Called word of mouth, this information sharing is as old as parenting itself. It’s the way newcomers to a town and newcomers to parenting learn the ins and outs of finding a pediatrician or babysitter, how to locate school bus stops and whether to pack a lunch or pay in the cafeteria.

 

Word of Mouth: How most parents make their decisions

By Alison O’Leary Murray

It’s as natural as chatting about the weather: When parents get together at a playgroup or sitting at the beach, talk turns naturally to where the baby’s adorable sun hat came from, or whether starting piano lessons before Kindergarten is worthwhile.

Called word of mouth, this information sharing is as old as parenting itself. It’s the way newcomers to a town and newcomers to parenting learn the ins and outs of finding a pediatrician or babysitter, how to locate school bus stops and whether to pack a lunch or pay in the cafeteria.

Karen Maki, a Holliston mother of girls ages 7 and 4, says word of mouth among women in her “mommies network” gave her good advice in many aspects of raising her children. “It’s how we found their preschools, summer camps, lots of things. It has been very reliable.”

Word of mouth seems to be particularly important to new, inexperienced parents.

Maki said personal recommendations gave her an extra measure of comfort when her first child was a baby. “That’s when you have this extra anxiety” about decisions affecting the newborn, she says.

When Sandra Kantrowitz of Holliston was a new mom, she relied on her daycare provider’s advice in purchasing brands of baby food and other necessities. As a working mom with little babycare experience, she welcomed the information. Seven years later, she’s tuned in for the inside scoop on camps. “Camps are so hard, there are so many of them,” she says. “I ask other parents about some things, but not really for big-ticket items.”

An experienced mom with a teen and two toddlers, Christine Curley of Millis says word of mouth about places to go and things to do with kids is particularly helpful, but she’s had mixed experience with it in the past when a babysitter was recommended and didn’t work out. “It’s often not enough information. It only goes so far,” she says.

For businesses, word of mouth among parents can be golden.

“It’s huge for a business like ours,” says Jennifer Cox, director of Natick’s Tir Na Nog childcare center. “We have so many people who come in here and say ‘we heard about you [from a parent] at the playground.’”

Because of the positive buzz the center gets, they’ve developed a waiting list of parents who want to get their children in, Cox says. “We really hate to turn people away when they’ve come to us as a result of a good recommendation.”

Other businesses are trying to duplicate the buzz that accompanies word of mouth recommendations. Three years ago, a trade group called the Word of Mouth Marketing Association was formed to help public relations firms and ad agencies develop this old form of communication into a new form of advertising. They’re building advertisements and campaigns around “ambassadors” who are regular people willing to openly declare their love for a particular model of pickup truck, sneaker, or cereal. The ads try to replicate the experience that many parents rely on, that of sharing information on the playground.

We can expect to see more of this sort of advertising-disguised-as-advice in the future, says Boston University Professor Frederick Brunel. Because people get their information from many sources nowadays, marketers are trying out new ways to woo potential clients, he says, including getting people to send recommendations to their friends via email.

Brunel studied communication between parents on the www.babycenter.com web site to learn about word of mouth advice. He says that many of us are willing to trade the face-to-face experience in our neighborhoods for virtual advice. “Electronic communications seem to develop rich relationships between members over time through activity on message boards and through self-exposure,” he says. “These people develop trust just like neighbors who live on the same street.”