Getting new customers is the primary aim of every brand or business.
But if you want to grow you need to focus on increasing business from existing customers. Various researches have proven that if your customers are happy, they are likely to spend 33% more than new customers.
Furthermore, they are also more likely to recommend your brand to others. This helps you drive the conversion rate and increase your social media presence.
Brand Advocates: Importance of Customer Recommendations
Well, what would you as customer trust, an advertisement of a product or an actual review of a user that has bought and used the product themselves?
People now research any product or service before purchasing it, and the opinions of existing users can greatly influence their decision. Over 90% of customers prefer personal recommendations over paid advertisements.
Therefore, if you want to grow, you need the support of your customers. Just like influencers, they can act as your brand advocates and help increase revenue. But to do so, you need to build an engaging and loyal follower base.
The article lists proven ways that can help you turn your customers into advocates for your brand.
1. Enhance the Customer Experience
While this may sound too obvious, an unpleasant experience is often the primary reason for customers to leave a brand. According to the research conducted by CreditDonkey, 37% of customers of major brands and 5.7% of small businesses lose customers because of poor service.
Poor customer experiences can lead to a disappointed or enraged customer, whereas average services do not stand out. If you want the customer to remember your brand, provide an exceptional service that stands out and makes a good impression. This will also make the customer reconsider your brand for future purchases.
2. Ask for Feedback and Analyze it
The feedback gained from your customers is a valuable source of information. The positive responses can help you identify the most effective aspects of your brand or product that the customers like. You can then use it as a marketing tool to promote your brand. But don’t forget about the negative responses, as they are important too.
Negative feedback can help you identify areas where you lack. These are aspects that diminish the customer experience. You can use these insights to find areas that need improvement and move towards a providing better product or service.
3. Focus on driving repeat purchases
A customer won’t just become a loyal follower and advocate of your brand after just a single product or service experience. One after 4-5 purchases does the customer start trusting your brand will advocate for the same. As a matter of fact, only 1 out of 8 customers become loyal to your brand after a couple of purchases.
So it’s important that customers stay interested in your offerings and come back for the same. This not only increases the conversion rate but also grows loyalty and the number of people to spread positivity about your brand.
Instead of just increasing sales or adding new customers, focus on elevating the experience and build loyalty.
4. Start Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are one of the best ways to increase the chances of repeat purchases from customers. If loyalty programs offer additional bonuses, services, or discounts to the customers, they will surely stick to your brand. While it doesn’t ensure that all customers entering the loyalty program will stick to it, there are a few steps you can implement to increase the chances, and they are:
- Ease of use
- Simple and easy to understand
- Offers better discounts
Also, if your loyalty program offers a point-based reward, make sure that it is easy to convert and use. The most effective ones are those that offer cash conversion against the earned points. Furthermore, make sure that to find the right balance for the conversion. Too many purchases for a few points won’t interest your customers. Whereas, too many points for a few purchases can leave a massive hole in your financials.
5. Emphasize on Providing Personalized Service
Personalizing your services is another amazing way to gain the interests of your audience and to make the experience memorable. When it comes to personalization, it’s the little things that make the difference.
It can be as simple as a restaurant letting you change a dish to your preferences or adding more options to the service. But make sure to keep the personalization process simple and streamlined. If you complicate things too much, delivering the service efficiently and at an affordable rate could become difficult.
6. Organize a Referral Program
A referral program can help you achieve two goals at once and they are:
- Get new customers
- Make existing customers advocate for your brand
A referral program can be summarized as, encouraging your customers to spread positivity about your brand and urge others to use your services in exchange for a reward or incentive. But the goal is not just adding new customers. According to a study conducted by Christopher Van Den Bulte, the customers gained through referrals provide more business compared to customers added through marketing means.
7. Enhance your Customer Support
Providing exceptional customer service is indeed important, but the same goes for customer support. The after-sale services also play a key role in influencing the customer’s purchase decisions. Also, an exceptional product or service with average or poor customer support can push customers away from your brand.
Conclusion
Brand advocates are crucial to increase your social media presence, increase sales, and getting more customers. The age of social media has made it much easier to find and engage with customers. Although, it’s no longer easy to gain their attention and encourage them to become their brand advocates. However, you have to be consistent in your start to grab the customers’ attention. FollowersAnalysis is an amazing tool that can help you elevate your social media game by delivering valuable insights. Do give it a try!
