CIC与R3联合发布网络口碑白皮书

Internet Word of Mouth Proven to Have Impacton Auto Sales in ChinaA joint white paper by CIC and R3Executive Summary●Independent Research covering over 12 months of China’s automotive salesby model, linked with online word of mouth per model●Data shows correlation between sales and online buzz volume and in severalcases with online buzz trend one month ahead of sales trend.●Foreign brands and higher priced car models show stronger correlation●Marketers need to take a more proactive approach to encourage theircampaigns to be spread online,With the Internet starting to have an increasingly powerful effect on the relationship between brands and their consumers, marketers are now starting to track and effectively measure what is being said about their brand online and where possible to leverage the power of Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) to their advantage. Those who master the art are said to boost their return on investment (ROI). This is especially true for China, where marketers need a special weapon to fight against intense competition and a cultural climate of great skepticism and distrust that advertisers face.But to what extent does online buzz actually help marketers’achieve their bottom line? Studying 12 months data of 42 auto brands in China, R3 and CIC measured the performance of IWOM in terms of its impact on sales.The Art of Measuring WOMWOM, whether online or faceto face, allows consumers tocommunicate with eachother, hopefully referring apositive product experience.It also allows brands toconnect with consumers,directly or through sharing ofother consumer generatedcontent, to highlight productstrength and brand value.They are many different sources of IWOM, including BBS and forums, social networks (i.e. KaiXin001, RenRen), Instant Messenger (i.e. MSN, QQ), blogs & micro-blogs, and Q&A and review sites.In addition to measuring quantity of IWOM on these sources, marketers can also look at the quality or the sentiment of IWOM, with new advanced text-mining technology such as those developed by CIC, now being able to help brands identify whether a piece is positive, negative or neutral.Chart 1 - Social network landscape of Xcar 307 forum, Dec 2008, from CIC Syndicated Auto reportWhat’s more interesting about advanced IWOM text mining technology is its capability to help marketers identify in great detail what is being said about brands by their customers on the Internet, and to then even visualize online interactions and help identify who are the influencers (pictured above). Meaning that if marketers now have an in-depth understanding as to what consumers are talking about their brands and where/by who all that talking is going on, marketers can leverage the company’s communication service and R&D resources to address these issues, ensure the target consumers are addressed, and in the process improve marketing ROI.One limitation of WOM measurement is that technology cannot differentiate consumer generated content from advertisers’ commercial me ssages, however by taking this into consideration it’s still important that marketers realize what consumers encounter when researching about brands or products online.(Source - CIC Making Sense of IWOM White Paper Series Topic 1: The role of IWOM in purchase decisions) Objective & MethodologyThe research aims tomeasure the power ofIWOM including itsimpact on sales, theultimate keyperformance index(KPI) for all brands.Using the autoindustry in China asobject of study, wewill also identify thoseauto brands thatoutperform others inthe area of IWOM.-CIC defines IWOM as text and multimedia content related to companies, products or services shared by netizens, including brands and consumers, via online community platforms such as BBS, blogs and video sites. In this instance CIC gathered the 133,071,049 consumer comments from 2500 + Auto related sites and forums-CIC measures positive and negative sentiment by using our customized sentiment engine that measures both general sentiment and auto specific sentiment-For this study CIC tracked the IWOM volume and sentiment of the 42 leading auto brands and over 500+ models in 2009-Source of 2009 passenger car sales are quoted from China Association Of Automobile Manufacturers-Thanks must also go to media agency Carat () for providing 2009 media spending data, including TV, print, OOH, radio and online media.42 Auto Brands in ChinaIn 2009, the volume of autoindustry buzz increasedsteadily month by monthdespite seasonal activities.By studying monthly salesand monthly online buzzdata of 42 passenger carmodels in 2009 (chart 3),we found a mediumfor 2009. The sales impact of IWOM is more obvious for foreign car brands(joint venture brands) (R2=0.5961) and cars priced over RMB200k (R2=0.9135).Chart 3In addition to looking at correlations between WOM and sales, we also measured the time lag for an increase in WOM to result in an increase in sales and found a clear pattern of short term residual effect on some auto brands. Take the Teane for example, its positive IWOM led the way by one month for positive sales results (chart 4).Chart 4Another interesting finding is the high correlation (R2=0.5961) between positive and negative IWOM (chart 5). Those who are active online have both positive and negative IWOM.This means that while marketers should listen closely to negative sentiment happening around their brand they need to focus on engaging netizens which can both encourage and amplify positive IWOM instead of focusing all their efforts of subduing negative IWOM which has proved is inevitable.Chart 5Foreign, More Expensive Models Show Closer CorrelationSome brands benefited more from buzz and buzz marketing than others (table 1). Ranked among the top five by ‘Revenue Per Buzz’ were many mid to high price models including Audi A6, VW Passat, Teana, Honda CR-V, and Toyota Camry. These brands outperform their peers in IWOM ROI.Table 1Recommendations to MarketersIWOM is an integral part of any brand’s crisis management and Public Relations scheme. At the same time, it is probably the most efficient platform to collect consumer feedback and improve service quality. This also includes keeping a close look at how the brand is talked among your own employees and business partners.In addition to monitoring and measuring IWOM data 24/7, marketers need to take a more open and proactive role in the online community. Open, non-commercial networking by general public that creates shared culture, by setting up branded blogs, twitters to express yourself.Marketers should keep in mind the democratic nature of the Internet, and avoid taking an autonomy or too promotional-oriented approach.The best strategy to win is to immerse into the community and become a part of the consumers’ network.Last but not the least, in order to ensure that your buzz marketing helps drive sales, marketers need to focus on product related messages and leverage real consumers and brand advocates.The ultimate buzz and buzz marketing is allabout consumers talking up their positive product experience and recommending to other consumers.About R3R3 is a global marketing consultancy with our heart in Asia. We focus on improving the effectiveness of marketers and their agencies, with the right efficiency. Founded in 2002, we’ve worked with more than fifty companies on global, regional and local assignments to drive efficiency and effectiveness. We have talent based in Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Chicago, New York and Delhi. Our core service offerings include proprietary processes and tools in agency performance and marketing ROI consulting.About CICAs China's first and leading provider of Internet intelligence and insights based on IWOM (Internet Word of Mouth), CIC provides customized research consulting services, syndicated reports, as well as technical solutions and platforms to help companies meet their business and marketing needs. Since coining the term IWOM in 2004, CIC has pioneered the industry by supporting strategic planning and innovations across the entire spectrum of communications including brand reputation, business intelligence, product development, advertising, media, campaign planning and execution all via an objective, third party perspective. CIC has built and maintained strong, long term retainer relationships with multinational agencies and Fortune 500 companies, including Nike, Pepsi, Intel, L'Oreal Group, BMW, P&G, Unilever and many more.。