For better or for worse, customers share their experiences with their peers. According to a 2021 Nielsen survey, 88 percent of people trust recommendations from people they know more than any other marketing channel. Since a vast majority of people trust recommendations from their close peers, word-of-mouth marketing can be a powerful tool. However, it can also have the opposite effect if people have negative experiences.
By incorporating word-of-mouth into your strategy, you can build brand awareness, increase credibility, and drive sales. This article walks you through word-of-mouth marketing, including how to create your strategy and measure the impact.
What is word-of-mouth marketing?
Word-of-mouth marketing occurs when consumers discuss your brand or product with other people. Some examples of word-of-mouth marketing include online reviews, personal conversations, and social media posts.
Why is word-of-mouth marketing effective?
Word-of-mouth works because people place a lot of trust in their friends and family. It can take a while to build trust, but close peers have already established it. When someone shares a recommendation, you’re more likely to accept it as a good option.
Even online reviews build trust as the opinion of buyers confirms the quality of the product.
How do you market by word-of-mouth?
Word-of-mouth marketing centers on providing exceptional customer experiences and encouraging customers to share them.
Hopefully you have a product or service that solves a major pain point for your target audience. But it takes more than that to amaze your customers. If you want to encourage word-of-mouth marketing, you need to go the extra mile to impress your customers.
Sometimes it’s as simple as a smooth onboarding process. Other times it’s a free gift or helpful customer support. Providing an extremely positive experience motivates people to share your business with others.
An example of this would be threadUP, an online resale platform. Using a tool like LogRocket helped threadUP determine the exact issues customers were facing when they were using the site. It helped improve website performance and ultimately ensured customers were getting an exceptional experience.
Beyond the customer experience, it’s helpful to create an easy avenue for consumers to promote your brand. The possibilities range from sending emails asking for reviews to launching a referral program.
Here are a few strategies to consider when determining how to implement word-of-mouth marketing:
- Online reviews
- Social media
- Blogs
- User-generated content (UGC)
- Social listening
- Influencer marketing
- Referral programs
- Loyalty programs
- Events
How to create a word-of-mouth marketing strategy
Your strategy should focus on creating organic conversations about your brand. To help you get started try the following:
Build a great customer experience
Take a look at your product experience and consider what little ways you could make it better. Extras are what make your brand stand out from the competition. It also gives customers something to talk about when they discuss your brand.
Some ideas include:
- Remembering customer names
- Free gifts or services
- Seamless site UX
- Helpful customer support
- Upgrading items
- Early access to exclusive products or features
Launch referral or loyalty programs
Your existing customers have the potential to turn into your biggest advocates. An incentive can help encourage that transition. Launching referral programs can reward customers for sharing their experience with others. Likewise, a loyalty program can provide incentives for the continued business of existing customers.
Encourage UGC on social media
Social media has many benefits for word-of-mouth marketing. You can encourage users to share content about your brand, then highlight this content on your channels. Try hosting a social media giveaway or even have it as part of your loyalty program.
Consider influencer marketing
Partnering with credible influencers can help build word-of-mouth marketing. Influencers often have a niche following that may perfectly align with your target audience. An influencer promoting your product can help increase brand awareness and build trust.
Collect online reviews
Potential consumers heavily weigh customer reviews. Reviews help prove the value of your brand and online community. You can encourage customers to leave reviews with automated emails.
While you want to aim for positive reviews, bad reviews aren’t necessarily the end of your business. Instead, you can view it as an opportunity to improve. Sometimes it’s not always possible to remedy a poor experience. However, leaving a public and professional response to bad reviews ensures potential customers that you genuinely care about their experiences.
Showcase customer success
While reviews are important for word-of-mouth marketing, you can take it further. You can showcase customer success with case studies.
Potential buyers may need more assurance that your product is the best fit for them. Materials like case studies can persuade people of the validity of your brand.
Measuring the impact of word-of-mouth marketing
Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of the success of word-of-mouth marketing. However, there are some methods to track the effectiveness of your word-of-mouth marketing campaign.
First, you always want to define your goals. This helps determine which KPIs you should use to measure your success. Some potential goals may include driving sales, increasing brand awareness, or generating leads.
Depending on your goals, you may want to use the following KPIs:
- Number of referrals
- Customer lifetime value
- Conversion rate
- Online brand sentiment
- UGC engagement
Beyond KPIs, you may also want to consider using software to measure the impact of your word-of-mouth marketing strategies. You can use social listening tools to monitor online conversations to determine brand sentiment.
Even something as simple as asking new customers how they learned about your business can provide valuable data. You can also survey existing customers to see how likely they are to recommend your product.
Final thoughts
Word-of-mouth can take time, and you need other strategies to improve your growth. Advertising is still a crucial part of the marketing funnel.
Digital technology has also changed the way you conduct word-of-mouth marketing. Online reviews, discussion boards, and other digital channels are the foundation of today’s word-of-mouth marketing strategies. Brands should react by monitoring reviews and sending responses from customer support when necessary.
While word-of-mouth is a supporting leg of a marketing strategy, brands can’t build solely on reputation. It often takes a blend of advertising, product development, sales, and customer support to ensure growth.
Featured image source: IconScout