Word of Mouth: The 7-10 Split

Word of mouth is by far the most powerful marketing factor that a business can hope for. Especially in this age of over-saturated advertising, people tend to trust their friends and peers more when it comes to making purchasing decisions.

However, word of mouth is a powerful force against bad customer experiences. The reason is that with so much going on in our lives, not all interactions are worth talking about. The exceptions are the ones that fall into the 7-10 split.

Imagine a scale of "1" to "10"- where one is the worst possible customer experience, and ten is the best. Most interactions that we experience on a daily basis occur in the 8-9 range. We get competent service, although nothing particularly remarkable. In the end, both the consumer and business have gotten what they want, yet nothing really happened that was worth writing home about.

However, when an experience falls outside that "average" range, it becomes an event worth discussing. The problem for businesses is that that it is so much easier to fall below the acceptable range than it is to exceed it.

Unexplained delays, negative attitudes, negligence, and poor communications will quickly turn an average experience sour- and customers will want to vent this frustration to their friends. A "D+" is still a passing grade, but it is a negative enough experience that you will likely lose this customer, as well as a few potential customers through word of mouth.

When your business practices start to score around a "2" or "3", people start to publicly express their frustrations to the masses. For instance, they might start a blog focused on your incompetence- and this has the ability to reach MANY potential customers.