Surfing 2.0

what is casium

Casium \ka-zē-əm\
Noun
Company that provides content on management topics to business schools, publications and corporations. Focuses on salient facts and potential management lessons, as in business school cases. Emphasizes clarity through tight writing and concise charting.

Marketing  -> Surfing 2.0

Energising the groundswell

You can build word-of-mouth buzz, but you can also create online communities for your more enthusiastic customers


Energising the groundswell amounts to building up word of mouth. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, companies have sprouted up to foster such word of mouth. BzzAgents is one such company. It has recruited more than 250,000 critics, put them on retainer, and lets them try new products. If they like the products they will talk about it; if not, then not. Talking critics talk to an average of sixty people. A 10,000 agent campaign costs 280,000 which puts the energised customer cost at $28.

But the best ways are to tap into your customer’s enthusiasm with ratings and reviews, or by creating or participating online communities for your enthusiastic consumers. An example of a company using reviews to good effect is eBags. This company sells various kinds of luggage on the Internet and has grown at a 30% clip since its creation. Three weeks after a product ships the company sends an email to the customer suggesting a review. A 22 percent response rate makes for an appreciable number of reviews. Not all reviews are positive and eBags has used these reviews to correct manufacturing problems with suppliers. It is interesting to note that only a quarter of ecommerce sites have rating systems; this despite the fact that software companies such as Bazaarvoice have arisen to build these review systems (See Box: ROI of a review system).

Lego is another example of a company energising a community. Adult fans of Lego (AFOLs) account for over 5% of Lego’s sales. Some of these enthusiasts set up LUGNET, the International Lego Users network. Lego energised this community by creating Lego Ambassadors. These Ambassadors represent the company to Lugnet by receiving information on products coming out. They represent LUGNET to the company by relaying member’s desires and opinions to the Lego company. They are paid in Lego bricks and competition is fierce among the AFOLs to become one of the 25 ambassadors. Lego has taken a vibrant set of customers and energised it further.