ServiceFriday: Speaking vs. Writing – Which Word-of-Mouth is Better?
Businesses are constantly faced with the question of how to more effectively engage customers with their brand. Encouraging positive word-of-mouth between consumers can be beneficial, but how influential is the means through which they choose to communicate? With online review platforms so readily available, consumers tend to write their opinions for others to read, but studies are showing oral communication establishes a much stronger feeling of affiliation and loyalty towards a brand, especially for the communicating consumer.
Numerous studies have been conducted on the effect of using different communication methods, such as speech and writing, on the recipient involved in a transaction. In a recent article published in the Journal of Consumer Research however, Hao Shen and Jaideep Sengupta examine the effects on the communicator and how they may subsequently react to the brand.
The study looked at the fundamental differences between the processes involved in speech as opposed to writing, specifically the self-expression difference. Shen and Sengupta write that in comparison to written, oral communication is “faster, more transient and easily forgotten, more redundant, and less precise.” The most crucial difference between the two however, is that speakers “are more focused on the interaction with the audience during the process of communication, while writers are primarily focused on the information to be conveyed. This heightened focus of speakers on the social interaction aspect of communication has sometimes been referred to as a difference in ‘interpersonal involvement.’”
Speaking involves talking to a specific person, whereas writing is conducted with the intended recipient absent. This joining of the two participants in the same time and place increases a focus on the interaction for the communicator. The recipient can supply feedback or ask for clarification, allowing the communicator to modify what they are saying or how they are saying it. In contrast, writing creates a detachment between the recipient and the communicator, with less room for modification.
In terms of product and brand reviews, when a consumer communicates orally with another consumer, this greater focus on interacting creates a stronger connection not only between the two but between the communicator and the brand. This is important for businesses to realize, as this then increases consumers’ tendency to invest resources into the brand, “as manifested in indicators such as lower susceptibility to brand criticism, and a greater willingness to wait for the brand in cases of stock-out.”
To read the full article, visit the Journal of Consumer Research. (A fee may apply.)