February 27, 2023 4:51AM

Get Free Marketing Through Happy Customers

The emergence of the internet and digital technology over the past decade has changed the way companies market products across pretty much all industries. With consumers shifting more and more to mobile devices, brands are always looking at ways to stay ahead and gain an advantage over their competitors.

With so many marketing channels and tools available to businesses, it's very easy to forget that happy customers have for years been considered one of the best forms of marketing for businesses.

In this article, we share some ideas on how you can gain free marketing through your happy customers.

Consider Happy Customers as Brand Ambassadors

With customers consuming content more than ever before, the importance of testimonials and reviews has never been greater. Before purchasing a product, customers are more likely to check reviews or read testimonials before committing to a purchase. This is especially so for high-value items such as cars and luxury products where purchasing the wrong product can lead to a negative experience.

With this in mind, many brands today choose to work with brand ambassadors, either directly or via marketing agencies. This can be a costly expense for brands and sometimes the content generated can come across as “paid for” or “Not genuine”. 

As a business, if you are already receiving positive feedback from customers you have a great opportunity to turn these customers into Brand Ambassadors, provided they are active and have a good size following on platforms which benefit your brand. For example social media, blogs or forums.

Showcase Customer Reviews & Feedback

Including customer reviews and feedback in your marketing strategy can be a great way to build trust with potential customers and demonstrate the value of your product or service. 

The most ideal place to showcase this content is on your website. For businesses targeting the B2C market, popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are great places to share customer reviews and feedback with your target audience.

Introduce Referral Programs

Referral programs can be an effective way to generate free marketing for your business. By providing incentives to existing customers when referring new customers, businesses can tap into their customers' networks and grow their reach without spending a lot of money on advertising. 

When developing a referral program it's important to understand what your key objectives are and also consider the value of the incentives to customers. The more attractive an incentive is the more successful your referral program will be.

Keeping your referral program as simple and easy to participate in as possible is also key, the more steps involved in referring a friend, the higher the drop-off rate, resulting in a less successful referral program.

Utilise Customer Generated Content

One of the key challenges for marketing teams today is ensuring there is a wide variety of visual content available. With so many platforms to market on it’s easy to get stuck using the same visuals again and again. If you are a business providing services or products to consumers then one way of ensuring you have a constant flow of new visuals and content is to reshare user-generated content.

Whether it is a blog post or an Instagram image, the key benefit of Including user-generated content in your marketing is that it shows potential customers how your product/service looks or performs in real life. Similar to a review or testimonial, this gives potential customers more confidence and trust in your brand/product as well as increased awareness this will help to generate long sales for your business.

For all the tips mentioned don't forget, When using customer content such as reviews and images don't forget to ask for permission first to avoid any issues or disputes later on.

As well as considering the above ideas, it's worth remembering that Word of Mouth marketing is often considered to be one of the most effective forms of marketing as people tend to trust recommendations from their friends, family, or peers more than traditional advertising. It can take many forms, such as social media posts, online reviews, referrals, or even casual conversations.

How Can Businesses Measure the Customer Satisfaction Levels?

There are several ways that businesses can measure customer satisfaction:

1. Customer Surveys: Businesses can send out surveys to customers to gauge their satisfaction levels. The survey can be conducted through email, phone, or in person. The survey can include questions about the customer's experience with the business, their level of satisfaction, and what improvements they would like to see.
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS is a metric used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. It asks customers how likely they are to recommend the business to others on a scale of 0-10. Customers who give a score of 9 or 10 are considered promoters, while those who give a score of 0-6 are detractors.
3. Online Reviews: Online reviews on platforms such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook can provide businesses with valuable feedback from customers. Businesses can use these reviews to identify areas where they can improve and also respond to negative reviews to show customers that they care about their feedback.
4. Customer Churn Rate: The churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company over a specific period. A high churn rate can indicate that customers are not satisfied with the business's products or services.
5. Customer Retention Rate: Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers who continue to do business with a company over a specific period. A high retention rate can indicate that customers are satisfied with the business's products or services.

By using these methods, businesses can gather feedback from their customers and take steps to improve their products and services to increase customer satisfaction.

How Can Vodus Help You Track Customer Satisfaction?

Vodus is a market research company in Malaysia which offers a variety of solutions to help businesses to measure and improve the customer experience of their business. Our Customer Satisfaction Research solution, allows us to survey your target consumers, measure customer perception and customer satisfaction as well as diagnose any underlying issues with your brand. 

From this, the team at Vodus can then construct a strategy to improve the overall customer experience for your brand.