EXPANDING THE HORIZON OF MARKETING: CONTEMPLATING THE SYNERGY OF BOTH TRADITIONAL WORD OF MOUTH AND EWORD OF MOUTH

Opinions by other consumers influences considerably on consumers' buying decisions as well as on post-purchase product perceptions. This is called word of mouth (WOM) and it is assumed to be more efficient than conventional marketing tools like advertising and personal selling. With the dawn of the Internet, major changes to the way consumers express their opinions about product or services have seen a sea change. Customers can now interact with other consumers via social media, e-mail, instant messaging, homepages, blogs, forums, online communities, chat rooms and review sites. Such interactions now commonly known as electronic WOM (eWOM) also influence consumer behavior. The Internet's accessibility, reach, and transparency have empowered marketers in influencing consumers. There is also need for understanding to what extent e-WOM is similar or different from offline WOM. Influence of e-WOM and traditional WOM cannot be undermined in today's highly competitive business environment. Market is ruled by organizations that can influence consumer behavior in its favour. Consumers are inclined to consider their friends and relatives are more credible and trustworthy than any form of sales promotional activity like advertising, public relations, and sales people. Thereby consumer-dominated communications tend Expanding The Horizon of Marketing: Contemplating The Synergy of Both Traditional Word of Mouth and EWord of Mouth http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 205 editor@iaeme.com to be more powerful and influential than information from other sources. This indicates that individuals are more inclined to embrace the information disseminated through WOM than commercial promotion. The advances of information technology and the emergence of online social networking sites have profoundly changed the way information are transmitted and have transcended the traditional limitations of WOM. The effect of e-WOM on consumers is similar to that of traditional WOM. Previous consumer's reviews on products and services have been an influential tool as an information source for consumers. Effectiveness in influencing customer behavior of both traditional WOM and eWOM cannot be undermined. However, there are some differences between traditional WOM and e-WOM. In traditional WOM communication, the information is exchanged in face-to-face conversation while in eWOM consumers need only to interact with their computers to post or search consumer reviews. That is senders and receivers of information are separated by both space and time. Thus, it is a many-to-many communication in which the information exchanged is more voluminous in quantity compared to information obtained from traditional contacts in the offline world. As traditional WOM comes from friends and relatives while the source is anonymous in e-WOM differences of influence between the traditional and the online process may also depend on other factors. The relative influence of WOM and e-WOM may be dependent on the volume of information obtained from both sources. When consumers obtain more information from traditional WOM than from e-WOM, WOM influence is likely to be higher than e-WOM influence. Equally, the reverse effect is expected for consumers who obtain more information from e-WOM than from WOM. The differences between online and traditional process could affect the degree of influence on consumer behavior. Understanding the strength of both traditional WOM and eWOM can broaden the horizon of marketing products and services of an organization.