Study: 'Dell Hell' Had a Measurable Impact on the Dell Brand

A new white paper unleashed today by Response Source revealed that that blogging has a direct influence on corporate reputation. The white paper (PDF), ‘Measuring the Influence of Bloggers on Corporate Reputation’ scientifically measured Jeff Jarvis’s criticism this summer of Dell. It found that the rants Jeff started had a lasting, negative impact on Dell's brand.

Technorati Tags: Dell, Dell Hell, Jeff Jarvis

Comments

[Cyndi]

Great post. Sony will learn the hard way as well.

[Adam]

I guess that depends on your definition of measurable. Aside from perceived brand strength, was there a measurable impact on Dell's actual performance (revenues in particular)?

see: http://adam.easyjournal.com/entry.aspx?eid=2653563

[Mark Rogers]

Responding to Adam as one of the report's co-author's we would say it has hit Dell's bottom line. The impact of sales growth stalling has led to profit warnings. In fact these issues predate Jeff Jarvis's problems, as he himself points out. We agree that the business damage to Dell was originated by their customer service issues (negative customer response to offshoring, changes in ongoing service-at-home contracts); we argue that the damage is sustained by Dell's failure to respond to their critics. Market Sentinel measures corporate reputation by compiling a "Net promoters Index". That is: the number of a company's online promoters less the online detractors. This works as a powerful leading indicator of stock price. The Net Promoters Index for Dell shows a sharp downturn after 2003, prior to Jeff's campaign. What this means is that a lot of people felt like Jeff but didn't have his connections. Nevertheless, Jeff's campaign did (and does) damage Dell, as we show. In WW2 Churchill downplayed his influence: "the lion was the British people, I merely provided the roar". We would put Jeff Jarvis in the same boat. He provided the roar.