雖然口碑行銷近年來蓬勃發展，消費者除了與他人面對面搜尋口碑之外，更可利用網路的即時通訊來詢問他人口碑，社會網絡型態的演變對於口碑搜尋動機亦可能造成影響，因為過去消費者資訊搜尋不易，要問口碑的機會較少，當消費者搜尋資訊成本降低，可能會誘發更多元的搜尋動機。
本研究將在進行一次探索性的研究調查消費者口碑搜尋動機並加以分類，在學術界也有提及許多口碑搜尋動機種類，但鮮少有學者將消費者搜尋口碑的動機它分為功能性與非功能性，且納入產品屬性做對比，本研究分為四大主題，首先將列出口碑搜尋動機的種類，並深入探討每一種動機其內涵為何，接著將它們二分為功能性與非功能性兩大類別，再以不同角度為觀點的產品屬性與動機類別之間分析彼此的對應關係，消費者可藉由搜尋過程中，得到哪方面的滿足，最後從搜尋動機反應在消費者搜尋行為上的本質時是否可以歸納出資訊導向與互動導向兩大類別，並於本研究最後，將建議企業在設計產品行銷時，可利用消費者不同的搜尋口碑動機，操作口碑行為，來提高產品聲量。

While word of mouth marketing develops faster in recent years, consumers seek word-of mouth messages not only by face to face but also by the internet network. For the motives of seeking word-of-mouth messages, the evolution of social network type maybe makes some change. Because consumers sought information hard in the past time and had less chance to ask word-of-mouth message, now the marketing type becomes different, it must lead to more seeking motives.
In this study, we would investigate an exploratory study about why consumers seek word-of-mouth message and classify the motives. It mentioned many types of motives for seeking word-of-mouth in the academic, but rarely studies classified the motives as functional motives and non-functional motives, and included by product-attributes comparison.This study is divided into four themes. First, we would list the types of motives for word-of-mouth seeking, and deeply discuss the meaning of every motive. Second, we would divide the motives for seeking word-of-mouth into functional and non-functional. Then, with a different view of product attributes and motivations, we would analysis the corresponding relationship to each other. By seeking information process, consumers would get what they want. Final, in seeking word-of-mouth behavior, whether we could be summarized as two categories or not. One is information-oriented behavior; the other is interactive-oriented behavior. According to the research result, we would suggest that the marketing planner could make use of various seeking motives and operate the word-of-moth behavior to improve product popularity.

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