E-mail marketing is still the marketing and communication channel with the highest return on investment (ROI), as several reports found this year. However, there are other ways of gaining the attention, interest and even desire of people, that are very efficient.

The main one is without any doubt word of mouth. Since word of mouth is a natural phenomenon (people mention or talk about brands, products, businesses etc.) it is obviously hard, if not impossible, to measure its ROI or impact, unless marketers look at brand reputation and indirect metrics. When word of mouth is used for marketing purposes and the natural phenomenon turns into a form of marketing, it is obviously easier to measure and analyze its impact.

Word of mouth: the cross-channel perspective

But still you don’t have the exact detailed data regarding interaction and even viral spread as you have them in e-mail marketing. However, one thing is sure: word of mouth marketing works and is efficient, maybe most of all because it shortens the sales cycle since it is based on peer opinions and advice.

Word of mouth marketing is also one of the most important aspects of social media marketing. Word of mouth marketing shows its true power if it is not reduced to a specific channel of medium but when it is looked at from a cross-channel perspective where several communication and interaction channels work together and strengthen each other.

People talk about brands and products. But they also talk about advertising and even marketing messages. A recent TalkTrack survey in the UK (funded by Starcom MediaVest Group, News International and ESPN) found that media and marketing, especially advertising, “play a key role in driving word of mouth brand advocacy”.

Connecting e-mail and word of mouth marketing: e-mail as a source, carrier and destination of brand stories

E-mail is a channel in supporting and even launching word-of-mouth marketing campaigns as well. Both really strengthen each other just as social media and e-mail marketing strengthen each other.

E-mails get forwarded, discussed and shared. They lead to word of mouth, even if we cannot measure or track it (for instance when an e-mail gets printed and is discussed in a meeting or shown to a friend or family member).

E-mail can be a carrier, enabler, source and even destination of word of mouth.

• It allows people to share stories, both as a carrier and source
• It is used in word of mouth and viral marketing strategies
• Its content can be discussed and shared
• It can contain links to referrals, opinions and peer reviews
• It can be the channel that is used when word of mouth leads to customer-to-business interactions
• Etc.

The main element in making all this happen and leveraging the integrated strength of word of mouth and channels such as e-mail and others, is the power and relevance of content and the story it tells in function of the target groups.

J-P De Clerck is a 360 degrees interactive marketing, content, conversion and social media consultant. You can connect with him on Twitter, his site or his personal blog.