5 Ways Brand Ambassadors can Help You Now

Brand Ambassadors — called “Customer Advocates” in B2B circles — are customers plus others who genuinely like or even love your brand and products. (We don’t mean paid social influencers, celebs, or affiliates.)

Here are the top five ways Ambassadors or Advocates can help you right now:

1. Increase Awareness, WOM, & UGC

Brand Ambassadors can help you increase awareness by creating and/or posting hundreds-thousands of positive stories, videos, photos, testimonials, and more. User-Generated Content (UGC) is very valuable because it’s the most trusted form of content and proven to influence purchases. You can also use this UGC in your own marketing and social media.

UGC is about three times more trusted than brand content, studies show. And 85% of users find UGC more influential than brand content and paid influencer posts. (Adweek)

2. Boost Ranking & Ratings

Brand Ambassadors will post 5-star reviews on shopping sites and review sites. This can help you increase your ratings, rankings, sales, plus combat the sales-killing impact of negative reviews.

Nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase (Spiegel Research Center) and 90% of people say online reviews influence their purchase decisions (Dimensional Research)

3. Increase Sales

Brand Ambassadors can help you increase sales by referring friends and others to purchase your products or services. They can also help boost sales by posting your promotional offers on social media, increasing reach, traffic, and conversions.

A consumer brand has generated over $10 million in referral sales via its Brand Ambassador program featuring real customers, not paid social media influencers or celebs.

4. Increase Social Media Engagement

The engagement rate for most brands’ social media posts is under one percent. Brand Ambassadors can get you more likes, comments, and shares.

A B2B VOIP company has increased engagement for certain social media posts by over 400% via its Ambassadors.

5. Increase Customer Engagement, Retention, & Loyalty

A Brand Ambassador program ensures that these valuable customers stay engaged with you. You can create an exclusive community for your Ambassadors, which strengthens the bonds between you and your Ambassadors and with each other.

Even a 5% increase in customer retention has been found to boost profits by 25% to 95%, according to research by Bain & Co. and Harvard Business School.

Bonus!

Brand Ambassadors can help you increase reach, traffic, leads, and sales by sharing links to your content and offers.

A consumer electronics company has reached over 10 million buyers by getting its Ambassadors to share links to the company’ content and offers.

Did You Know?

Over 80 percent of B2C & B2B companies have some type of Brand Ambassador or Customer Advocate programs, according to a leading market research firm. If you don’t have a Brand Ambassador or Customer Advocate program, you’re missing a major opportunity to build your brand or business!

Top 10 Questions about Brand Ambassador Programs

In a slowing economy, brands are looking for cost-effective ways to drive awareness, traffic, and sales.

A Brand Ambassador program is one of the best ways to achieve these goals now! (By “Brand Ambassadors” we mean happy customers plus others who genuinely love your brand, products, or services — not paid social influencers or celebs.)

1. What’s a Brand Ambassador program?

A Brand Ambassador program is a marketing program that encourages and rewards happy customers plus others to recommend your brand and products to others.

2. Who should serve as our Brand Ambassadors?

You should invite your customers plus others who are enthusiastic about your brand and/or products. In some cases, you may want to require that Ambassadors have minimum number of followers and/or engagement rate on Instagram or other social media platforms.

3. We already work with paid influencers. Why do we need Brand Ambassadors?

Many brands work with a handful of paid influencers including celebrities, IG or TikTok influencers, YouTubers, etc. Meanwhile — you have an untapped opportunity: You may have hundreds or even thousands of Brand Ambassadors, depending on how you structure your Ambassador program. For example, a consumer brand pays $$$$ to a few influencers including mega influencer Charli D’Amelio. But the brand also has about 500 authentic Brand Ambassadors who love the brand and want to tell their friends & followers about it.

Big Trend! Studies show that people trust authentic Brand Ambassadors like real customers 3X more than celebs and social media influencers.

4. What kinds of things can we get Brand Ambassadors to do?

Three of the most valuable things you can get Ambassadors to do are 1) post stories, videos, and photos on their social media plus 5-star reviews on shopping and review sites; 2) share links to brand content and offers; 3) refer friends & followers to buy your products. You can also get Ambassadors to share your social media content.

5. How should we compensate Ambassadors?

You can reward Ambassadors by giving them gift cards, store discounts, free products, brand swag, access to special events, and more. In some cases, you may want to give Ambassadors commissions on sales. For example, a consumer brand gives its Ambassadors 10% commission on each sale they make.

6. We already have a refer-a-friend program. Why do we also need an Ambassador program?

A refer-a-friend program is a promotional tactic to acquire customers. On the other hand, an Ambassador program is a marketing program that engages Ambassadors on an ongoing basis to drive awareness, positive Word of Mouth, and sales. PS: Ambassadors can “turbo-charge” your referral program!

7. Can Brand Ambassador programs be used by B2B brands?

Yes! Thousands of B2B companies have Brand Ambassador programs. (B2B Brand Ambassador programs are usually called “Customer Advocacy Programs” and Ambassadors are typically called “Customer Advocates.” ) The main idea for B2C & B2B programs are the same: leverage happy customers to get the word out and help drive sales. One B2B company has 5,000+ Ambassadors! These Ambassadors have created thousands of testimonials and five-star reviews; helped the company win numerous product rewards; and energized the company’s “refer a business” program.

8. What are the top benefits we can get from a Brand Ambassador program?

Here are the top benefits: 1) Increase awareness and positive Word of Mouth by getting Ambassadors to crate and post original content — AKA “UGC” or User-Generated Content — on social media; 2. Increase sales and revenues by getting Ambassadors to refer friends to buy, share links to your offers, and by posting 5-star reviews on shopping and review sites; and 3) increase social media engagement by getting Ambassadors to comment on, like, and share your social media posts.

9. How much does it cost for a Brand Ambassador program and what is the ROI?

There are two costs: 1) Brand Ambassador software and services 2) rewards. These two costs will vary depending on who your Ambassadors are; the scope of your program; and the rewards/compensation. That said, many companies have very successful Brand Ambassador programs for less than the cost of a single ad campaign. The typical ROI is 10X, as measured by media and sales value. In other words:

$1 invested in Brand Ambassador programs = $10 ROI

10. How can Zuberance help us with a Brand Ambassador program?

Zuberance has a complete, all-in-one Brand Ambassador platform plus expert services. We can help you create and set-up your Ambassador program. We can even manage your Ambassador program for you. We bring Brand Ambassador expertise, best practices, and a commitment to your success!

7 Ways to Reward Advocates

Show your gratitude and keep Advocates engaged with these rewards:

1. eGift Cards. Who doesn’t love an eGift card from Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, or other popular retailers? Via our partnerships with Tango and Sendoso, you can offer Advocates their choice of dozens of different eGift cards from retailers, restaurants, hotels, and more. eGift cards are easy to fulfill and track so many of our clients use them.

2. Product discounts. Give Advocates discounts on purchases from your eStore. You can set rules around this like minimum purchase amounts; which products Advocates can use the discounts on; etc.

3. Free products. Advocates can redeem their points for free products they can use themselves or give to others. One drawback is shipping costs, which may be costly. You may want to limit this to Advocates in certain countries only like US & Canada.

4. Brand Merch AKA “Swag”. One of the big advantages of this is that Advocates become “walking advertisements” for your brand: t-shirts, hoodies, golf jackets, travel mugs, and more.

5. Premium experiences. One of the best examples of this is a winery that offered Advocates an exclusive dinner and tasting with the wine maker. I’m saving my points for that! 🍷🎉

6. Premium/exclusive support. One of our customers provides its Advocates with a special forum where they can ask the company’s Head of Technical Support questions.

7. Charitable donations. This can be done by enabling Advocates to redeem their rewards points to non-profits and/or having you company make donations on behalf of Advocates.

3 Reasons Why WOM (Advocate) Marketing Should be in Your 2022 Budget

Are you creating your 2022 marketing budget now?

This blog post focuses on three reasons why Word of Mouth marketing (AKA “Advocate Marketing”) should be included in your marketing spending plans.

What is Word of Mouth (Advocate) Marketing?

“Word of Mouth marketing (AKA “Advocate Marketing”) is a marketing program designed to activate your highly-satisfied customers and others to spread positive Word of Mouth online about your brand and/or products.”

In short, Word of Mouth marketing is all about turning your customers and others into Advocates.

3 Reasons to include WOM/Advocate Marketing in Your 2022 Budget

Here are three reasons why Word of Mouth marketing (AKA “Advocate Marketing”) should be included in your 2022 marketing spending plans:

1. Word of Mouth is the #1 influencer of purchase decisions.

Up to half of all purchase decisions are driven by Word of Mouth, according to McKinsey.

Here’s more key data:

• 92% people trust Word of trust “recommendations from people I know” over any type of ads. (source: Nielsen)

Word of Mouth is the #1 purchase influencer for Millennials…

…and Word of Mouth also rules for Gen Z:

Thinking of hiring social media influencers to rep your brand in 2022? “Trusted friends or or family members” are much more influential than influencers or celebs among all age groups:

Lastly, let’s not forget about B2B where Word of Mouth also is “King of the Influencers.” Hubspot asked B2B software buyers what influenced their purchases. Word of Mouth was #1. Customer references, another form of WOM, was #2. See below:

2. Word of Mouth marketing is relatively inexpensive.

Here’s the data:

• Many mid-size to large companies are spending $100,000-$1 million per month on “traditional marketing",” i.e., online advertising, TV ads, paid search, website, online events, sales promotions, paid media marketing programs, etc.

• Companies continue spending on traditional marketing despite a mountain of evidence that buyers — especially social media-savvy Millennials — ignore, block, skip and don’t trust paid media.

• A Word of Mouth marketing program including software, services, and rewards costs about $5K-$7K per month, depending on the number of Advocates in your program, number of regions, and other factors.

3. Word of Mouth marketing delivers high ROI. (Yes, you can measure the value of Word of Mouth marketing!)

As mentioned above, our clients get a minimum 10X ROI as measured by media and sales value.

We measure the value of Word of Mouth marketing program by analyzing two factors:

1. Media value of Word of Mouth. We include in this the value of User-Generated Content (UGC) created by Advocates such as:

   • Positive reviews

   • Glowing customer testimonials

   • Videos

   • Photos

   • Social media posts

   We also include the value of Advocates posting and sharing this UGC on:

   • Their social media (their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

   • Shopping sites like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc.

   • Review sites like Gartner, TrustPilot, G2, Capterra, etc.

   We also include the value of Advocates sharing your content like your blog posts, influencer videos, etc. on their social media.

2. Sales value of Word of Mouth. This includes the value of:

   • Referred new customers

   • Sales that comes from Advocates sharing your promotional offers on their social media

   • Sales leads

We can track the sales value of Word of Mouth marketing via unique referral codes for Advocates and other tracking methods.

But this doesn’t fully capture the sales value of Word of Mouth. The fact is Word of Mouth’s impact on sales is hard to completely measure.

Numerous independent research studies have proven that Word of Mouth drives sales. (See charts above.)

Turn Word of Mouth into a Competitive Advantage

In summary, if you’re not including Word of Mouth marketing in your 2022 marketing budget, you’re missing a major opportunity to build your brand and business.

Here’s what McKinsey, the respected global consulting firm concludes:

Marketers may spend millions of dollars on elaborately conceived advertising campaigns, yet often what really makes up a consumer’s mind is not only simple but also free: a word-of-mouth recommendation from a trusted source. As consumers overwhelmed by product choices tune out the ever-growing barrage of traditional marketing, word of mouth cuts through the noise quickly and effectively.

Make sure to capture this opportunity by making Word of Mouth a marketing weapon in 2022.

Level up your Loyalty Program

Are you interested in getting more value and ROI from your loyalty program?

Here’s a killer idea:

Go beyond giving customers rewards for purchases.

Give them rewards for advocating (recommending) your brand and products on social media. This includes bringing in new customers for you.

Get Loyal Customers to Become Your Marketing Department

Encourage and reward your loyalty program members for recommending your brand and products by doing things like:

1. Creating and posting original stories, videos, photos, and more on their social media.

2. Referring friends to purchase from you.

3. Sharing your promotional offers and content on their social media.

4. Participating in customer research.

You can give Advocates loyalty rewards for completing these advocacy actions.

Where Zuberance Comes In

Zuberance provides scalable advocacy technology that enables you to take your loyalty program to the next level.

You have a couple options with Zuberance:

1. You can create an exclusive hub/portal for your loyal customers who serve as Advocates. This is like a “VIP” section for loyal customers. You can give Advocates loyalty points for recommending your brand and products.

2. You can integrate Zuberance’s advocacy technology within your existing loyalty platform.

With either option, you can use your existing loyal points program to reward Advocates for recommending your brand or product.

Go Beyond the Basics

Some brands have started doing what I’m suggesting. For example, they’re giving loyal customers points for following them on social.

That’s baby stuff with limited sales/marketing value.

You can get much more value from this approach by building and unleashing an “Advocate Army” that will serve as a powerful marketing force via recommendations and referrals.

Zuberance’s advocacy platform gives you what you need to do this. So what are you waiting for?

Final Note: Not all Loyal Customers are Advocates

You should not assume that all loyal customers are Advocates.

If you want to be sure to invite loyal customers to join an advocacy program, you may want to determine first that they are or would be Advocates. Contact us for details on how to do that.

3 Sure-Fire Ways to Kill an Advocacy Program

Thousands of B2C and B2B companies now have customer advocacy programs (AKA “Advocate marketing programs.”)

These programs are crazy popular because they work! They’re a proven, highly cost-effective way to drive awareness and sales — especially in an era when most people ignore and don’t trust ads.

However, not all companies succeed with advocacy programs. These companies often make three fatal mistakes that lead to the program’s downfall.

So with tongue firmly in cheek, we present three sure-fire ways to kill an advocacy program:

1. Don’t invite enough customers to join the program.

The more happy customers you have out there spreading positive Word of Mouth about your brand and products, the better.

Yet some companies only invite a fraction of their customers to join their advocacy programs, then wonder why they’re not getting enough value.

Best practice: Invite lots of customers.

Here’s a very simple and proven formula:

More Advocates = More Positive WOM = More Awareness & Sales

Most of our clients follow this formula. They’ve built thriving “Advocate Armies” of thousands — or even tens of thousands of Advocates.

They’re continually inviting customers to join the advocacy program. They’re inviting customers on multiple “touch points”:

• Dedicated emails and other emails

• On their social media

• On customer forums

• At the end of Net Promoter surveys

• Post-purchase or post-renewal

• On their website

• On their mobile apps (See example below.)

This brand has put a link to join the advocacy program on its mobile app. This is great!

2. Keep issuing the same kinds of challenges.

We get it. Nearly all brands crave more five-star reviews.

But if you issue too many reviews challenges, you’ll wear out your Advocates. Worse yet, they’ll start thinking that your advocacy program is a thinly-veiled “pay for review” scheme.

Best practice: vary the types of challenges. Mix in light or easy challenges like polls and simple surveys; trivia and quizzes; sharing challenges; and more.

Instead of constantly asking Advocates to do things for you, you should be thinking of this like a relationship. And like any relationship, it pays to engage in a little “small talk” with your Advocates.

3. Don’t promote participation in the advocacy program.

We agree that it’s important not to “over-email” customers.

But one brand took that idea too far: they sharply curtailed emails to Advocates.

As predicted, the program engagement and challenge completion rate tanked. A few months later, the brand folded the program.

Remember that marketing class you took on market segmentation?

Advocates are not the same as other customers.

They’re more enthusiastic, more loyal, and more engaged. They’re willing and eager to tell their friends and family about your brand and products. They’re doing it already and now you’re rewarding them for this!

Customer Advocates like Jfam82 aren’t like other customers. They love your brand and products!

Best practice: Don’t confuse Advocates with regular customers. Advocates love your brand and products. They welcome regular communications from you!

4. Bonus: Don’t make the advocacy program a priority.

Last sure-fire way to kill the program: Don’t give it much of your time or attention. Assign it to a junior person on your staff or, better-yet, a marketing intern.

Instead, focus your time, effort, and money on splashy ad campaigns or other tired marketing tactics that most people will block out, ignore, or forget.

After all, why should you make it a priority when so few customers have joined the advocacy program? (See above; sure-fire way to kill an advocacy program #1.)

Make sure your advocacy program is a rousing success! Contact the advocacy experts at Zuberance.

How Zuberance Helps You Boost Customer Loyalty

Is increasing loyalty a top priority for your organization in 2021? If not, it should be!

A famous study published in the Harvard Business Review found that increasing loyalty by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.

Here’s another fact:

Customers who engage with you regularly are less likely to churn than customers who don’t engage with you.

Put this another way: a warning sign that a customer is likely to leave is when they start showing decreased interest, i.e., they start cancelling or postponing meetings; they stop asking questions; their usage of your products or services starts to decline.

Drive Customer Engagement

Here’s a simple formula:

Increased Engagement = Increased Loyalty

Engaged customers — customers who interact with you regularly — are more loyal, spend more, and are more profitable than non-engaged customers.

So How Do You Increase Customer Engagement & Loyalty?

Create an exclusive online hub/portal for your customers especially your Customer Advocates.

To be clear, the #1 mission of this online hub is to get Advocates to spread the word about your brand and products. This drives positive Word of Mouth and sales.

However, an online hub also gives you a platform where you can enable and encourage ongoing customer engagement and boost loyalty.

When customers join the hub, they’ve immediately increased their engagement with you. They’re no longer just passive customers or anonymous buyers. They’re active and identifiable “stake-holders” in your company, brand, and mission.

You get to know who your customers are; how they want to engage with you; and what’s important to them.

Importantly, you get to engage with them regularly and on an ongoing basis, not just when and if they open an email you send them.

7 Ways to Engage Customers through the Zuberance Hub

Once your customers join the hub, here are seven ways you can increase engagement:

1. Ask customers for product ideas and feedback.

Asking customers for product ideas and feedback is an excellent way to increase engagement and get valuable input. The CTO of Hulu once said: “90% of what we learn comes AFTER we launch a new product.” You can do this easily through the Zuberance Hub using our poll and survey features.

2. Get customers to try under-used product features.

Do you have product features that are beneficial but many customers don’t use? With an online hub/program, you can entice customers to learn about and try these features and reward them for doing so. Create challenges that get customers to try under-used product features.

3. Get customers to provide marketing ideas and feedback.

One of our clients was changing its logo so it asked its Customer Advocates for their opinions. This feedback helped them refine the logo design. Another client asked Customer Advocates for feedback on a new product name it was considering. Getting Customer Advocates to participate in these ways improves engagement and gives you valuable feedback. Use our polls and surveys to solicit marketing ideas and feedback.

4. Get customers to participate in beta programs.

The Zuberance hub provides an easy, convenient way to recruit customers to participate in beta programs. You can manage the beta program through your Zuberance hub, granting rewards to customers as they participate in each phase of the beta.

5. Encourage dialog with customers.

The Zuberance hub enables you to create forums focused on particular topics. You can use these forums for many of the ideas above and for others. It’s like having a real-time customer panel you can tap into any time.

6. Get customers to post photos, videos of them using your product.

If your product is the kind that lends itself to customer photos and videos, then for sure you should create challenges that ask customers for these. Showing customers using your product is a proven way to drive advocacy and sales. But it also increases engagement by getting customers to be more involved with your products.

7. Give customers exclusive access to content, experiences, and leadership.

Here are three examples of how you can do this via the Zuberance hub.

1) Use our Discussions/Forums feature and hold a special event where your CEO or other senior executive replies in real-time to customer questions. This is a virtual version of a “fireside chat” with the CEO.

2) Post exclusive content to the Zuberance Hub that is available only to hub members. Example: give hub members a “sneak peek” at a new product or service.

3) Invite customers who are members of the hub to an exclusive live video event. This event could be most anything: an “inside look” at your product development process; a product demo; or sharing your company culture. You’ll need Facebook Live (or similar) to stage the video event but you can use the Zuberance hub to invite customers and follow up with them.

In summary, your customers are your most valuable asset. The Zuberance hub gives you the platform to increase engagement and advocacy plus deepen customer relationships.

Bonus! Idea # 8: Give customers opportunities to learn and have fun.

Here are a couple examples:

1) Get customers to participate in trivia contests, where they can learn about your brand and have fun.

2) Get customers to suggest names for new products. One of our clients — an enterprise software company — named one its products based on a suggestion by an Advocate.

Sidebar: What if they don’t complete Challenges?

Of course, you want members of the hub to help you get the word out about your brand and products by completing Word of Mouth challenges like posting reviews and stories on shopping sites and on their social media.

But even if they don’t, there’s still enormous value you get from having customers part of your hub:

1. Customers who have joined the hub are still seeing your content and messages much more frequently than customers who just purchase and don’t engage further.

2. They’ve opted-in to engage with you at a level that most customers don’t or never will.

3. They’re part of an exclusive group, which means they’re more connected to you than other customers.

Boost sales now with "People-Powered eCommerce"

This time of year, many companies are launching a barrage of sales promotions, discounts, and ads.

All of this is aimed at making their cash registers ring on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and throughout the holidays.

A Smart Approach to Driving Sales: “People-Powered eCommerce”

Smart companies are also getting their Customer Advocates (AKA “Brand Advocates” or “Brand Ambassadors”) to spread positive Word of Mouth about their brand and products.

This is enabling these companies to reach more buyers, drive more traffic, and increase sales — all at a fraction of the cost of paid media — during the critical holiday shopping season and throughout the year.

We call this “People-Powered eCommerce.” And it’s all about people (Advocates) telling other people (friends, family, and followers) about brands, products, and services, enabled by brands.

People-Powered eCommerce is:

• Authentic

• Very effective

• Inexpensive

Examples of People-Powered eCommerce

Check out these examples:

Ecovacs, which makes robot vacuums, is boosting sales by getting customer Advocates to post Ecovacs promotional offers on Advocates’ Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Cheekbone Beauty, a niche cosmetics brand serving Indigenous woman, is encouraging its Advocates to share an offer on social media for a limited-edition boxed collection.

Here’s an B2B People-Powered eCommerce: Ooma, the leading VoIP solution for consumers and small businesses, is driving sales by getting its Advocates to refer peers.

Here’s another example from Ecovacs:The company is driving sales and boosting ratings by getting Advocates to leave reviews on Costco.com

How You Can Tap into People-Powered eCommerce

It’s as simple as 1-2-3.

1. Create a customer advocacy program. Invite your highly-satisfied customers to join the advocacy program.

2. Make it easy and fun for Advocates to spread the word online about your brand and products. This includes things like:

   1. Sharing your promotional offers with friends, family, and followers.

   2. Posting reviews, photos, videos, stories on shopping sites, social networks, your website, and elsewhere.

   3. Referring friends and peers to try, download, and/or buy your products.

3. Thank your Advocates. Show your appreciation with eGift cards; brand swag; free or discounted products; plus other perks.

Immediate Results & ROI

The benefits of People-Powered eCommerce for your brand are compelling and immediate:

• Increased traffic and sales

• Higher average order size

• Reach more buyers

The results and ROI you get will, of course, depend on the size of your “Advocate Army”; how compelling your offers and rewards are; and other factors.

But thing is for sure: if you’re not tapping into People-Powered eCommerce, you’re missing an opportunity staring at you right in the face.

So I’ll end with one question:

Why are you waiting?

What are you doing with your Promoters?

Is your company running Net Promoter® surveys?

If so, you may be identifying hundreds to thousands of Promoters (customers who answer 9 or 10 in response to the question: “How likely is it that you would recommend our brand to others?”)

So here’s the question:

What are you doing with your Promoters?

If you said “nothing,” you’re missing a major marketing and customer engagement opportunity!

Your Promoters have “raised their hands.” They’re telling you they’re highly likely to recommend your brand to others. They want to engage more with your brand.

Why not take them up on their offer?

Start a “Promoter Mobilization Program”

Here are three simple steps:

Step 1: Invite Promoters to Join Your Customer Advocacy Program

Send Promoters an email inviting them to join your customer advocacy program. They’ll get access to an exclusive “hub” where they can participate in “challenges” and earn rewards like eGift cards. (more on this below.)

Data point: About 5% to 20% of Promoters will accept your invitation to join the customer advocacy program. If you invite 10,000 Promoters, between 500 to 2,000 Promoters will join your program. That’s the start of what we call an “Advocate Army.”

Step 2: Mobilize Promoters

Issue Promoters “challenges” (actions you would like them to complete.) Here are a few examples:

1. Post a review of our products on third-party sites and elsewhere. This is likely to boost your online ratings and rankings, which is proven to drive sales.

2. Create a story or testimonial about how our product is helping you and/or your company. This can be a written story, video, or photo

3. Refer friends or peers to buy our products, get a demo, or download our products

4. Test or try our products or product features. This boosts engagement, retention, or loyalty plus gives you valuable insights.

Data point: Between 20% to 40% of Promoters will complete challenges. Compare this to less than 2% of customers and prospects who complete requested actions. Promoters are indeed your most loyal, engaged customers.

Step 3: Reward Promoters

Say “thank you” to your Promoters for completing challenges via:

1. eGift cards

2. Brand merchandise like branded t-shirts, coffee mugs, hoodies

3. Product discounts or free products

4. Donations to charitable causes

What are the Key Metrics?

How do you measure success for a “Promoter Mobilization Program?” The answer depends on what your goals are.

However, here are three ways our customers measure success:

1. Amount of user-generated content (UGC) (reviews, stories, testimonials, videos, photos, etc.) created by Promoters. UGC is the most trusted, influential type of content. Studies show consumers trust UGC about 2X-3X more than content produced by brands. We use industry standards to place a value on UGC created by Promoters.

2. Reach/impressions. When your Promoters share the content they create — or links to your content or offers — this creates reach and impressions. We use industry standards to measure and value that reach.

3. Sales. As mentioned above, one of the challenges you can issue to Promoters is to ask them to refer friends to buy your products. You can also ask them to post your promotional offers on their social media accounts. We give Promoters unique codes so that when referred friends or peers buy, we can track this directly back to Promoters.

Need Some Inspiration?

Fred Reichheld, the Net Promoter guru, once said:

“The only path to profitable growth may lie in a company’s ability to get its loyal customers (i.e. “Promoters”) to become, in effect, its marketing department.”

So we ask again:

What are you doing with your Promoters?

®Net Promoter is a registered trademark of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

Customer Loyalty: More Important than Ever

In this unprecedented situation, it’s more important than ever to retain existing customers. Here’s how the Zuberance Platform can help:

1. Reward Advocates for Loyalty

Via the Zuberance platform and our built-in rewards points system, you can give rewards to Advocates for:

• Making purchases

• Renewing subscriptions

• Buying additional products (encourage more purchases)

• Downloading your app

• Using your product or service

• Attending online meetings and events like webinars

Loyalty programs work. Check out this HubSpot post on the topic.

2. Issue Challenges that Help Foster Loyalty

Here are three examples of UGC (user-generated content) challenges that achieve this:

• How is our product or service helping you save money?

• How is our product or service helping you make money?

• What’s the primary benefit you’re getting from our product or service?

When Advocates create content like this it serves as a powerful reminder of the compelling benefits they’re getting from your products or services.

Of course, you want to encourage and reward Advocates to share the content they create on their social media.

3. Increase Engagement with Advocates

Use these features of the Zuberance Platform to boost Advocate engagement:

• Discussions

• Surveys

• Polls

• Posts

• Likes

• Comments

All of these features can be used to communicate with your Advocates and let them know you care.