For businesses, having loyal brand advocates is a major part of attracting new customers while keeping former customers coming back for more. Only a select few of your customers are likely to be good advocates for your brand, but catering to them can mean the difference between making an advocate and losing one.
There are many tips and tools that make this easier, from simply being there to making sure customer problems are adequately rectified. These tips are easy to follow and are likely to create loyal brand advocates.
Treat Every Customer Like a Potential Advocate
Though only a small percentage of customers are capable of becoming brand advocates (and an even smaller number actually go on to become advocates), it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat each and every one like they have the potential. While most businesses can easily pick out those who will go on to become loyal advocates, there are times when a customer may surprise you. To keep these advocates, you should treat each and every customer like they have the potential to become one – because they might!
Communication Is Key
Communication is a large part of any business relationship. This includes the relationship between a brand advocate and the business they use. Those that buy your product or use your service are going to want to contact you, whether that’s because of something good or because of something bad.
Having people ready to reply is a good way to keep this relationship strong. By setting up a virtual office you’ll have found the perfect solution for tracking customers’ journey. These call centers make it easy for virtual workers to take customer calls, making them more effective than the old system of emailing.
Use Social Media
We live in a world of social media. It’s a part of everyone’s everyday life now, and businesses shouldn’t ignore it, because it can make or break how a customer feels about a company. Social media accounts are perfect for reaching out to potential advocates and for advocates to reach out to the businesses they support. It makes them feel closer to the company, making them more loyal. Social media accounts are also free, making it a cheap way to reach their customers on a wider basis than ever before.
Incentivize
Loyalty should always have its own rewards! One of the best ways of keeping your brand advocates loyal, outspoken, and always coming back for more is to incentivize their loyalty. There are many different ways you can go about doing this.
Perhaps offer a free product after a certain number of purchases. Or, you could give discounts and coupons to those who share a social media post. One of the simplest ways is to give free merchandise to customers that spend a certain amount of money or to those who have used your service the longest.
Tip: Want an advocate to feel special? Don’t forget their birthday; send a coupon code or some other “gift.”
Effectively Resolve Issues
This is an important tip. Because there will be issues, you’ll need to have a system in place to track these issues, make sure they’re resolved correctly, and get your customer’s response to it. With the right software, you can follow the progress of fixing an issue that a customer has from beginning to end. It will make it easier to have an adequate workforce, especially for businesses that rely greatly feedback.
Loyal brand advocates are one of the most important parts of a good business. Using these tips and tools, you’ll be able to keep them loyal and outspoken when it comes to your company.
