Building customer advocacy can go a long way to boosting loyalty, increasing sales and, in turn, enhancing your bottom line. Not only are customer advocates more likely to spend big and stick with your brand long term, they’re also great for spreading the word about your business.
Developing the customer relationship will strengthen the bonds you have with your clients, make them even more likely to recommend your brand, and help you grow your profits. Here are five of the most effective ways to build advocacy.
1. Invest In Key Stakeholders
In order for customers to become advocates, they need to feel valued. Invest quality time building relationships with your customers. This will show them that you value their opinion, their experience and their input. Focus on key stakeholders to ensure your investment reaps maximum rewards.
2. Demonstrate Understanding
Demonstrating that you understand what your customers want and need from you will show them that you’re really listening. Think about the feedback you’ve received from your key stakeholders and talk to as many customer advocates as possible about their expectations.
Once you have the information you need, it’s time to put it into action. Speak to your sales, marketing and development teams about how you can address your customer feedback and make sure your advocates are aware that they’re shaping your corporate policy.
3. Keep Your Promises
Trust is incredibly important when it comes to building customer advocacy. Keeping your promises – doing exactly what you say, when you say you’re going to do it – will prove to your customers that they can trust you. Not only will this help to increase their loyalty to your brand, it will also make them more likely to recommend you to others.
4. Ensure Clear Actions and Outcomes
Make your business easy to do business with, right from the start. Ensure they are clear on what is required of them, and that admin, communication and actions are all clear to them and you. Pricing and terms are also important to be clear on and this can be a big turn off for customers if they feel there are hidden charges or terms were not clear to them.
5. Go Above And Beyond
Wherever possible, go above and beyond for your customer advocates. Demonstrate added value and deliver more than they expect at every opportunity. Taking this approach will show your customers they’re valued and help to ensure they have a great experience when working with your brand.
All too often, the importance of customer advocacy is overlooked in favour of short term goals. Giving this area of customer relations the time and attention it deserves could see you take full advantage of an under-tapped resource and build a client-base that’s really on your side. Get in touch with a member of our expert team to find out more.
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