Talking about durables

Using a survey of 349 respondents, we investigate the triggers of word of mouth (WOM) in four durable categories and compare this evidence with previous findings for services. For these durables, positive word of mouth (PWOM) is mostly triggered by advertising and customer satisfaction with the product, while negative word of mouth (NWOM) is rare and mostly triggered by the content of conversation and the perception that other persons need advice. This contrasts with previously established findings for services where advertising has little effect on PWOM and dissatisfaction has substantial effect on NWOM. These differences have important implications: they suggest that durable ads should be tested to check that they trigger PWOM and that service providers should pay more attention to the satisfaction derived from the service experience. (C) 2016 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.