A happy customer generally tends to recommend to an average of 11 people. – American Express.
The stats say quite a lot about the power of a customer for your business. If a customer is satisfied and happy with your product and services, they recommend it to their friends and relatives, eventually turning into your brand advocate. A brand advocate is a person who loves your products/services and is interested in promoting them in numerous ways they can, like, posting on social media, participating in discussions on the online platform, writing blogs, creating videos, as well as publications.
Having customers as your brand advocates proves to be extremely beneficial for the growth of your brand. Research suggests that 92% trust the product recommendations coming from the peer, more than any other medium. Brand advocacy email marketing works in the form of a chain, passing it from one group to another, and so on, expanding your brand reach.
20-50% of purchase decisions are influenced by word-of-mouth.- Social Media Today
However, you can never turn a customer into brand advocates overnight, you need to do a lot of effort for that. Not every customer comes to the brand to become your regular customer or brand advocates. Some might just make a single purchase and never return back. Some might frequently purchase your products but do not take interest in advocating your brand or are still not convinced enough to advocate your brand.
Hence, the foremost thing you need to do is filtering your customer list to find out the customers who can turn into your brand advocate. You can filter your list based on various factors like-
- Frequency of their purchase.
- Their reviews/rating on your product and services.
- Their responses in the survey/questionnaires conducted by you.
- Their level of participation in your events/discussions.
- Ask your customers directly about their likelihood of recommending your product and services in their peer group.
Once, you have listed the potential customer whom you can turn into your brand advocates, create an effective customer engagement strategy for the same. The following are some of the most effective practices for turning customers into brand advocates.
Most-Effective Brand Advocacy Email Marketing Tips to Convert Customers
Before heading with the process, always remember that the customers you have shortlisted for the brand advocacy email marketing are already the happy ones. They are satisfied with your product and services. All you need to do is walk a little extra mile and convince them to advocate your brand to their peer groups. Here are some useful tips that you can follow to make the process more effective.
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Always focus towards a good Customer Service
70% of the customer’s journey depends upon how the customer is being treated at your company. – McKinsey
Customer service works as a deciding factor in his journey with your brand. It’s your service that makes you different from your competitors. A brand is always remembered by the customer for its service, based on which he plans his future actions.
More than 50% of US-based customers have canceled a purchase order due to the bad service.- Business Wire
So, if you want to turn your customer into your brand advocate, always focus on the services that you provide to your customer. Failing to serve your customer up to their expectation will not only cost you one customer but at least 10 more who can come through them.
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Personalize the Customer Experience
Personalization has no longer remained an emerging trend, it has become a compulsory digital marketing discipline. In light of this fact, almost every company is trying to incorporate it in one or another way.
You can find personalization options everywhere, starting from your usual google search about the topics of your interest, to the music you listen to, the food you order as well as the products and services offered by the companies. Every customer prefers customized services, in fact, they appreciate it, prefer indulging with companies who do the same.
In the respect of the importance of personalization, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos stated, “If we have 4.5 million customers we should not have one store, we should have 4.5 million stores.” The higher the customer satisfaction, the greater is the probability of brand advocacy email marketing working. So, give your customers more personalized services, and give them the reason to advocate your brand.
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Drive Repeat Purchases
The market is full of brands having a pool of products and services. You should make sure that you don’t get lost in the crowd. The customer should remember you and keep buying from your brand to become loyal customers and eventually your brand advocates. The more times a customer makes a purchase from your brand, the more they feel connected to your brand.
A major part of the business growth comes from repeated purchases and customers. The probability of the return customers to purchase products and services is 33% more than that of the new clients. In fact, the return customers are 77% more likely to advocate about your brand.
There are numerous factors that affect the purchasing decision of the customer, you can retarget your customer through the following ways-
- Avail 24/7 customer service
- Frequent discounts on the products
- Free Shipping
- Send Gift Coupons on their special days
- Personalized product recommendations
- Easy replacement and refund
- Authentic and Quality product
- Place creative ads about the offers
If you will take care of the above factors, the customer will definitely make repeated purchases from your brand, and thereby turn into your brand advocate.
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Get feedback
Feedback works in two ways- first helps you to serve your customer better and understand that whether they have the potential to turn into your brand advocate, secondly it makes your customer feel special and valued. Hence, they come closer to your brand, advocating about the treatment they get from you.
There are numerous ways you can take feedback from your customer-
- Conduct a survey or poll.
- Ask them to fill up the short questionnaire about a company’s products/ services.
- Install a chatbot on the website requesting feedback about the purchase process once the customer has completed checkout.
- Grab every opportunity to get your customers feedback
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Loyalty programs
Brand advocacy Email Marketing is all about customer loyalty, that is how much a customer is loyal towards your brand. Only a loyal customer can advocate about your brand. Hence to turn your customer into a loyal customer, you can conduct a loyalty program that makes them feel special. Around 70% of the customers tend to advocate about a brand that has a better loyalty program
However, do not let your existing loyal customers feel left out, take care of them as well. According to HubSpot, 50% of US customers left a brand they were once loyal to for a competitor that met their needs to a better extent. There are the following types of loyalty program you can conduct for your business-
- Points Program: Customer earns points on the purchase.
- Tiered Program: Loyalty benefits are based on certain criteria, based on which the customers are served accordingly.
- Paid Program: These are the subscription-based programs that provide the customers with additional benefits.
- Partnered/ Coalition Program: These are the loyalty programs conducted by two companies jointly. For example, a customer buys from one brand and gets benefits from the other company.
- Cashback Program: The customer directly gets a rewarding cashback.
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Referral programs
The customer will only recommend your brand to others, either If they are extremely impressed by your brand or they get benefits by referring to it. Referral programs prove to be extremely beneficial in this case. Referral program functions in numerous ways-
- Offer referral points that can be redeemed in future purchases
- Offer cash equivalent prizes for each referral
- Create a shareable referral link that the customers can forward to their friends for further reference.
- Design a productive referral scheme, for instance, reward points or cash rewards on every 5 referrals.
For Example, Dropbox offers 16 GB of extra space to the customer on referring it to their friends.
Source: Link
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Highlight the Good Customer Reviews
94% of online customers read reviews before making any purchasing decisions.– Fan & Fuel
The customers always cross-check the customer reviews before purchasing your product. The reviews have the capability to both make and break your brand. Highlight the good ratings and use the top reviews as a testimonial for your brand. These testimonials work as advocates for your brand, attracting customers to your brand. When a customer comes across these testimonials, he tries to indulge in your brand.
Wrap-up
Turning a customer into brand advocates can be a great contribution to the success of your business. By now you might have been acquainted with the ways that can help you increase your brand advocates and take your company to another level. Customers are the most important asset of a company, so try to gain the trust of your customer and develop a long-lasting relationship. Always remember a customer will never advocate your brand if he doesn’t trust you. Hence, formulate an effective strategy and leave no scope to lose your customer. If you need any assistance with the process, reach out to the experts.
