“To be successful and grow your business and revenues, you must match the way you market your products with the way your prospects learn about and shop for your products.” – Brian Halligan
While it is great for a company to be able to get customers to buy, what would be even better is being able to motivate customers to share and recommend products offered. Product recommendations have now become an indispensable part of the success of a company, especially in the online world. Research shows that prospective customers are increasingly turning to the ‘recommendations’ and comments of existing users of products to decide in favour of or against the products of a company. In fact, these recommendations would encourage a person to buy more than the item / items intended. Data analysis reveals that customers that decide to buy a product based on a recommendation from an existing user generate more than twice the revenue and an order value greater than about 20%. It makes sense for companies then to do whatever possible to motivate customers to share and recommend products, such that prospective customers can move from indecision to deciding in favour of the company.
Since a company would make a lot of effort towards motivating customers to share and recommend products, it would be necessary to display the recommendations when received. Ensure that the recommendations appear consistently across all channels of communication – what can change though would be the products recommended. People love to know that they have options, and when the options receive support by existing users, prospective customers would be more amenable to agree and buy. In a world where customers have so many options, it would seem unlikely that they would want to make the effort to share and recommend products of a particular company. Hence, just by adding social media share buttons, it would not mean that customers would use them to actually share and recommend products. It is the responsibility of a company to put in techniques for motivating customers to share and recommend products, as often as possible – since more ‘shares’ mean more publicity, and we know that what can be seen, will sell.
What does your company do to motivate customers to share and recommend products? Since social media is the ‘new way’ to communicate, express, and interact, it is obvious that a company should make efforts towards motivating customers share and recommend products through social media. Research shows that prospective customers, especially ‘millennials’ tend to share products before they buy – they base their decision to buy or not on the reviews and consensus of likes or dislikes. In addition, this same group of buyers are twice more likely to buy products that they would have recommended and shared via social media. It would make sense for companies to therefore, make it simpler for people to share and recommend products via social media. These ‘shares’ enhance visibility and awareness of a company and its products, which in turn can potentially lead to more sales.
Even the most regular customers may not remember or want to take the trouble to share or recommend products, simply because they may need to ‘look for’ ways to do so. Imagine being able to motivate customers to share and recommend products even before they buy. Well, an existing customer may willingly share and recommend a new product from the company they were already buying products or services, if the appropriate social buttons and or links to the various products were clearly and boldly visible – remember, make it simple for customers, and they would be willing to help. The social sharing options should be placed wherever your company knows that shoppers would respond – it is acceptable to try out a few options until the company is certain of the best one. It is necessary however, to remember that not all customers may be using all social networks – this is where knowing the target customer would play a vital role. Remove any ‘unproductive or obstructing’ options – not only would it be easier for customers to choose, it would also make the site faster and easier to navigate.
It may seem ‘needy and desperate’ to ask customers who may have just completed a purchase, to share and recommend products of the company. However, once a new customer makes a purchase, it is a great opportunity to get them to share and recommend products since they would be in a happy and satisfied state of mind, and would have feelings of goodwill and trust for the company. Who better than happy customers to share and recommend products of a company? The fact is though, even happy customers would not think of making a ‘share or a recommendation’ unless a company openly asks them to, and yet studies show that only about 3-5% companies actually request customers to share and recommend products that the customers would have just bought. Remember to say thank you once a customer confirms the order and or clicks the ‘share’ button.
Another ‘window of opportunity’ that would work great and motivate customers to share and recommend products would be when they receive their product. At this point, hopefully, the customer would be satisfied with the product, and it would make sense to leverage on the feeling of satisfaction to ask them for a ‘favour’. A timely email with a polite request to share and recommend products would be responded to favourably for sure. Make sure that your request makes the customer feel good and important – it should include thanks for buying, and show the company’s commitment towards their satisfaction by asking them to contact the company for any further questions. As a customer, you too would feel encouraged and motivated to share something with others that made you look good and a valued customer. Investing in automated emails that instantly reach the inbox of a customer as soon as they make a purchase, with a request to customers to share and recommend products, is a great way to leverage the happy feelings instantly.
Today word of mouth is a far more potent and powerful means of spreading awareness and reach of a company and its products than any other promotional or marketing campaign. However, it is important to remember that customers are constantly bombarded with emails, information, and requests, and you should not appear pushy and one among the crowd of annoying companies, constantly trying to make a sale. If customers feel pressured, they are extremely likely to avoid sharing and recommending altogether, and getting them to start again could prove to be a herculean task. Ask customers to customers to share and recommend products, but be mindful of their time and space too – maybe first just share buttons on the product page and a gentle email to remind the customer, would suffice. Every customer is different – a strategy that would work for one, may be annoying and invasive for another. It would be prudent to test, try, and gain feedback on what customers consider the best way to ask them to customers to share and recommend products.
Motivating customers to customers to share and recommend products is not just about growing your business. In fact, a company must position such shares as an opportunity for customers to show off their latest buys, flaunt the brand to others, and make them feel good about themselves. With the ‘right’ motivation, a company would be able to increase the shares and recommendations of its products, and in turn gain visibility and increased sales that such visibility would bring. Whatever you decide to do, approach it slowly and prudently – remember to show customers that they are doing you a favour by consenting to customers to share and recommend products.
