The power of a brand evangelist can actually be stronger than any marketing you create yourself! Customer referrals and the rallying cries of happy customers can do wonders for your company because they present trustworthy feedback and real-life excitement from people who (typically) don't get paid to share their opinions. Alex Goldfayn, the author of "Evangelist Marketing: What Apple, Amazon, and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t)" explains in his book why you should build relationships with your repeat customers because they basically do the marketing for you.
Studies show that 84 percent of people trust an online review as much as a personal recommendation. When your customers show you love on social media, brag about your brand publicly and post positive reviews for your company and/or brand, they do wonders for your company. A brand evangelist is much more than just a happy customer; they go above and beyond your average customer because after they made a purchase they chose to spread the word via digital means. You should find and cultivate these customers and relationships since they are becoming more and more critical to your success.
Goldfyn explains it is up to you and your organization to nudge these satisfied customers in the right direction in order to become evangelists of your brand.
How to Convert Customers to Brand Evangelists
In order to understand your customer, you have to understand their values. Knowing how they plan to use your product or benefit from your service will help you to see their deep motives and meanings behind their purchase. These secrets explain the underlying behaviors, motivations, pain points, and emotions of your consumers. Alex Goldfayn suggests you ask yourself the question, "How can I make my customer's life better?" This question will serve as a road map as you follow your customer throughout their journey learning about them as they go. Also, don't forget your lowest hanging fruit, the associates who work directly with the consumers. These associates should be able to share, through very simple methods, feedback and suggest changes since they are the people who know the customer best. Their feedback can complement your marketing research to provide even deeper customer insight.
I know it seems like conducting customer interviews is impossible to do with major brands, but the best minds are now suggesting it is the only way to truly capture the customer's attitudes, needs and preferences. Many larger companies have digital ways to ask for feedback and others are even investigating more personable ways to capture qualitative information about consumer behavior. Supporter's of customer interviews explain ways you can make this happen, for instance, wording your online surveys so respondents can leave their email or another preferred contact method if they are willing to speak to you about their answers. What they reveal within your follow up conversation can be utilized to clarify exactly what you are doing well and where you need to improve. The qualitative data can help to bring clarity and direction to your next business move.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) recently reported that “67 percent [of consumers] say that either reading or writing social media reviews and comments influences their online shopping behavior”. The customer experience is heavily influenced by how other consumers interact with your business. Even if a customer does not post a review, they still read them and allow them to weigh heavily on their buying decisions. This can be used as a way to inspire those who have a positive experience to showcase their brand loyalty publicly and serve as free marketing. Also, by showing how those in your customer community interact with your products you also create an environment where loyal customers want to join in and become brand ambassadors.
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