefits us in some way. These two indirect methods are good examples of that and I'd be the last person in the world to say I do anything "just to be nice."

Before anyone posts another example of word-of-mouth working: the op did not say it doesn't work. He simply listed reasons why it may not work in certain situations.

Google. It started and grew completely via word of mouth. Whilst Yahoo and others were spending big $ on advertising, Google quietly grew and grew. Granted, it only happened because they had a much better product (search) than anyone else, but it was still word of mouth that did it

Word of mouth works best when there is a definite incentive to talk about it. If I tell you about <xyz>, you benefit, but so do I.

This is the basis of the entire MLM industry. There are many other good examples, too. (Refer 10 friends, get a discount.) Not everyone likes it, but it works.

An incentive may not be required, but it definitely helps.

For example: I joined PayPal 10 years ago because my friend coaxed me into it. PayPal paid me $5 for joining and paid my friend $5 for inviting me. We invited lots of people..

On the other hand, consider GMail. It was just so massively superior to anything else out there that as soon as I heard about it I was hooked. GMail was (and is) free, but back then people were actually paying for invites..

The incentive in the GMail case is still there. If you think your action makes a friend better off, then the action is valuable to you. Whether this act stems from intrinsic selfishness or benevolence, is left for another time :-)

Anyway, I doubt anybody really thinks about this before coaxing their friends, but broadly speaking "so do I" holds true.

I think viral growth should be considered separate from word of mouth. And if you do make that distinction then there are very few products which became successful through word of mouth. Original Google Search, Napster come to mind, and maybe Gmail (like the sibling suggests, though not clear if it's really a commercial success). Note that all of the above gave out huge value for free.

Bonnaroo. No advertising, 90k people attend the concert annually.

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