FREEDyourMind

Word of Mouth, Twitter and the WeinerMobile

I am at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit (WOMMA).  A great group of people that are at the forefront of the word of mouth marketing movement.  And with that cutting edge thinking the experience of being at WOMMA is an experience.  People are twittering, blogging and who knows what else thorughout the conference (search for #WOMMA on twitter). 

While at times I have wondered about the value of twitter, I saw some value here at the WOMMA show.  You get instant feedback on the presentations.  It kind of reminded me of the CNN coverage of the presidential debate.  As I was a participant in a debate on the ACSI vs. NPS, the twitter traffic gave me instant feedback on the debate.  Now debating against NPS is fun and easy.  NPS is a great example of a BAD METRIC.  No accuracy, precision or reliability. You might be better off using a dart board then NPS.

And I had another experience of a lifetime.  As an example of word of mouth marketing, the WeinerMobile from Oscar Mayer was at the conference.  And as my luck would have it, one of my colleagues, Gavin Hewitt, won us a trip in the WeinerMobile.

Now, imagine this, cruising down the Las Vegas strip in the WeinerMobile.  Talk about word of mouth.  Although I am not sure what they were saying.  Check out www.hotdoggerblog.com. 

Off to WOMMA

I am off to speak at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's (WOMMA) annual summit in Las Vegas.  It should be an exciting conference.  Word of mouth can have a powerful impact.  I think the focus on word of mouth is a very important effort and I applaud those that got the WOMMA started.

But I also think there is a lot of misinformation on the metrics around word of mouth.  I will be participating in a debate about NPS, an often used proxy or metric of word of mouth.  It is also a very misleading metric. Join me at WOMMA in Las Vegas and you can learn more.

Customer 2.0 Conference!

Today kicks off the first day of our  first Customer 2.0  Conference in Ann Arbor—a chance for our clients and others to learn more about how their peers are applying the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) online.

I’m looking forward today to hearing from Eric Peterson about how voice of customer data fits into an integrated web analytics system. We’ll also be hearing from clients like Best Buy, Citibank, Borders, DTE Energy, and State of Michigan about how they’re using their data to improve online operations and ROI. More later!

Customer 2.0: An Online Customer Centricity Summit for E-Gov

We are excited at ForeSee Results to be holding our first Customer 2.0 Summit on May 1st in Washington, D.C. for e-gov practitioners.

So what is the this summit all about?

We at ForeSee Results are bringing together a great list of subject matter experts including:

• Megan Burns, Forrester Research Senior Analyst – Best practices to help organizations measure the online customer experience and to deliver better customer experiences across multiple channels.
• Dr. Claes Fornell, Professor of Business and Director of the National Quality Research Center (NQRC) at the University of Michigan – Discussion of the role of customer satisfaction in the public versus the private sectors
• Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project – Research-based perspectives on “Understanding Internet Users”
• Larry Freed, President & CEO of ForeSee Results (that's me) –update on new products and applications
• Case studies and panel discussion – real-world examples of the power of customer satisfaction analytics
• Product demonstrations – new and emerging product developments
• Meet & greet — members of the ForeSee Results Client Services team

The goal of the summit is to create a dialogue on the importance of the online customer (or prospect, or visitor) with a focus on public sector organizations along with non-profits, associations and quasi government organizations. We are expecting over 250 attendees including many ForeSee Results customers along with others.

Watch for a similar event to be held in early September in Ann Arbor. The September event will have a focus that will cover all industries. More information coming soon!