OPINION LEADERSHIP

OPINION LEADERSHIP

Opinion leadership (or word-of-mouth communication)-The opinion leader

informally influences the actions or attitudes of others, who may be
opinion seekers or merely opinion recipients

Influence is interpersonal and informal takes place between two or more

people none of whom represents a commercial selling source

Individuals who actively seek information and advice about products are
opinion seekers

Examples of Opinion Leadership

During a coffee break, a co-worker talks about the movie he
saw last night and recommends seeing it.
Dynamics of the Opinion Leadership Process

Reasons for the effectiveness of opinion leaders are:

CREDIBILITY
 Opinion leaders are highly credible source of
information
 Intentions of Opinion leaders are perceived as being in
the best interests of the opinion recipients
 Base their product comments on firsthand
experience
 Their advice reduces for opinion receivers the
perceived risk or anxiety inherent in buying new
products.
 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PRODUCT INFORMATION:

 Information provided by the marketers is invariably favorable to

the product and/or brand. Opinion leaders provide both favorable
and unfavorable information adds to their credibility.

INFORMATION AND ADVICE:

 Opinion leaders are the source of both information and advice.
They may simply talk about their experience with a product,
relate what they know about a product, or, more aggressively,
advise others to buy or to avoid a specific product.

OPINION LEADERSHIP IS A TWO-WAY STREET

 Opinion leaders in one purchase situation become opinion seekers
in other purchase situation
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND OPINION LEADERSHIP

 What motivates a person to talk about a product or service?

 To satisfy some basic need of their own.
 To reduce their own post purchase dissonance by confirming their
own buying decisions.
 In addition to self involvement, also be motivated by product
involvement, social involvement, and message involvement
 Those motivated by social involvement need to share
product-related experiences. Opinion leaders use
their product-related conversations as expressions of
friend ship, neighborliness, and love.
 The pervasiveness of advertising encourages message
involvement. Individuals who are bombarded with
advertising messages and slogans tend to discuss
them
THE NEEDS OF OPINION RECEIVERS:
 Opinion receivers satisfy a variety of needs by engaging in
product-related conversations.
 They obtain new product or new-usage information.

 They reduce their perceived risk by receiving firsthand

knowledge from a user about a specific product or brand
 They reduce the search time in the identification of a needed
product or service
 They can be certain of receiving the approval of the opinion
leader
A comparison of the Motivation of Opinion Leaders and
Opinion Receivers

Opinion Leaders
SELF-IMPROVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Reduce post purchase uncertainty or dissonance
 Gain attention or status
 Show superiority and expertise
 Feel like an adventurer
 Experience the power of “converting” others
PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product or service
SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Express neighborliness and friendship by discussing products or service that may be useful to others.
MESSAGE-INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Express ones reaction to a stimulating advertisement by telling others about it.
OPINION RECEIVERS
 SELF-IMPROVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Reduce the risk of making a purchase commitment
 Reduce search time
 PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Learn how to use or consume a product
 Learn what products are new in the market place
 SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT MOTIVATIONS
 Buy products that have the approval of others there by ensuring
acceptance
PURCHASE PALS & SURROGATE BUYERS

PURCHASE PALS:
 “purchasing pals” - information sources who actually accompany consumers
on shopping trips

SURROGATE BUYERS:
 Consultants who formally help consumers in making purchase decisions. They
replace opinion leaders
 Opinion Leaders and Surrogate Buyers

 OPINION LEADER

 Informal relationship with end users

 Informal exchange occurs in the context of a casual interaction
 Does not get paid for advice
 Usually socially more active than end users
 Accountability limited regarding the outcome of advice
 Likely to have (although not always) used the product
personally
 More than one can be consulted before making a final decision
 Same person can be an opinion leader for a variety of related
product categories
SURROGATE BUYER
 Formal relationship, occupation-related status
 Information exchange in the form of formal instructions/advice
 Usually hired, therefore gets paid
 Not necessarily socially more active than end users
 High level of accountability
 Search and screening of alternatives more rigorous
 May not have used the product for personal consumption
 Second opinion taken on rare occasions
 Usually specializes for a specific/service category
Measurement of Opinion Leadership

 Self-Designating Method
 Sociometric Method
 Key Informant Method
 Objective Method
OPINION LEADERSHIP MEASUREMENT METHOD DESCRIPTION OF METHOD SAMPLE QUESTIONS ASKED

SELF-DESIGNATING METHOD Each respondent is asked a series of questions to “Do you influence other people in
determine the degree to which he or she perceives their selection of products?”
himself or herself to be an opinion leader.

SOCIOMETRIC METHOD Members of a social system are asked to identify to “Whom do you ask?”“Who asks you
whom they give advice and to whom they go for advice. for info about that product
category?”
OPINION LEADERSHIP MEASUREMENT
DESCRIPTION OF METHOD SAMPLE QUESTIONS ASKED
METHOD

KEY INFORMANT METHOD Carefully selected key informants in a social system are asked to “Who are the most influential people
designate opinion leaders .(eg. college professor identifying in the group?”
students who are opinion leaders)

OBJECTIVE METHOD Artificially places individuals in a position to act as opinion leaders “Have you tried the product?
and measures results of their efforts. (Restaurant example)
Market Mavens

 Individuals whose influence stems from a general knowledge or

market expertise that leads to an early awareness of new products
and services.
Market Maven
 A special category of opinion leader
 Possess a wide variety of information on different types of
products (across product categories), retail outlets and market
details
 Liking shopping and sharing the experience
 Value conscious
Opinion leadership and marketing strategy

 Programs Designed to Stimulate Opinion Leadership

(creation of opinion leadership)

 Advertisements Stimulating Opinion Leadership

(creation of opinion leadership)

 Word of Mouth May Be Uncontrollable

1. Programs Designed to Stimulate Opinion Leadership

 Marketers design products to have word of mouth

potential.
A new product should give customers something to talk
about.
E.g. for such product: iPods, cell phones with digital
cameras
Consumers are willing to sell them to each other by means
of word of mouth.
 Multilevel Marketing
It is also known as direct marketing method of communication
Under this the company’s distributors directly approach the customer
and give all information about the product.
During the process they give frank opinion or discuss with the
consumers all the benefits (problems) associated with the product
The objective of such direct marketing programme is to assign the
company’s distributors the role of opinion leaders.
2.Advertisements Stimulating Opinion Leadership:
 Firm’s advertising and promotional programmes largely
relied on stimulating or persuading consumers to tell
your friends how much you like our product.
 E.g: Surf Excel ad in which real users that is opinion
leaders give their feedback .
3.Word of Mouth May Be Uncontrollable
 Though word of mouth is most effective way of
communication they are sometimes difficult to control .
 Negative comments, in the form of rumors ,that are
untrue, can sweep through the market place to the
disadvantage of a product
 Use of Internet by marketers to spread the word of mouth
 Weblogs (creation of opinion leaders)
 email
Diffusion of innovations
Diffusion of innovations

 Diffusion process- spread of innovation from its

source to the consuming public

 Adoption process-stages through which an individual

consumer passes when deciding to accept or reject a
new product
The diffusion process

 Acceptance of innovation
 Is spread by communication
 To members of a social system
 Over a period of time
Innovation-definitions Firm oriented

 1.Firm oriented-Product new to a firm or company, ignores

whether it is new to the market place
innovation-definitions Product oriented

2. Product oriented- features inherent in the product itself and the

effect on the established behavior patterns of consumers-the extent
to which a new product is likely disrupt behavior patterns
3 types of product innovation
 Continuous innovation-least disruptive (modifications in the product
rather than a totally new product e.g.: latest version of Microsoft
windows )
 Dynamically continuous innovation-more disruptive (greater
modifications and results in creation of a product .It does not alter
the existing behavior pattern.e.g. Digital cameras in place of
ordinary camera)
 Discontinuous innovation-consumer needs to adopt new behavior
patterns (major innovations ,consumers need to adopt new
behaviour pattern.Eg:Fax machine,Internet,TV’s)
Innovation-definitions Market oriented

3. Market oriented-How much exposure consumers have

to the new product
 A product is considered new If it is purchased by a
small number of the total population
 A product is considered new If the product has been
relatively for a short period of time in the market
Innovation-definitions Consumer oriented :

4.Consumer oriented:A new product that a potential consumer judges to be new.

In other words newness is based on the consumer’s perception of the product
rather than on market realities
 Purchase innovativeness (time of adoption)
 Use innovativeness (when a consumer uses a previously adopted product in a
novel way.
Rate of adoption

 How long it takes for a new product or service to be

adopted by members of a social system. Or how
quickly it takes a new product to be accepted by
those who ultimately adopt it
 Fads- very fast, fashion- moderate, classic
fashion/style-slow
Adopter categories

 A classification scheme that indicates where a

consumer stands in relation to other consumers in
terms of time
 Figure 15.9 Adopter Categories

Early Laggards
Adopters
13.5% Early Late 16%
Innovators Majority Majority
2.5% 34% 34%

Percentage of Adopters by Category Sequence

Profile of consumer innovator
 Earliest purchasers of a new product
 Interest in the product category
 Is an opinion leader
 Personality traits- less rigid, consistent, open minded,
need for uniqueness, inner directed, daring
 Purchase characteristics-Less brand loyal, deal prone
(taking advantage of offers), heavy users of the product
category
 Media habits-greater exposure to magazines, special
interest magazines, Less viewing TV
Profile of innovators

 Social characteristics-socially accepted and socially

involved, (opinion leaders)
 Demographic characteristics- Younger, formal
education, higher personal income, high occupational
status
 Early Adopters: Description
 13.5% of population
 Respected
 More integrated into the local social system
 The persons to check with before adopting a new idea
 Category contains greatest number of opinion leaders
 Are role models
 Early Majority: Description
 34% of population
 Deliberate
 Adopt new ideas just prior to the average time
 Seldom hold leadership positions
 planned for some time before adopting
 Late Majority: Description
 34% of population
 doubtful
 Adopt new ideas just after the average time
 Adopting may be both an economic necessity and a reaction to peer pressures
 Innovations approached cautiously
 Laggards: Description
 16% of population
 Traditional
 The last people to adopt an innovation
 Most “localite” in outlook
 Oriented to the past
 Suspicious of the new
The adoption process

 The stages through which an individual consumer

passes while arriving at a decision to try or not to try
or to continue using or to discontinue using a new
product
 Stages in adoption process- awareness, interest,
evaluation, trial , adoption or rejection
 Adoption
Trial
Evaluation
Interest
Awareness
Stages in the Adoption Process
 Table 15.11 Stages in Adoption Process
NAME WHAT
OF HAPPENS
EXAMPLE
STAGE DURING THIS
STAGE
Awaren Consumer is first Janet sees an ad for a new
ess exposed to the MP3 player in the magazine
product she is reading.
Consumer is Janet reads about the MP3
innovation.
Interest interested in the player on the manufacturer’s
product and Web site and then goes to an
searches
Consumer for electronics store
After talking to anear her
additional apartment and has a
Evaluat decides whether knowledgeable friend, Janet
information.
or not to believe salesperson
decides that show
this her aplayer
MP3 unit.
ion
that this product will allow her to easily
or service will download the MP3 files that
satisfy the need-- she has on her computer. She
 Table 15.11 Stages in Adoption Process
NAME WHAT
OF HAPPENS
EXAMPLE
STAGE DURING THIS
STAGE
Consumer uses Since an MP3 player cannot
Trial the product on a be “tried” like a small tube of
limited basis toothpaste, Janet buys the
MP3 player online from
If trial is Janet finds that
Amazon.com, the MP3
which offers a
Adoptio favorable, player
30-day isfull
easy to usepolicy.
refund and that
n consumer decides the sound quality is excellent.
(Rejecti to use the product She keeps the MP3 player.
on) on a full, rather
than a limited
basis--if
unfavorable, the
An Enhanced Adoption Process Model

Rejection Discontinuation or Rejection

Evaluation

Pre-existing Adoption or
Awareness Interest Evaluation Trial
problem or Need Rejection

Adoption or Rejection

Postadoption or
Postpurchase Evaluation

Discontinuation
POSTPURCHASE
PROCESSES,
CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION,
AND CUSTOMER
COMMITMENT

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Postpurchase Consumer Behavior

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Postpurchase Dissonance

Postpurchase Dissonance occurs when a consumer has doubts or anxiety

regarding the wisdom of a purchase made and is a function of the following:

• The degree of commitment or irrevocability of the decision

• The importance of the decision to the consumer

• The difficulty of choosing among the alternatives

• The individual’s tendency to experience anxiety

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Postpurchase Dissonance

After the purchase is made, the consumer may utilize one or more of the
following to reduce dissonance:

 Increase the desirability of the brand purchased

 Decrease the desirability of rejected alternatives

 Decrease the importance of the purchase decision

 Reverse the purchase decision (return before use)

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Product Use and Nonuse
Product Use

Marketers need to understand how consumers use their

product. They need to understand the symbolic and functional
way in which the product is used. So that they can design the
product accordingly.

They also need to know how consumers use the product in a

innovative way to expand the sales

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 Product Non-use
It occurs when a consumer actively acquires a product that is not used or used
only sparingly relative to its potential use
Disposition

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