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THE POWER OF WORD OF MOUTH

Joia McGivern

Everyone’s heard about Word of Mouth (WOM) and the influence these personal recommendations have on consumer decision-making and purchase behavior. How is this relevant to finding wellness providers offering lymphedema treatments?


In 2012, research agency Nielson famously surveyed 28,000 respondents across 56 countries and found that 92% of consumers around the world say they trust earned media (i.e., recommendations from friends and family) above other forms of paid advertising (Nielson, 2012). Furthermore, Nielson stated that these results showed an 18% increase from 2007. One might assume that WOM is only relevant when consumers are deciding which restaurant to visit, or which running shoe to buy, but this is not the case: WOM is also important in sourcing health and wellness practitioners!


Increasingly, patients want to be involved in selecting their medical providers and their treatment options (Martin 2012; Liang and Scammon 2011; Niehues et al. 2012). WOM has become an important tool for decision-making. Patients are seeking easily understandable, clear information to help them navigate health care options (Martin, 2012, Berry and Bendapudi 2007; Niehues et al. 2012). Studies have shown that word of mouth has an impact on patients’ decision-making. For example, when there is a large amount of WOM, or a high number of doctors are rated online, patients consider fewer doctors, spend less time browsing, and focus on treatment choices that are closer geographically (Shukla et al., 2020).


Given this research, which confirms the important role WOM plays in decision making for patients, why is it so difficult to find recommendations for lymphatic cording treatments?

 

When my mom was initially diagnosed with breast cancer, she researched the medical standard of care, and asked many questions about therapies available to counter the side-effects of breast cancer treatment. In addition to following her doctors' advice, she also turned to online research for recommendations. She not only struggled to find research articles to validate some of the complementary therapies available for treating her own post-surgical complication, but she also had a hard time finding first-hand recommendations from other breast cancer patients. Through extensive online research, she was able to uncover an informal, unstructured referral network.


If you are lucky enough to know the right lymphatic massage therapist, or radiation oncologist, or your internist is “in the know” about what’s out there, then you’re all set. If your medical advisor is not up to date with complementary healing therapies, then it's all down to you!

The moment I realized that this was a real issue for the general population of breast cancer thrivers was when she tried out dry needling for her cording: I was curious; I had heard of this therapy being applied in sports medicine to athletes, but not for the treatment of lymphatic cording or lymphedema. I went online and could not find any hard academic references in support of dry needling—beyond papers that bundled decongestive massage and dry needling with other therapies, describing them as “promising”, “experimental”, “worth researching further” complementary therapies.

 

Where was / is the data?

Cording Concierge intends in some small way to address this gap—both by providing access to complementary resources (a network of practitioners in the Charleston area) and also by collating published research data and offering expert articles from proven practitioners about their own modalities. Our website formalizes the WOM network that already exists 'underground'. The site provides first-hand accounts of what has worked for other breast cancer thrivers we know and suggests some paths forward to explore. The Knowledge Partners and patients sharing their stories with Cording Concierge understand that patients want to be empowered in their decision-making, and WOM from others who have gone through similar experiences can make these decisions just a bit easier.



PLEASE NOTE:

I am not a medical practitioner, I am the relative of a breast cancer thriver, and these are my personal views only.



 

References:


Berry, L. L., & Bendapudi, N. (2007). Health Care: A Fertile Field for Service Research.

Journal of Service Research, 10(2), 111-122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670507306682


Liang, B., & Scammon, D. L. (2011). E-Word-of-Mouth on health social networking sites: An

opportunity for tailored health communication. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 10(6), 322–331. https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.378


Martin, S. (2016). Word-of-mouth in the health care sector: A literature analysis of the

current state of research and future perspectives. International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, 14(1), 35–56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-016-0154-y


Niehues, S. M., Emmert, M., Haas, M., Schöffski, O., & Hamm, B. (2012). The impact of the

emergence of internet hospital rating sites on patients’ choice: a quality evaluation and examination of the patterns of approach. International Journal of Technology Marketing, 7(1), 4–4. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijtmkt.2012.046435


Nielsen. (2012, April). Newswire | Consumer Trust in Online, Social and Mobile Advertising


Shukla, A. D., Gao, G. (Gordon), & Agarwal, R. (2020). How Digital Word-of-Mouth Affects

Consumer Decision Making: Evidence from Doctor Appointment Booking. Management Science. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3604




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