Amazon’s Word of Mouth Features
Dec 27th, 2007 by Nut
I’ve written before on how important word of mouth is (and should be for marketers) when it comes to buying new products (like books).
Amazon has some really great features that are perfect for people like me that like to read a lot but also like to try new books that we’ve never heard of. That’s where Amazon can help. One of my favorite features is the “What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing Items Like This?” section of a book’s page, especially with lesser-known books. Sure, the reader reviews are helpful, but the list of books people get after looking at this book is very insightful. I don’t know how accurate it is or how they come up with it, but it’s still worth a peek.
For example, I absolutely loved Katherine Noel’s Halfway House. I saw her at a reading and after she read the first chapter I had to have the book. She’s a great writer. Anyway, it’s not that well known of a book and so it’s tough to find other people that also loved it and to get their recommendations (“Oh if you loved that, you should definitely check out…”)
What to Amazon customers “ultimately” buy after viewing the page for Halfway House? Well, 34% of them buy a book called The Kindness of Strangers and some of them buy You’re Not You. Those may or may not be good books—they sound pretty good—but they seem to be too similar. They all cover young people with mental illness. Excitement level? Eh. So we move on to the next feature.
The user reviews are the most direct type of word of mouth and they can be very helpful, but only up to a point if you’re trying to find the next book you’re going to read. So we skip all that and go to Listmania!
Here you’ll see lists of books people have created that usually include the book you’re reading about. Recent Fiction I have Loved by Ashley tells me that in addition to Halfway House, she also loved a few other books I’ve read. Then I see The Kite Runner, which we’ve all heard enough about. But now it makes even more sense for me to read it.
Repeat this process hundreds of times and you’ll end up with a huge list of books to read and the next time you’re thinking of what to read you’ll have a lot to choose from.
I never really thought about it but you’re right those recommended lists and created lists are actually very helpful when I’m looking for things to buy on Amazon.
I usually read a short review then check out the lists.
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