The Study of the Effectiveness of Word-Of-Mouth (Buzz) Marketing - Take Dental Clinics with Implantation Practice
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Cheng, Sindy Yu-Mei
Abstract
Nowadays positive Word-Of-Mouth (buzz) could bring great sales volume and profit to the enterprises because consumers more and more value the Word-Of-Mouth comment on either a product or a service before they make a buying decision. And it also shows that Word-Of-Mouth comment is even easier to be spreaded in the present environment. Therefore, it is why enterprises pay much more attention to the Word-Of-Mouth marketing and use it as one of the ways to sell products and services effectively.he dental implant treatment includes both the selling of implant product and the performing of surgical operations, both of which are extremely costy. With concerns for a high cost surgery that does not always guarantee a positive result, patients find a need to rely on the Word-Of-Mouth comment among the people they know to make a right decision, in order to diminish the perceptual risk and reinforce the confidence of the buying decision. It is the reason why Word-Of-Mouth marketing is all the more important to the dental clinics with implantation practice since they never adopt any commercial marketing strategy.he phenomenon gives this thesis a reason to explore the Word-Of-Mouth marketing effect on dental implantation. With the help of the findings from the thesis, all the other dental clinics with implantation practices may make a better decision on their business and marketing strategy.his thesis focuses primarily on clinics with dental implantations. By using the clinic''s patient/customer database and patient''s anamnesis, we can analyze the effectnd practicality of the Word-Of-Mouth marketing in dental clinics with implantation.he thesis starts from analyzing patients who had implant surgery and the linkage between the referrals and the introducers, if any, and then constructs the so-calledosen''s (2000) Word-Of-Mouth invisible networks. The Word-Of-Mouth invisible networks are used as the frames of the study, and by means of the frames this thesis analyzes the effectiveness of Word-Of-Mouth marketing on dental implantation from four essential factors which are:''the ratio of customers with introducer to ones without introducer'',''illustrations of the Word-Of-Mouth invisible network'',''the influence of mega network hubs on Word-Of-Mouth marketing'', and''the proportion of local referral customers to the non-locals''. Then the conclusion from the analysis is that Word-Of-Mouth marketing has a great effect on dental clinics with implantation practice. The outcome shows that 61% of total customers are referral customers. A total of 111 Word-Of-Mouth invisible networks are found, with a high of 91 customers in a single invisible network. A great buzz effect is also generated from the 18 mega network hubs, and a 49% of referral customers are non-locals.astly the thesis gives some advises according to other findings from the analysis to the owners of the dental clinics with implantation practice, and also offers someeasible ideas to the people who have interest in the follw-up research in the future.
Subjects
Word-Of-Mouth(buzz) marketing effect
Word-Of-Mouth invisible network
population of the invisible network
mega network hub
non-local customers
Type
thesis
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