The eWOM Matrix: A Model for Categorising e-Word-of-Mouth on Web-based Consumer Opinion Platforms

Consumers often share opinions and personal consumption experiences on web-based consumer opinion platforms. These e-Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) reviews are powerful as they can prompt other consumers to consider a company and its offerings, but they can also cause the opposite effect. This article contributes to the literature by examining how a company can gain insights about the images held by its customers by analysing eWOM reviews on web-based consumer opinion platforms. Companies can thus directly measure and track which touch-points their customers are referring to in their eWOM reviews. We discuss how to categorise and quantify these eWOM reviews based on research within WOM, customer satisfaction and the disconfirmation of expectation paradigm combined with research within customer experience management and its focus on customer touch points. We then propose a conceptual framework – the eWOM Matrix - where the customers’ touch points are the strategic connection between analysis and implementation of eWOM issues. The eWOM Matrix serves as a management tool, visually assisting companies to explore about which touch-points their customers’ primarily construct negative or positive eWOM. This nuanced understanding can help companies to make changes according to the obtained insights and use it to make future strategic initiatives and marketing communication plans.