Word of mouth recommendation is an extremely powerful, and cost-effective form of marketing. Just look at some of these statistics:
[list_circle_checkmark color="#26a29a" font_size=""][list_item]84% of consumers say they either completely or somewhat trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends about products and services. [Nielsen][/list_item][list_item]74% of consumers identify word-of-mouth as a key influencer in their purchasing decision. [Ogilvy/Google/TNS][/list_item][list_item]Word-of-mouth has been shown to improve marketing effectiveness by up to 54%. [MarketShare][/list_item][/list_circle_checkmark]
Providing a great product or service is by far the best way to prompt word of mouth recommendation. However, there are strategies you can put in place to encourage word of mouth of recommendation.
7 tips to increase word of mouth recommendation
Be extraordinary
Go out of your way to do something extra special and wow your customer. Give them something to talk about and share!
Incentivise referrals
Introduce a 'refer a friend' scheme whereby both the referrer and the referee receive some form of reward for the referral.
Ask for referrals
People generally want to help so don't be afraid to ask your customers for referrals. The more specific you can be about the type of businesses you are trying to attract, the more effective it will be.
Ask for testimonials
Ask you customers for testimonials. These can be used on your website and in your marketing literature and are a powerful persuasion tool for potential customers.
Listen to your customers
Proactively seek customer feedback and act on it. This makes customers feel valued, engenders loyalty and makes them more likely to refer you.
Say thank you
Acknowledge a customer referral by saying thank you. We all like to be appreciated and if something is acknowledged we are more likely to do it again.
Give referrals back
Find opportunities where you could introduce customers to each other for mutual benefit.
Have you any tips to add or useful experience to share? If so please comment below.