To Tell Or Not to Tell?

Newswise — Northeastern University professor Dr. Walter Carl, a leading scholar in word-of-mouth communication and buzz marketing practices, today announces the release of a new research report "To Tell or Not to Tell?" a first-of-its-kind examination of the practical effects of disclosure for word-of-mouth marketing agents and their conversational partners.

As companies have increasingly sought to harness the power of word-of-mouth communication by enlisting consumers to talk about brands, products, and services, ethical concerns have arisen, particularly in terms of whether or not the consumers should disclose their participation in the organized program/campaign.

To test whether or not disclosing corporate affiliation has any practical business advantages, Dr. Carl partnered with BzzAgent, Inc., a leading word-of-mouth marketing organization, to better understand the role of disclosure in everyday and campaign-related word-of-mouth communication. Dr. Carl's study explores how many people affiliated with the marketing organization actually disclosed their affiliation, how they did so, what information about the marketing organization they shared, and whether or not the disclosure led to differences in key outcome measures including the credibility effect of word-of-mouth.

Key conclusions drawn in the study include:

"¢ Participation in an organized word-of-mouth marketing program does not undermine the effectiveness of word-of-mouth communication."¢ Disclosure has practical business benefits. It does not interrupt the "natural" flow of conversation."¢ Word-of-mouth marketing organizations should adopt a clear policy that requires disclosure. This policy should be implemented with a combination of both education about the practical business benefits of disclosure as well as enforcement procedures."¢ Word-of-mouth marketing organizations should pay special attention to interactions with strangers and acquaintances as these relationship types were the least likely to know about agent affiliation and also more likely to have negative feelings when they did not know about agent affiliation."¢ Policies regarding disclosure should go beyond requiring agents to disclose affiliation and should have special considerations to make clear the market research aspect of the business model.

Key findings include:

"¢ For approximately 75% of the conversational partners (the people with whom the word-of-mouth marketing agents engaged in word-of-mouth communication) it did not matter that they were talking with someone affiliated with a marketing organization. Instead what mattered was that they trusted the agent was providing an honest opinion, felt the agent had their best interests at heart, and were providing relevant and valuable information."¢ None of the key outcome metrics (credibility, inquiry, use, purchase, and pass-along/relay) were negatively affected by the agent disclosing their affiliation. In fact, the pass-along/relay rate (the number of people a person told after speaking with a word-of-mouth marketing agent) actually increased when the conversational partner was aware they were talking with a participant in an organized word-of-mouth marketing program."¢ In over 75% of the cases where a person learned about a brand or product from another source of information (such as a print, radio, TV, or web advertisement), talking with the marketing agent increased the believability of that other source of information. This finding was also unaffected by agent disclosure."¢ Prior to the enforcement of the word-of-mouth marketing organization's disclosure policy (where agents were required to disclose their affiliation in episodes involving an organized word-of mouth campaign), 37% of the conversational partners reported they did not know of the agent's affiliation."¢ For about 5% of the conversational partners who were not aware of the agent's affiliation with the marketing organization there was a negative "backlash" effect when they found out. These negative feelings could be directed toward the agent, the interaction with that agent, the brand being discussed, and/or the company who made the brand, product, or service. There were virtually no negative feelings, however, when the conversational partner was aware of the agent's affiliation.

Dr. Carl will be presenting findings from this report at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)'s Word of Mouth Basic Training Conference in Orlando, FL on January 19th.

To access the summary report visit: http://www.waltercarl.neu.edu/downloads/

About Walter CarlWalter J. Carl, Ph.D is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. Dr. Carl conducts research and teaches in the areas of interpersonal and organizational communication. His publications include book chapters and journal articles on the topics of social interaction, personal relationships, and how relationships serve as a basis for influence and persuasion. His most recent research investigates word-of-mouth as it is embedded in routine, everyday communication practices, with a special emphasis on analyzing actual conversations and unique relationship histories. Dr. Carl also designs research-based consulting and training interventions for companies, universities, and not-for-profit organizations to help them with a variety of interpersonal and organizational communication processes. Dr. Carl received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and his master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About Northeastern:Northeastern University, located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, is a world leader in practice-oriented education and recognized for its expert faculty and first-rate academic and research facilities. Northeastern integrates challenging liberal arts and professional studies with the nation's largest cooperative education program. Through co-op, Northeastern undergraduates alternate semesters of full-time study with semesters of paid work in fields relevant to their professional interests and major, giving them nearly two years of professional experience upon graduation. The majority of Northeastern graduates receive a job offer from a co-op employer. Cited for excellence four years running by U.S. News & World Report, Northeastern has quickly moved up into the top tier rankings-an impressive 35 spots in four years. In addition, Northeastern was named a top college in the 2006 edition of the Princeton Review's annual "Best Colleges" issue. For more information, please visit http://www.northeastern.edu.