Like the ad or the brand? Marketing stimulates different electronic word-of-mouth content to drive online and offline performance

Abstract

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is often tracked in volume and valence metrics, but the topic of conversation may vary from the brand to its advertising to purchase statements. How do these different topics affect company performance? And which specific marketing communication (online, TV, radio, print) obtains most of its performance impact by stimulating eWOM topics? This paper quantifies the dynamic interactions among marketing, eWOM content, search, and online and offline store traffic for an apparel retailer. While it yields a similar online store traffic lift, advertising-related eWOM yields only half the offline store traffic lift of brand-related eWOM and of neutral eWOM about purchasing at the retailer. Paid search shows the highest elasticity in stimulating online conversations, but drives less business than offline marketing actions. While TV is the main paid driver of online store traffic, print is the main paid driver of offline store traffic for the studied retailer. Over a third of the offline store traffic effects materialize indirectly through eWOM and organic search. To avoid undercounting the benefits of paid marketing, managers should therefore track how their actions induce specific eWOM content metrics and how much these in turn drive performance.