Sometimes we are reminded of the big secrets in the business world by what appears to be the most unrelated situation. My house is fairly new, some of the residential complex is still being built and it’s quite empty most of the time. As it happens to any construction site, stray dogs come and never leave. No one is working right now, because of the weather, so no one can feed these dogs. They are starving and one of them keeps visiting me.

So what could I do? Feed her (I discovered it’s a girl), of course. But real and quite a lots of dog food was required; luckily I had help . She kept coming and then other dogs showed up. I now have three that come by at least once a day. And my friends pointed out how word spread when the dogs started enjoying a good meal.

And then it hit me. When building a WOM strategy, we think of engaging customers, of enabling them to better spread the word, reach the online communities and help them discover our products or services. This is wrong because we should always start with a question: Is our client satisfied? If it’s yes, spreading the word will be easy.

Customer satisfaction should always be the number one priority. Making what they have to say known always comes second. Simply because you really don’t want your customers to say „Oh, well, they’re ok, most of the times!” You want them to say awesome, great, or legendary when they speak of you. Don’t you?

I’ve never really been to IKEA until recently. I went once, but my colleague and I rushed through it like a thunder storm, looking for some photo frames, so we missed most of it. Why did I go to IKEA in the end? Word of mouth, of course, from several sources. They all lead me to believe IKEA is a must see when decorating a new home, they made me envision a dreamy place where all your ideas could come true. I fell in love with these huge shrine to all all things interior design and I thought I should stop and analyze how it all happened. I believe there are quite a few lessons to be learned from this experience, which is in no way unique.

Case studies and research

Why bother writing case study, publishing survey findings, participate in research projects? You get your brand name associated with other brands, you get people in the industry talk about you, you get press coverage. In this particular case, I listened to a guru of marketing talk about IKEA, explain why certain types of consumers that were not exactly in their target loved shopping there so much, compare IKEA to Kika and point out differences. I saw a video of happy customers talking about their IKEA experience. It all stuck to my mind. Yes, it was interesting information, strongly related to my field, but I still remember the girl who had a house filled with IKEA furniture and accessories.

What people tell their friends is paramount

In this case, a young married couple. OK, I admit it, maybe not your cliche couple, where the guy hates shopping. But they both told me so much about IKEA, the furniture they got there, how much they loved it, enough to make weekly trips there, that I had to go see it for myself. But there’s an important caveat here! IKEA seems the sort of place that a lot of different people love. If the recommendation would have come from someone I perceive as being very different from me, or as having opposite tastes, the reaction might not have been the same on my side.

Word of mouth only brings customer to you!

Which means it’s totally up to you to win them over and keep them! IKEA happened to be everything I expected it to be. I found a lot of things that I simply loved and I came home with a long list of codes for furniture I intend to buy in the future. However, if IKEA’s personnel would have been less welcoming, if their showroom wouldn’t have been so cleverly put together, if all the little things that are there to help you (like pencils, sheets of paper, a software to help you see how the furniture would fit your room) weren’t offered, I would have made plans to see other similar stores.

Word of mouth does spread like a virus!

Other than making extensive future shopping plans, I told my friends and family how fun it all was, how user friendly and smartly designed it all was. Some of them had heard similar endorsements, and decided to give IKEA a try the next time they needed something for their home. My mother who joined me also had positive impressions to share. Yes, it does grow exponentially.

Word of mouth is definitely something you should carefully consider. And keep in mind happy customers are not the only ones who can spread the word. Business partners, industry analysts and experts are also great at endorsing your company and your products or services.