Word of Mouth: the Marketing Figures

Church of the Customer highlights some interesting stats about Word of Mouth as an engine for business growth.

The figures come from a study by the London School of Economics:

* A 7% increase in positive word of mouth unlocks 1% additional company growth
* A 2% reduction in negative word of mouth boosts sales by 1%
* Companies with above-average positive word of mouth grow four times as fast as those with below-average positive word of mouth

Of course, the challenge is to find something worth being talked about - a point Seth Godin repeated when interviewed recently by Aaron Wall.