How to turn happy customers into more customers
Word of mouth marketing is remarkably effective.
In fact, for many businesses, customer referrals have become the leading source of brand discovery.
That puts them ahead of both social media and mobile adverts.
Best of all, this form of marketing often doesn’t cost you a penny.
Satisfied customers will do the work for you all on their own.
And the personal recommendations they provide are more trustworthy than any traditional advertising.
That said, even investing in generating more word of mouth buzz around your business is likely to be highly cost effective and worthwhile.
Include freebies
Customers will often remember the final part of their interactions with you, and you can send them away feeling positive if you offer small tokens of your appreciation as business concludes.
After-dinner mints at restaurants are a common example, as are free air fresheners when a car is cleaned or serviced. But how else could your business get creative with these? How about a thank you card and some sweets when you post a product?
Follow up after sales
A quick follow-up call can ensure that your customers are satisfied with their purchases and show that you care beyond simply getting your hands on their money. Doing so is not simply about reminding the customer of your existence.
Checking in in this way also stands a good chance of getting you ahead of any issues or teething problems they might be having. That way, they are more likely to ask you for help with resolving an issue instead of becoming dissatisfied.
Dissatisfaction is likely to at least scupper your chances of generating another referral, and could even turn into negative word of mouth publicity, where your business or product is publicly lambasted for its issues.
Respond quickly to issues and requests
In the same vein, if you don’t catch issues during a follow-up call, you should do your best to address any that arise later. Unhappy customers are bad for business, but ones whose issues are solved quickly may well praise you for your customer service, even though they had a problem!
The same goes for requests from prospective clients. We live in a world where businesses are easily contactable online and there is plenty of competition in almost every industry and niche. A speedy reply could make the difference in securing you a satisfied customer for life.
Connect with clients outside of work
This tip isn’t for every business. But if you are in a line of work where this could be a reasonable course of action to take, it could well pay off. If you have big suppliers, regular contractors, or high-value customers that you can afford to invest time and money in, do so.
Building personal connections can often secure you more work, both from the customers themselves and from the recommendations they pass out.
Prompt your most satisfied customers
It stands to reason that the happiest customers are the most likely to refer you to others, and so these should be the ones that you focus your efforts on. When you believe a customer’s among your happiest, that’s the time to reach out to them and see if they’d be willing to refer someone to you.
Of course, even if they’re highly satisfied with your business, that won’t necessarily mean that they will just be willing to recommend you for nothing. This is where having an incentive can get things over the line.
Implementing a referral scheme can be a great way to standardise this part of the process so customers know what to expect and you can test out incentives for their effectiveness.
Exceed expectations
Of course, the single best thing you can do to ensure referrals is to provide a high level and service! Take opportunities to go above and beyond, do more than asked, and delight your customers, and you’ll be well on your way to generating cost-effective word of mouth marketing.