Why customers stay silent about products they love: need for uniqueness and referral marketing
A practical reading of Dayan (2020, Journal of Global Marketing, Scopus Q1) for marketers who rely on recommendations: one motive suppresses word of mouth, another encourages it.
Dayan, O. (2020). The impact of need for uniqueness on word of mouth. Journal of Global Marketing, 33(2), 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2019.1606375
In brief
Referral programs assume that satisfied customers will talk. Dayan (2020) shows that for high-involvement, publicly consumed products, consumers high in avoidance of similarity are less likely to engage in positive word of mouth, while creative choice counterconformity relates positively to it. Unpopular choice counterconformity shows no relationship.
The silent customer
A customer who wants to stand apart may avoid praising a visible product, because others may then buy it and reduce its uniqueness. Dayan (2020) found a negative relationship between avoidance of similarity and positive word of mouth for high-involvement, publicly consumed products.
The customer who shares
Creative choice counterconformity relates positively to positive word of mouth for the same products.
What marketers can do
Segment word-of-mouth programs by uniqueness motive, give creative-choice consumers a way to share their distinctive choices, and treat high-involvement, publicly visible products as the category where these motives matter most.
Questions researchers ask
Why don't satisfied customers recommend products? Is there research?
Dayan (2020, Journal of Global Marketing) found that consumers high in avoidance of similarity are less likely to engage in positive word of mouth for high-involvement, publicly consumed products.
Which consumers are more likely to recommend a product they own?
In Dayan (2020), creative choice counterconformity relates positively to positive word of mouth for high-involvement, publicly consumed products.
Do referral incentives work for consumers who want to be unique?
Dayan (2020) shows that avoidance of similarity works against positive word of mouth, so referral programs can be segmented by uniqueness motive.
How to cite
Dayan, O. (2020). The impact of need for uniqueness on word of mouth. Journal of Global Marketing, 33(2), 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2019.1606375
Read the full research summary
Related
References
Dayan, O. (2020). The impact of need for uniqueness on word of mouth. Journal of Global Marketing, 33(2), 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2019.1606375