If a new brand has no reviews, will consumers really refuse to buy?

Yes, and the effect is stronger than most brands expect. Practitioners consistently find that no reviews damage consumer trust more than a handful of negative ones do — a complete blank makes people suspect nobody has ever used the product. For Taiwanese consumers, finding zero discussion on PTT or Dcard, the two forums they check first, is close to proof that nobody is willing to vouch for you. New brands need to start building word of mouth at launch, not once the sales volume arrives.

With a limited word-of-mouth budget, where should a new brand spend first?

In priority order: 1) two or three genuine experience posts on PTT and Dcard (the cheapest option, with the most durable SEO payoff); 2) a base of reviews on Google Maps or Google Business Profile (non-negotiable for local businesses); 3) a seeding program with five to ten nano-KOCs (where product samples are the main cost). That comes to roughly NT$30,000-80,000 to get started, enough to establish a baseline word-of-mouth presence so that interested shoppers actually find something when they search.

How long does it take a new brand to build a real word-of-mouth base?

The typical timeline: the first three months after launch are the seeding phase, when the goal is simply to get baseline discussion onto every platform; months three to six are the accumulation phase, when organic search traffic starts arriving; months six to twelve are the compounding phase, when those early PTT posts begin ranking on Google and the long-tail effect becomes obvious. Brands demanding results within a month usually misunderstand what word-of-mouth marketing is.

Building Word of Mouth From Zero: A Complete Roadmap From Pre-Launch to Year One

The word-of-mouth trap facing every new brand has a name: the cold-start problem. Consumers will not buy because there are no reviews, and there are no reviews because nobody has bought yet.

The trap is breakable. It just has to be broken deliberately.

The 60 days before launch: laying the foundation

Most brands make the same mistake — they start thinking about word of mouth on launch day. In fact, there is plenty to do before the product ever goes on sale.

Recruit early testers

Four to six weeks before launch, start recruiting trial partners. Post a call for participants in relevant Facebook groups, on Instagram, or through your own brand account, looking for consumers willing to try the product and share an honest account of their experience.

The bar for testers is low: genuine interest in using the product, a basic social account (a large following is not required), and a willingness to share afterward. The only compensation is free product.

This first cohort is your word-of-mouth seed stock. On launch day, their write-ups go live simultaneously across forums and social platforms, so shoppers can see that real people have actually used the product.

Set up a Google Business Profile (for local businesses)

If your brand has physical locations or delivers a service, build out a complete Google Business Profile before launch: upload a full set of photos, choose your categories precisely, and describe your services and what makes them different. That way, when your first customers want to leave a review, there is somewhere for it to land.

Confirm your keyword groundwork

Before launch, verify that consumers searching for you can actually find you:

A Google search for your brand name returns your website and social accounts near the top
Searches for your brand name plus “reviews” or “recommendations” return at least one or two results (media coverage or a blog write-up is even better)
PTT (Taiwan’s largest online bulletin board) and Dcard (a community platform popular with students and young professionals) carry no pre-existing negative discussion; if they do, deal with it before launch

The first three months after launch: the seeding phase

The goal in this window is not a sales explosion. It is making sure that when an interested shopper searches, they find genuine reviews.

Establish a search-results base on PTT and Dcard

From weeks two to four after launch, word-of-mouth discussion should start appearing on the relevant PTT and Dcard boards.

Posts at this stage need to read like genuine first-hand experience: a specific use case, concrete impressions, and an honest note on who the product is not right for.

Posting cadence: two or three posts across the first three months, spaced two to three weeks apart. Do not carpet-bomb — nothing signals paid content more clearly than a burst of posts in quick succession.

Run an Instagram KOC seeding program

Find five to fifteen everyday KOCs whose audiences match your target customers (mostly in the 500 to 5,000 follower range), and send samples with a personalized handwritten card. Do not require them to post, but do offer suggestions on creative direction.

The core principle of any seeding program: let them use their own words, and never hand over a script. A KOC post that reads like brand copy is close to worthless, both to the Instagram algorithm and to the people scrolling past it.

Switch on your review system

For e-commerce brands, send a review invitation three to five days after purchase, by email or as a LINE notification (LINE being the dominant messaging app in Taiwan). The keys are personalization and a low barrier: “Hi — how has the [product name] you bought last week been working out? If you have a moment, a one-minute review would help us enormously.”

Months three to six: the accumulation phase

With a baseline in place, this phase is about widening coverage and deepening trust.

Add YouTube to the mix

If your category suits video reviews — consumer electronics, beauty, supplements, online courses — this is the stage to start approaching small and mid-tier YouTubers in the 50,000 to 100,000 subscriber range. A full review video has the highest long-tail value of any word-of-mouth format; one good review can drive organic search traffic for two to three years.

Lay the groundwork for competitor comparisons

Three to six months into the market, consumers start comparing you with your competitors. Search terms like “Brand A vs Brand B, which is better” typically carry meaningful search volume, and they sit at the decision-stage end of the funnel, where purchase intent is highest. Make sure you are mentioned favorably in those comparisons; experience posts on PTT and Dcard and comparison reviews on YouTube are the two most reliable ways to get there.

Run the first milestone review

At the three-month mark, run a word-of-mouth status check:

How many results does a Google search for “[brand name] reviews” return?
What is the sentiment split in PTT and Dcard discussion?
How much genuine UGC sits under your Instagram brand hashtag?
Where do your e-commerce review counts and star ratings stand?

Use that snapshot to adjust your strategy for the next phase.

Months six to twelve: the compounding phase

The word of mouth seeded over the first six months starts to compound. This phase is about maintenance and depth.

Monitor actively and resolve problems fast

As brand exposure grows, so does the likelihood of negative reviews. At least once a week, run a search on your brand name paired with “PTT,” “Dcard,” and “reviews” so that you catch any new criticism immediately.

Encourage repeat buyers to share

Word of mouth from a repeat customer is far more persuasive than a first-time buyer’s, because it proves that someone used the product, liked it enough to buy again, and is still using it. Set up a review invitation aimed specifically at repeat buyers, by email or LINE message, with an appeal along the lines of “your experience helps a lot of people who are weighing the same decision you faced.”

Refresh and extend existing word-of-mouth content

Posts on PTT and Dcard from six months ago start to look dated. This is where follow-ups earn their keep: return to your original thread and add a comment along the lines of “I have been using this for six months now, so here is an update on how it holds up,” or publish a fresh post on the same board covering a full year of use. Shoppers searching today then see word of mouth from someone who has genuinely stuck with the product.

The word-of-mouth mistakes new brands make most often

Waiting until there is a problem. Word of mouth is a preventive asset, not a firefighting tool. Starting only after someone posts a complaint on PTT costs roughly three times what building word of mouth from scratch would have cost in the first place.

One big burst, then nothing. An intense push around launch followed by three months of silence works in the short term, but nothing compounds.

Sticking to a single platform. The power of word of mouth lies in shoppers finding you wherever they search. Covering Instagram but not PTT, or PTT but not Google Maps, leaves gaping holes in your coverage.

There is no shortcut to building word of mouth for a new brand, but there are far more efficient ways to walk the path. If your brand is preparing to enter the Taiwan market, or has just launched and needs a word-of-mouth base quickly, talk to a NETVANA consultant — we plan cold-start programs for new brands end to end.

Further reading: for the launch-window cadence in detail, compare this with The New Product Launch Word-of-Mouth Playbook: From 60 Days Before to 90 Days After. For the metrics that tell you whether any of it is working, see How to Measure Word-of-Mouth ROI. For the cost structure behind a KOC seeding program, see The Complete Guide to Influencer Pricing in Taiwan. And for the assumptions worth dismantling before you begin, read Seven Myths About Word-of-Mouth Marketing That Taiwanese Brands Keep Repeating.