6 ways to turn customers into brand advocates

02/04/2021 | Share:

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to market your ecommerce business. The previous or existing customer wields a lot of power when it comes to influencing others. Nothing promotes it better than a recommendation from someone your customer already trusts.

But how do you promote this level of advocacy from your customers? It’s one thing to make a sale but it’s another level altogether to get your customers to sing your praises to others. In this article, we’re going to cover some of the things you can do to turn your customers into brand advocates.

Deliver great customer service

People will always remember how you make them feel, especially when dealing with your customer service. If you build a reputation of solving customer issues and queries efficiently and in a friendly way, customers will appreciate it. However, the key to building advocacy must include a proactive approach. Don’t wait for customers to come to you with problems. If you’re a step ahead of any issues, for example, delivery delays, the customer will appreciate it even more.

You need to make sure that the customer can contact you the way they prefer. Whether that’s by phone, social media, email or live chat, you need to be available for them.

If you’re not 100% confident in your customer service, check out our post on improving your customer service.

Offer loyalty programs

Loyalty programs show customers your gratitude for their continued custom through rewards such as free products and discounts. Not only do they provide an incentive for multiple purchases and therefore multiple opportunities to wow your customer, but they are also great talking points. By recognising and appreciating your customers, you’ll be well on your way to creating advocates for your brand.

Offer referral programs

Acquiring new customers can be expensive. By adding referral programs, not only do you get more people on board but the customer feels rewarded for doing so. This is a great win-win situation for you and your customers.

Engage via social media

Social media is a place for sharing great things with others, so why shouldn’t that be about your brand as well? Not only do customers have a lot of influence on their friends and family here but an increasing number of people also want to contribute to the stories of their favourite brands through social media content.

Make sure you engage with any positive comments or activity around your brand. Every comment is an opportunity to build up a stronger relationship. If someone gives you some great feedback, say thank you. If someone shares a post about your brand, ask them if you can reshare it to your followers.

Make sure you also continue to deliver that great customer service by responding to any negative comments. Use it as an opportunity to show how great you really are.

Ask for feedback

Asking for feedback from your customers gets them thinking about their experience with your brand. It persuades them to voice their opinion on your brand and could make an advocate out of them for other potential customers.

Customers will appreciate it when you show that you value their honest opinions and act on them to improve customer satisfaction. Happy customers are key to spreading the word about your brand.

Give personalised brand interactions

Making people feel special by personalising their experience with your brand really helps to build a base of loyal customers. By addressing customers by their name or offering them solutions that are better tailored to them, you can really make it feel like a 1 on 1 interaction between customer and business.

If you treat every customer as a valued person, they’ll start to feel that way and that is what makes people into advocates.