People love to talk and exchange thoughts and feedback about many things — the weather, their children, their health, current events, other people, the latest gossip, their feelings, the good old days, you name it. And people are extra talkative when it’s about something that exceeded their expectations or let them down — say, products and services. All these “talks”, both positive and not, can actually make or break a brand.
WOM or word-of-mouth describes a marketing technique that encourages consumers to organically promote a product, a service, or a brand. Often misidentified, WOM is unlike influencer marketing. When customers share their experience about a product for the joy of it, that’s WOM; but if it involves mutual value exchange, that’s influencer marketing.
YouGov, an international research and data analytics company, also believes in the power of word-of-mouth. In their latest Global Recommend Rankings report, they ranked the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague.
The report revealed Vietnamese consumers are more likely to recommend local brands such as the country’s national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (+89.2), domestic footwear brand Biti’s (+84.7), e-commerce platform Điện Máy Xanh (+83.2), and fashion retailer Viettien (+83.0).
YouGov Vietnam CEO Thue Quist Thomasen said, “With Vietnamese names making up almost half of the top ten, home-advantage is a significant factor for consumers when deciding which brands to recommend to their family and friends.”
In the face of a challenging year, with COVID-enforced flight cancellations, border closures and movement restrictions, YouGov’s Recommend Rankings 2021 saw the flagship carrier take the top spot.
“Despite international competition heating up, Vietnam’s national flag carrier has secured the coveted number one spot,” Thue added.
Some international brands also made it to the list. Fashion retailers fared well, with Japanese retailer Uniqlo in joint second place (+85.6).
“It is joined by lingerie brand Triumph in sixth (+83.9) and denim brand Levi’s in seventh (+83.4). White goods also have a strong presence in the top ten. South Korean electronics giant Samsung takes joint second place (+85.6) and its Japanese competitor Panasonic is tenth (+82.8). The top ten is rounded off with Abbott in fourth (+84.9),” reads the YouGov report.
Still part of YouGov’s Recommend Rankings 2021, brands that saw the greatest improvement in Recommend scores were also ranked. Following the trend of white goods having a strong presence in the top ten, Kangaroo comes in as the most improved (moving up +7.8 points). It is followed by local low-cost airlines Vietjet Air (up +7.1) and Pacific Airlines (up +6.1).
Other brands featured on the list include Unilever’s Sunsilk that landed on the fourth spot scoring 66.2, a +5.6 increase from the previous BrandIndex score. Procter & Gamble’s Head & Shoulders also made it to the sixth spot with a score of 73.0, a +4.5 increase, while payment platform Airpay stood at eighth position with a score of 70.4, up by +3.8.
The YouGov Recommend Rankings 2021 were calculated using the data they collected from members of the public in markets around the globe every day, from our flagship YouGov BrandIndex tool.
Every brand’s performance is tracked daily against a range of metrics, and as previously mentioned, the Recommend ranking measures the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague. The rankings data can be further developed with YouGov Recommend+ a fresh approach to understanding consumer advocacy.