I don’t know about you, but I rely on word-of-mouth observations nearly every single day, whether it’s asking a co-worker what they think of a local restaurant (which I did today, twice) or going online to scout out advice from real people about the best external hard drive to purchase (which I did last month; I settled on this one). That kind of authentic reccomendation is powerful.

There’s a simple way to take this natural compulsion people have to seek out advice from neutral parties and apply it to your business. Ready to find out how much someone loves or hates you? Ask them if they’d recommend you to a friend. This stark question yields a wealth of information.

When companies start to ask this one question, they can quickly see how many people (current, potential and former customers) are with them — and how many are against them. That’s valuable data. Again, it sounds simple, but there are a gaggle of brand-consulting firms out there who will cheerfully charge a company many thousands of dollars to answer these two simple questions: Do they love you or hate you? How much?

When companies start examining this kind of cut-and-dry (sometimes painfully honest) measurement, it can help them begin the process of actually listening to their customers. To help encourage that kind of customer-to-company interaction, we’ve added a new feature: You can now recommend or discourage people from using a company and its products.

It’s quite straightforward: Pick any company or product you see on Get Satisfaction and tell us how much you’d recommend it to a friend. It’s an excellent way to — by sheer force of numbers — show companies what everyone really thinks about their products and services. It’s a simple way of saying “numbers don’t lie”: We care this much; no more, no less. When companies see the results, they can very easily determine whether they’re doing enough… or need to do more.

We think this is one of the sharpest features we’ve introduced so far on Get Satisfaction, and we’re keenly interested in hearing what you think of it. In the near future, we’ll be using this information in ways that will help both consumers and companies. It’s the first of many new features we’re hard at work on that will really help everyone get more value out of the system.

Do you love/hate/want to discuss it? Fire away with your observations about our new feature — but only after you’ve already judged us on that same 10-point scale.

The Get Satisfaction office is slowly emptying out this week. One by one, we’re spreading our wings and migrating to Austin for SXSW.

Lane was the first to arrive in the Lone Star state, many others are en route, and I’ll be bringing up the rear.

Will Wired be waiting to interview me about my hair when I step off the plane?

Doubtful.

Come to our party, eat our tacos, hear us speak, and say hello if you see us around town.

[Wired is on Get Satisfaction.]

Courtesy of the Washington Monthly, this is an unforgettable image of one of the earliest call centers. It’s a scan of an ad from the October 1958 copy of Newsweek, and the copy (obscured here) reads:

This “magic scoreboard” makes it possible for the Hilton Reservation Offices listed below to give you, while you are still on the phone, complete reservation information at any of the 33 Hilton Hotels around the world. You will receive an immediate verbal reply on your reservation request, and a written confirmation will be mailed the same day.

There are some informative comments below the post. For instance, the “magic scoreboard” showed rates and availability to the operators, and was called the “rack”. This is the origin of the term “rack rate,” which means the base room rate.

My favorite part is the young woman carrying the vase of carnations across the workroom.

My old pal Dan Heath has penned an excellent article for Fast Company on practical tips for generating word of mouth:

Most organizations systematically snuff out anything that’s distinctive enough to spark conversation, usually through processes and committees. Would woolen caps for smoothie bottles have survived a committee decision at Coca-Cola? Could a formal market-research process have justified the VW Beetle’s bud vase? (”Our conjoint analysis has revealed that customers’ willingness to pay increases by $112 with the bud vase.”) When people with different opinions compromise, they meet in the middle, not at the edge. But the edge is what sparks conversation.

“If you were stripped absolutely naked for the world to see, a few warts might show up, but more people would do business with you.” — Glenn Kelman over on Guy Kawasaki’s blog, talking about his favorite brand of PR: The DIY kind.

Sounds like something we’d say! A very smart, pleasantly counterintuitive approach to public relations.

Eddie Codel, of PodTech and GeekTV fame, sat down with us in our office recently to chat about Satisfaction on his “Lunchmeet” videocast. Worth watching not only ’cause we reveal even more of our not-so-secret plans but also because you get a chance to see and hear our rockstar dev team in action.

“A unique survey ran on O’Reilly’s web site during the first three months of 2007, aimed at people who contribute free documentation to online mailing lists, web sites, and other forums. The survey garnered 354 responses, which in itself indicates the thriving state of free documentation and the dedication of the people who write it.”

Ostensibly about documentation but applies to any act of seemingly selfless contribution to the group.

Coulton pens a follow-up to the NY Times article on his rise to Internet stardom.

We just put up a shiny new design and home page on our site, in preparation for our upcoming first release. Check it out and sign up to get notified by email about the launch.

Using a back-tested paper portfolio and an actual case, the authors of a study published in the Journal of Marketing found that companies at the top 20% of the the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) greatly outperformed the the stock market, generating a 40% return.