Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About
About 92 percent of customers say they trust earned media, like recommendations from those closest to them, above all other forms of advertising, according to a Nielson online survey. Coming in second is online customer reviews with 70 percent of respondents saying they at least somewhat trust this form of advertising. Further, this research, from Social Times states that Facebook has become one of the most trusted sites for product recommendations, with 70 percent of respondents citing Facebook as a good source for information.
All of these stats lead to one conclusion; your customers should be talking about you. How do you get your customers to start chatting? Energize them! I just finished reading a book called, Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, which dedicated an entire chapter to “energizing the groundswell.” According to the book a groundswell is, “a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.” So energizing the groundswell plays right into the research that says people trust other people, not corporations.
So, how do Li and Bernoff in Groundswell suggest you energize? Give your customers a place to talk and review your product or service. The research shows that given the opportunity:
- 1 in 4 people will post a review
- 1 in 3 people will comment on a review
- Over 2 out of 3 people will read reviews
Give your customers a place to do this and watch as the groundswell expands. You may be asking yourself right about now, what if the reviews are bad? Well, you don’t want to be producing a disappointing product or offering a deficient service, do you? Think of the bad reviews as a source of learning and a way to engage in damage control. In the book, Understanding Customers, the author Ruby Newell-Legner states the starting statistic that a typical business hears from only 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers and 91 percent of those dissatisfied will never come back. Being able to hear from hopefully more than the 4 percent and re-engage those dissatisfied customers could really affect your bottom line.
Another way you can energize your customers is to create a community for them. Odds are you have a target market for your business that has some similarities. Creating a community where those similarly-minded people can come together, under your brand, can energize your customer engagement. This will allow you to stay in the know with your customers and keep up with the trend they find important. Essentially, it is market research without the hefty price tag. In this community, you can even create opportunities for your customers to answer each other’s questions about your business. This type of exchange can generate more trusted answers and save your company time and money in customer relations and servicing.
As a business, you can also further the groundswell concept by being a part of existing communities that are already established in your customers worlds. I caution you though, if you decide to go this route, be a real part of the community and not just a spammer whose only concern is advertising. Provide thoughts, tips, insights, and real useful content without pushing your business. That will make customers want to come to you. Create your brand as one that shares in a community and you will gain customer trust and build relationships.
I would challenge you to think about how you are energizing and engaging with your customers by looking at how you, yourself, engage with other businesses. Are you the 1 in 4 who write the reviews, become a part of the community, or pay attention to businesses who are giving you relevant information? Are you a part of a company’s conversation? Do you think this helps you to make the decision to buy? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below.
