Although word of mouth is far and away the most important factor across all businesses, digging a little deeper into the data,  it is even more important among small businesses with 90% saying it most impacts customer acquisition.  Interestingly, the results seem to indicate that larger businesses have a greater reliance on discounts and coupons while medium size companies rely more on traditional advertising - but across all segments, one thing is clear, businesses recognize positive word of mouth is critical to attracting new customers.