Happy Customers Can Get You More New Customers
As we all know, word of mouth is the best marketing channel there is. Social media gives us the opportunity to create and scale word of mouth on a level that was impossible a few years ago.
So how does this happen? The process has 4 steps.
1. Identify why customers love you
Why do your customers love you? It may be your unique value proposition (i.e. you provide a super simple way to create media clips). Or there’s something distinctive about your company (i.e. you provide great customer service).
If you don’t know this, the way to find out is simple. Just ask! Ask your happiest customers why they are so happy with you. Ask them why they love your product and your company. Ask them what drew them to you and why they are staying.
Make sure you write down as much as possible. You’ll be able to hear directly from customers what keeps them with you and you’ll use this exact language later.
Now that you know why your happiest customers love you, it’s time to build a deeper relationship with them.
2. Build a relationship
When you’re dating, you don’t ask someone to be your boyfriend or girlfriend right away – you build a deeper relationship. And when you’d like a referral, you do the same thing. The goal is to transition from customers to happy customers and from happy customers to evangelists.
To start, make sure that they’re getting top-notch customer service. Then get them more involved with your company, so that they feel an emotional investment in your success. The best two ways to do this are through case studies and testimonials.
In a case study, you would feature the customer and their success using your product. If possible, try to make the case study a longer form piece of content, like a long form interview, a video or a podcast. This gives your readers more quality content and allows you to spend more time with your customer.
Testimonials are also useful. It’s always good to have testimonials and they also help build a stronger relationship with a customer. Remember, the more you interact with your customers (within reason), the better the relationship.
Once you have case studies and testimonials, feature them on your blog or website. Share it on social media and invite your customers to do the same. When they do, engage with them and have public, online conversations. This breaks the ice of you talking about your business on social media with the customer. It also makes them feel special because they were highlighted on your website and on social media. It’s a win-win!
3. Ask for referrals and get them started
After you have established a relationship, directly ask for a referral. At this point, this should be easy. By now you have a long-standing relationship with them, beyond just being a vendor. You have talked to them about why they are happy and what makes them stay. You have ensured they’ve gotten top-notch customer service and you’ve given them exposure on your website and in social media. They should be delighted with you and delighted to do it. If not, you can win them over using the same language they used with you when they said why they loved you.
How you structure the referral program is up to you. There are many different flavours of this. Many companies have referral programs that are simply discounts for a certain period of time. Some others don’t have formal programs, they just ask for customers to refer others as a favour.
Figure out what works best for you. The key to making this work is to make it easy for them and to get them started yourself.
4. Make it a system
You should systematise this process in your business, moving new customers to becoming happy customers to becoming evangelists. In the process, you’ll gain insight into your customers, create great content and testimonials and ultimately, get more referrals.
