It may come as a shock to many marketers—and some stand-up comics, too—but it turns out women aren't all that mouthy. A new study from Harbinger, a firm in Toronto that specializes in
marketing to women, finds that the way women use word-of-mouth varies sharply by product category, as well as by life stage.
But perhaps the biggest shock is that even the most techno-savvy
would rather not learn or talk about products online: Women are still three times as likely to talk to friends and family as they are to go to their computers. And 92% say they prefer face-to-face
communications over online research, Deborah Adams, Harbinger's SVP, tells Marketing Daily.
"That's not to say they're not spending a lot of time online, because they are. But the distinction is
that while they go online to get information, they prefer to share it in the traditional way," she says.