WOMMA Terminology Framework

A unified framework for describing and measuring word of mouth marketing. Authored by the WOMMA Research Council.

This Framework provides the units and nomenclature that media companies, word of mouth marketing services firms, and brand marketers can use to plan, price, buy, and measure word of mouth marketing campaigns.

Visual Summary

Objectives

The goals of the WOMMA Terminology Framework are:

• Create common terminology that enables discussion and measurement across techniques
• Support existing research and services without requiring major reconfiguration
• Remain media-neutral and support both offline and online word of mouth
• Enable calculation of the ROI of word of mouth campaigns that work with standard media plans
• Support non-traditional campaign objectives, in addition to impression-, conversion-, or awareness-based goals

Scope

Rather than produce a definitive set of rigid standards, the goal has been to keep this document simple. WOMMA members hope to build on the proposed framework through open discussions with the larger marketing community.

Basic Building Blocks: As the official trade association for the word of mouth marketing industry, our job is to create building blocks for this marketing technique. Individual companies can then tailor these blocks to build more sophisticated models according to their own business needs and requirements.

No Pricing Discussion: Federal anti-trust law prohibits trade associations from discussing pricing issues or models, so these topics are neither addressed here nor will they be in future documents.

Process

This document was drafted by the WOMMA Research Council, a mixed-industry working group of market research experts, agencies, brand marketers, academics, and word of mouth marketing specialists. Drafting took place from November 2004 to June 2005 through online, teleconference, and in-person discussions and debates.

Complex issues and decisions that were faced during the drafting process include:

Avoiding pre-existing marketing terms. Since many of these terms have different meanings in different media, every effort has been made to set media-neutral definitions. To improve clarity, we created new terms to replace terms commonly used in other marketing contexts. For example, the committee suggested using "impression" instead of "receipt" to avoid confusion between online advertising and word of mouth marketing measures.

Avoiding bias toward online media. Word of mouth marketing occurs both in online and offline environments. The council established standards that would apply to any technique.

Avoiding bias toward active word of mouth campaigns, as compared to "organic" word of mouth, which is generated through day-to-day customer experience and product design.

Future Work

This document is the first step in bringing order to a new and complex marketing environment. We expect that this document will continue to evolve as the industry evolves. The terms defined in this document are not being published as final definitions, but as a starting point for intense discussion. We chose to publish at this point because the framework is mature enough to be tested and vetted by the marketplace.

We look forward to your feedback and participation.