Vend retail expert Francesca Nicasio details some insider knowledge on referrals.
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful drivers of traffic and sales for retailers.
A recent report from Nielsen showed 92% of Australian consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all forms of advertising.
Word of mouth can influence purchases in ways that traditional paid advertising can’t. Here are six key tips to help you tap into the holy grail of marketing in your store.
1. Offer exceptional products and customer service
When you have truly outstanding products and services, many of your customers will talk up your store all on their own. So, before you think up word of mouth gimmicks or referral programs, make sure that you’re blowing away shoppers with fantastic products, in-store experiences and customer service.
First, invest in providing merchandise that gives shoppers real value in their quality or functionality. See if you can present them better, or highlight the ways your products are superior to others. At the same time also invest in your staff - allocate resources for staff training and happiness.
Come up with ways to keep your employees engaged and motivated, so they can act as positive store ambassadors. You’ll find that these investments pay off in the form of delighted customers who rave to all their friends about you.
For example Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics is a retailer that’s focused on improving staff performance.
The international beauty manufacturer won an Australian Retailers Association award for impressive employee education programs, focus on employee wellbeing, and corporate social responsibility. The brand has credited more than $36 million in turnover, all through word-of-mouth customer referrals.
2. Spell it out for customers
Sometimes, you need to give people a little reminder to spread the word about your store and products. You can do this by putting subtle prompts around your shop to get people to talk about your products.
For instance, some apparel retailers have hashtag stickers in their dressing rooms to nudge customers into sharing photos of themselves while trying on the store’s clothes.
General Pants for example has in-store interactive kiosks, which incorporate social media, fashion and music features. These include ‘insta-opinion’, for getting real-time opinions on how clothes look when worn, to a ‘what’s playing’ function to choose which tunes are broadcast through the store.
If you have amazing products that customers love encourage the use of a hashtag - there’s a big chance that they’ll say embrace it.
3. Identify and engage brand advocates
It’s important to recognise that some shoppers are more likely to make referrals than others. The key is to identify individuals who are most likely to recommend you to their friends, and then reach out to them. How do you zero in on these people?
Turn to your best customers.
Go through shopper data and find individuals who have purchased and interacted with your brand the most. From there, create a campaign to encourage word of mouth and referrals. Rather than targeting everyone with a word of mouth campaign, do research on your top customers, and those who are most active on social networks. Determine who they are, and figure out the best way to approach and incentivise them.
4. Run an influencer campaign
Pay attention to the people that your customers are watching and listening to. Aside from their friends and relatives, are there bloggers and social media personalities who influence their buying decisions? Find these individuals and use their platform to spread the word about your brand.
Start by finding relevant influencers in your niche. You can do this on your own by asking customers about the people they follow online.
You can also reach out to influencers who have mentioned your products before – it might be that they can’t afford to buy them regularly so sending a few free products with no strings attached and a personalised note thanking them for talking about your store, might secure you a few more mentions. At the very least it might make them remember you well in the future.
5. Run a contest and use it to measure word of mouth
Instead of spending money on print or online advertisements, consider engaging with your audience by spending on a giveaway instead. Competition entries are a way for you to physically measure how many people have taken notice of your campaign and who they are.
This enables you to perform important market research at the same time, so you know if the campaign is worth replicating in the future.
Try to be creative with your competition idea so that it’s newsworthy enough to get the attention of local media. And when you have a winner, make sure you get some great photos of them to share with your local newspaper. This kind of publicity can have more impact than an advertisement to your local customer base.
6. Build a community
Getting people together through events, meet-ups, online groups, classes or clubs can organically generate word of mouth. When people are part of a community, they’re more likely to spread the word and even recruit like-minded individuals.
One retailer that’s doing a stellar job at fostering communities is Lululemon.
The retailer regularly holds local classes and events, and these initiatives bring people together. Lululemon events are fun and educational, so attendees get a ton of value out of them. If you have a highly-engaged customer base, you’re in a perfect position to implement a community building initiative.
Come up with ways (hint: ask your customers) to bring people together in a fun or even educational way. See if you can launch something that would cultivate relationships and get people talking.