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Word of mouth marketing and international adoption agencies

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Abstract

Word-of-mouth is an important tool in marketing efforts to build a brand and clientele base. Nonprofits have relied on word of mouth as free advertising and need to focus on what keeps clients coming back. The demand for adoption of Chinese infants and children is high and competition among nonprofit American adoption agencies can be fierce. Nonprofit organizations need proven strategies to attract new clients and keep those they have. But, does positive word-of-mouth about nonprofit adoption agencies affect an individuals’ choice of agency and does word-of-mouth promote client retention? Data for 971 cases of international adoptions indicates word of mouth may initially lead someone to choose one agency over another, and the source of the word-of-mouth is influential in that decision but not strongly. Whether a nonprofit agency is successful in recruiting new or retaining existing clients depends more on the service experience of each client. The quality of the communication was the single strongest predictor of whether clients were satisfied, would recommend the agency, and whether they would choose that agency again. This research helps fill a gap in understanding the relationship between nonprofit adoption agencies and their clients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA, USA

    Kristen Boyd Posey, Deborah Yarborough Layden & Barbara L. Neuby

Authors
  1. Kristen Boyd Posey
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  2. Deborah Yarborough Layden
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  3. Barbara L. Neuby
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara L. Neuby.

Appendices

Appendix A

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Appendix B

Introductory Letter Emailed To Agency Directors

Date

Dear NAME,

How would you like to have access to research data that could help you better serve your clients? Best of all, it is free!

Under direction of a tenured professor, we are graduate students at Kennesaw State University and are conducting a research project that may benefit your organization. The purpose of our project is to determine what factors are most important to people interested in adopting a child from China, when selecting an adoption agency. To accomplish this, we will be posting a survey on surveymonkey.com. The survey will take approximately fifteen minutes to complete and the responses will remain anonymous. The only identifiers will be the demographic information collected in the survey.

Here is where we need your help. In order to have valid survey results, we need as many people as possible, who have adopted or who are going through the process of adopting a child from China, to complete our survey. Therefore, we are asking all interested agency directors to email the attached letter, along with a personal appeal, to all former and current clients who have used your agency between the years 2000–2006.

In appreciation for your participation, we will provide you with the aggregate data collected from the survey. It is our hope that this data will provide your agency with additional insight as to what prospective parents look for in an adoption agency, as well as how satisfied they were with the services that your agency provided them.

Please email us at adoption.research.china@gmail.com to let us know if you would like to participate in this project. Also, if you have any questions or concerns, please email them to us. This is an exciting project that will provide valuable insight to the international adoption community and we look forward to your agency being a part of it. Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully yours,

Deborah Layden

Department of Political Science Department of Political Science

Masters of Public Administration Program Masters of Public Administration Program

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University

adoption.research.china@gmail.com adoption.research.china@gmail.com

Kristen B. Posey

Department of Political Science Department of Political Science

Masters of Public Administration Program Masters of Public Administration Program

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University

adoption.research.china@gmail.com adoption.research.china@gmail.com

The purpose of this research has been explained and my participation is entirely voluntary. I understand that the research entails no known risks and that my responses are not being recorded in any individually identifiable form. By anonymously completing this survey, I am agreeing to participate in this research project.

Research at Kennesaw State University that involves human participants is carried out under the oversight of an Institutional Review Board. Questions or problems regarding these activities should be addressed to Dr. Martha E. Myers, Chairperson of the Institutional Review Board, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, #1101, Kennesaw, GA 30144, (770) 423-6378.

Updated June 28, 2006

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Posey, K.B., Layden, D.Y. & Neuby, B.L. Word of mouth marketing and international adoption agencies. Int Rev Public Nonprofit Mark 6, 137–149 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-009-0037-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-009-0037-6

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