1. Introduce a customer loyalty programme
A well-structured customer loyalty programme is one of the simplest ways to foster customer advocacy.
These programmes encourage repeat business while at the same time offering customers incentives for recommending your business to others. These incentives could be discounts, exclusive offers, or early access to new products.
Loyalty programmes make customers feel valued. When customers feel valued, it can encourage them to share their positive experiences with other people.
Example: Starbucks
Starbucks has turned its loyalty programme members into brand ambassadors by offering personalised rewards based on their purchase history and preferences.
These personalised rewards include exclusive offers, birthday rewards and gamified experiences, all of which help to build a deeper emotional connection between brand and customer.
Starbucks also encourages loyal customers to spread the word by incentivising referrals and social sharing. This helps to turn them into enthusiastic brand ambassadors.
Starbucks is a big company with a huge marketing budget. So, copying what they do may be too expensive for you.
However, you can use their approach on a smaller scale by creating rewards and incentives that your customer base appreciates. Depending on what you sell, your incentive could be a discount on all purchases made by referrals. You could also organise events that are invite-only for loyal customers.
Before you start developing a loyalty programme, make sure you really understand your customer. What are they looking for? Why do they buy? What would they appreciate as a reward or incentive?
2. Ask for and showcase customer testimonials
Customer testimonials are a valuable resource for building trust and credibility.
Actively seeking and showcasing positive feedback provides potential customers with real-world proof of the value that your business delivers.
You can boost your brand's reputation by prominently featuring testimonials on your website, social media, or in your marketing materials. It is also a way to encourage satisfied customers to become more vocal about their experiences.
Collecting testimonials does not have to be difficult. You can simply ask your customers for feedback through follow-up emails or surveys after they buy from you.
The key is to getting these testimonials is make it easy for your customers to share their thoughts and to reward those who contribute.
3. Engage customers on social media platforms
Social media is a powerful channel for turning customers into brand ambassadors. Since most businesses are active on social media, this is an easy way to engage your customers.
Encourage customers to share their experiences by using branded hashtags - for example, #yourbusinessname. You can also design challenges that show them using or interacting with your products or services.
User-generated content, like photos or videos, is especially impactful as it provides authentic, real-world endorsements.
This strategy is easy and also easy to adapt for your own business.
Example: Heidi Horten Collection
On a recent trip to Vienna, I visited the renowned Heidi Horten Collection, a art gallery that houses an impressive collection of modern art.
In addition to enjoying the art works, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the art gallery encourages their visitors – AKA their customers - to become brand ambassadors through user-generated content.
(Note that by sharing this information with you, I too am acting as an ambassador for the Heide Horten Collection!)
- There was an invitation painted on a wall inviting visitors to take pictures and tag the gallery on Instagram.
- Downstairs, there was an exhibition consisting of the favourite works of art of visitors to the museum. This exhibition had been curated by the visitors by voting for their favourite work of art.
- The museum's social media channels feature interviews with visitors and collaborations with other artistic companies.
In addition to user-generated content on social media, you can also build a community around your brand. Acknowledging and engaging with customer posts—through likes, comments, or shares—fosters a sense of connection and loyalty.
However, note that this takes time and effort and may also require moderation of comments that do not meet your guidelines, for example, insults or spam. You will need to have one or more dedicated staff members who can engage directly with customers online.
4. Run referral programmes
Referral programmes are a structured way to incentivise customers to become brand ambassadors by referring new business to your company.
Basically, you are rewarding customers who bring new customers to your business.
Offer rewards, such as discounts or exclusive perks, to customers who successfully refer new clients. This encourages advocacy and also extends your reach to potential customers who trust recommendations from their personal networks.
A highly effective strategy is to offer an incentive to both parties. For example, the customer who refers another customer gets a 10% discount on their next purchase, while the new customer also gets a 10% discount.
This will help you cultivate a community of passionate brand advocates. These customers will then contribute to your brand visibility and actively promote your business within their networks and beyond.Example: Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage SaaS that offers 2 GB of free space to users. There are also paid packages that offer additional storage and solutions for teams and businesses.
When Dropbox was just starting out, they achieved massive growth by implementing a referral programme that rewarded both the referrer and the referred party with additional storage space. To this day, Dropbox uses this strategy to get more users.
Proof of the pudding: if you sign up for a free Dropbox account through my referral link and install the desktop app, you get 500 MB extra space in Dropbox!
Using a strategy that offers value to both existing customers and the new ones they bring in, ensures a win-win situation that can help enhance brand loyalty and growth.
5. Host customer appreciation events
A very personal and direct way to encourage customers to become ambassadors is by hosting customer appreciation events.
Examples of events are:
- VIP sales that are exclusively for your most profitable customers
- Product launches for customers who purchased from your business in the past 6 months.
- Workshops for customers who have bought a certain product or service.
- Casual gatherings that you organise to show appreciation for your customer base.
These events provide an excellent opportunity to interact with customers on a personal level, deepening their connection to your brand.
During these events, you can encourage your customers to share their experiences. This helps to create a sense of exclusivity and investment.
For example, if you have a manufacturing company, your could invite your most profitable customers to participate in a behind-the-scenes tour, making them feel like insiders.
You could also study Apple's strategy. Apple uses product launch events to build anticipation and engage their most loyal customers. These loyal customers then act as enthusiastic brand ambassadors, sharing their excitement with their networks.
Customer appreciation events don't have to be expensive. You can make it a part of something that you are already doing.
Example: Damiefa School, Liberia
My NGO, Mineke Foundation, runs a school in Liberia. It’s called Damiefa School and it was founded by my parents. We use the above strategy to establish closer relationships with parents.
Like most schools, the school has regular Parent-Teacher Association meetings. During these meetings, we discuss how things are going at the school and ask for feedback so that we can improve further.
We also use these meetings to discuss challenges we are facing at the school and ask parents to help us find solutions. The next meeting, we report back about how we used their ideas and solutions, and we show our appreciation for the parents who were involved.
This interaction builds trust and helps parents feel that they are part of developing the best possible education for their children. It also sets us apart from many other schools in the area.
And it works.
We are already seeing the results: our existing parents are spreading the word about the school and actively encouraging other parents to register their child(ren) with us.
Sometimes, all you need is a little bit of creativity to come up with ways to appreciate your customers.
Conclusion
Invest time and resources to encourage customers to become ambassadors for your business.
If you want customers to act as true business ambassadors, you will need to build genuine relationships, deliver exceptional customer experiences and provide consistent value.
2 thoughts on “Encourage customers to be ambassadors for your business”
Thank you for sharing this information with me.
I have learnt how to turn customer into Ambassador of my brand.
You are very welcome! Thank you for telling me and good luck with your business!