According to our Auto IWOM whitepaper findings, Ford Focus was mentioned in 3.5% of all auto BBS messages mentioning manufacturer brands or models during Q2. This comes out to almost 150,000 messages. Why should Ford care? Here are some ideas that come to mind: IWOM influences purchase decisions: In an Automotive News China newsletter , AC Nielsen said that:

Shoppers make chat rooms their final stop before making a purchase decision. Philippe Coquelle, head of automotive research for Nielsen in China, calls it “a sort of disaster check.

A recent report released by TNS China suggests that(emphasis added by me):

China’s car buyers rely heavily on Internet content as a source of purchasing information, with more than 40% ranking the Internet as “extremely important” or “very important” in making a decision. The Internet is making the process of car purchasing increasingly transparent for China’s consumers — in the same way it has done for car buyers in more developed car markets. Chinese consumers use the Internet extensively for pre-purchase information, and actively browse auto websites, read up on news about brands, compare prices or join web-based discussions.

From a very recent report released by i-merge and Sinomonitor, (see more here), 49% of respondents rate the Internet as the biggest influence when it comes to purchase decisions. An even more recent report released by Netpop covering Chinese “broadband users” found that:

User-generated content (consumer reviews/rating sites, forum/discussion boards, blogs, etc.) influences 58% of all purchase decisions in China, compared with 19% in the US.

In case you are unconvinced that Chinese netizens are active in contributing to and spreading IWOM, Netpop also found that

47% of Chinese broadband users post comments to a blog, chat room, listserv or forum, compared with just 28% of American broadband users.

Unfortunately, there is very little detail about Netpop methodology or even company background, so as much as I do like these stats, I would take them with a grain of salt. Netizens go to forums for post-purchase support Again referring to the i-merge report, “91% of respondents listed the Internet as the preferred medium to stay informed post-purchase.” We see two angles around “staying informed” First, there is “customer service” IWOM. Instead of only calling customer support or going to the official customer support website, netizens will seek out answers to problems/questions they have around products on BBS forums. Within 3rd party BBS sites, consumers can find brand specific forums where passionate fans of the product will help answer questions. We talked in great detail about these “answer people” staffing the unofficial “help desk” here. Another angle to staying informed is social networking with other product owners. This is especially relevant for automobiles. We previously discussed “FB” phenomena here where car owners will organize offline gatherings online. These tight knit groups do more than just socialize, however. They will keep each other informed of the latest news about the model. As we discuss in the white paper, IWOM culture “breeds” media of sharing detailed information with such phenomena as “homework” (see below).  (click image to enlarge it) They will also notify each other of bad things, well before the manufacturer gets around to officially notifying them. For example, in 2006, we found consumers talking about Focus oil pump problems months before Ford issued the official recall on October 17, 2006.(see below). These auto forums have some of the most informed, connected and passionate owners who will actively spread all the news about models (both good and bad).