Consumer Moments of Truth in the Digital Context : How "Search" and "E-Word of Mouth" Can Fuel Consumer Decision-Making

The consumer purchasing journey has evolved. New models need to capture the advancing digital behaviours of tech-savvy consumers. The current paper revisits the practitioner-led 'Moments of Truth' model used by a number of successful multinationals (initially Procter & Gamble and subsequently Google). 'Moments of Truth' (MOT) describe key instances of contact between a potential customer and a brand. The model now needs to be extended to integrate variables such as shared brand experience and searchable electronic word of mouth (e-WOM). Consumer brand experiences produce both positive and negative e-WOM, which increasingly are being indexed to appear in search engine results. This short paper establishes the cycle of e-WOM influence as recommendations are shared and searched among digitally connected consumers and explains how digital marketers can successfully manage these MOTs.