Think about having a marketing team that is working around the clock, actually loves your product and really pushes your business for free (advertising dollars). Too good to be true? It isn’t.
These superstar marketers are out there right now and they’re buying from you. They are your happiest clients. With some encouragement and the right approach, these happy customers can become your brand ambassadors – people who passionately recommend your business to their friends, family and colleagues.
Establish A Foundation Of Trust
No one can advocate for you unless they absolutely love what you do. This is so much more than just selling a good product or providing a service. It’s how you treat them at every touchpoint, from the first time they visit your website to how you handle a return. Customer service excellence is the absolute baseline for advocacy; you can’t build a fan club on mediocrity.
Focus On Small Gestures With Big Impacts
To be truly different your business has to consistently over deliver. Surprise a customer with kindness and you create an emotional connection that gets them talking about you.
- Be quick and helpful as a flash: Quickly answer questions, acknowledge problems immediately and correct mistakes with a genuine smile.
- Let me add a personal note: A handwritten thank you note tucked into a shipping box or a small surprise free sample can go a long way to making a customer feel super appreciated.
- Under-promise, over-deliver: If your standard shipping is five days, try to get the package to their door in three days. You please your audience when you beat your own deadlines.
Seize The Moment Of Peak Excitement
So many happy customers would love to tell the world about their great experience, but they just don’t think about it themselves. Life is busy and the minute you put a product away, it becomes background. You don’t have to wait for them to remember you, just ask! The key to a high response rate is to get to them when they are feeling the most excitement about your brand.
Make The Review Process Effortless
If your request requires a customer to fill out a 20-minute survey or log into multiple accounts, they will walk away. You need to make advocacy easy.
- Buy and strike immediately: Send an automated, friendly email asking for a quick rating while the excitement of unboxing the product is still fresh in their mind.
- Positive support interactions: If your customer service team has just gone the extra mile to solve a tricky problem, this is the perfect time to ask, ‘Would you mind sharing your experience online?’
Make it easy. Don’t make them jump through hoops. Let them leave a thought in under sixty seconds with direct, one-click links to your Google, Yelp or social media review pages.
Create A Rewarding Referral Program
People naturally like to feel appreciated and to be acknowledged for their loyalty. While some advocates will spread the word just because they are good people, you can speed up the process tremendously by giving them an incentive to talk about you. A structured reward/referral program turns informal word-of-mouth into a repeatable marketing machine.
Design Simple Ways To Say Thank You
Your reward program should never feel like a complicated math equation. Keep the rules clear and the rewards immediate.
- The Give and Take strategy: Create a traditional referral program. Your current customer gets store credit for referring a friend and the friend gets a discount on their first purchase. It’s a win-win for all parties involved.
- Provide unique, non-cash perks: Sometimes, insider access is worth more than money. Give your best advocates early access to new product launches, invitations to secret sales or permanent VIP perks like free shipping on all future orders.
Celebrate Your Community Publicly
If a customer goes out of their way to tag your business on Instagram, write a nice tweet or leave a glowing five-star review, don’t just smile and scroll past it. Underline it! Celebrating your customers publicly demonstrates that you are listening, that you care about their opinion and that there are real human beings at the helm of your company.
Transform User Content Into Social Proof
UGC is the gold standard for marketing. You have real people using your products and potential buyers see them and their buying anxiety is blown away.
- Share their content with permission. Post customer photos, unboxing videos or quotes on your official social media pages as well as your homepage.
- Say thank you out loud: Always reply to comments, tags and reviews.
The Golden Rule Of Advocacy
Customer advocacy is a two-way road. If you take care of your customers, they will take care of your business automatically. You don’t need a big corporate budget, an expensive PR agency or complicated software to turn regular consumers into passionate brand ambassadors. All it takes is a change of heart. Treat your customers like human beings, listen to their needs and provide good service and show some gratitude along the way.
Begin on a small scale. Thank a regular for their business or take the time to thank someone for a recent review. One authentic connection can take your brand further than you might think!
