Word of Mouth in Customer Acquisition for Apps - Myth or for real?
Can word of mouth be a good customer acquisition strategy for a smartphone app?
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When it works it works, and is better than any kind of marketing. However, most apps do not have the kind of word-of-mouth that will be helpful. – Tim J 12 years ago
1 Answer
It can be the best answer if you can get it going properly.
These days it's called going viral but that is just word of mouth with lots of people.
The real question is how do you kick it all off? If you have an App that people are willing to talk about like Angry Birds then it's by far the best strategy.
If your app is more of a pedestrian but useful style application then word of mouth would be one of the things you use but not rely on to get the word out there early on.
What does the word of mouth style of promotion cover?
- Other people blogging about your app.
- People tweeting/facebook sharing your app.
- Real life conversations either in the office or at a party saying "I use ... for that, you should try it". When ever I list my top 10 podcasts and apps there is usually a few people writing it down to look up later.
Typically most marketers consider this the most effective form of promotion for nearly everything because people listen to those they know and trust before strangers or random advertising.
