No matter how technology advances, word of mouth remains to be the best and cheapest marketing tool for any business.
With so many companies competing for attention in the business world, a recommendation from a satisfied customer can take your business to the next level.
If you’re reading this, you probably know how valuable customer referral is. But how can you tell if your customer would recommend your business to a friend, family member, or co-worker?
Let’s explore further the value of customer recommendations, how to determine if a customer would recommend you, and tips to get more customer reviews.
What Is the Value of Customer Recommendations?
You don’t need costly ads to drive traffic. Word of mouth among family and friends drives more sales than any other marketing influence.
A customer recommendation is an unpaid referral a customer makes to their friends or family. When new prospects are looking for a product or service, they need affirmation that their choice is worth spending money on.
In such cases, customer reviews and recommendations come into play. They help prospects to make informed decisions and convert them into paying customers.
According to Extole, people are 4x likely to make a purchase when referred by a friend. Also, Trustpilot reports that 89% of consumers make an effort to read reviews before buying a product/service.
Below are the top 3 benefits of customer recommendations for any business:
- Positive reviews and recommendations increase business profitability. They give prospects the confidence to spend on products/services that other customers approve of.
- Businesses can use customer recommendations as sales collaterals, thus reducing marketing costs.
- Recommendations boost Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), which leads to more revenue per customer.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Customer recommendations can help a business increase profitability, reduce marketing costs, and boost CLTV. Additionally, customer recommendations will only add value to your business if you offer the best customer experience that your customers can recommend to others.
Determining If a Customer Would Recommend You
How do you determine if a customer would recommend your business? It’s simple.
You ask them through a customer satisfaction survey.
This involves reaching out to clients, asking for feedback, and taking action with the results.
Surveys help you to gauge customer loyalty which also allows you to determine their likelihood of recommending your business.
One of the questions commonly included in a customer survey is by calculating your net promoter score (NPS). It asks respondents, on a scale of 1-10, how likely are they to recommend X company.
Based on their responses, we can label them promoters, passives, or detractors.
- Promoters give a score of 9 or 10. These are loyal customers that would recommend your brand at any time.
- Passives give a score of 7 or 8. They’re fairly loyal to your brand but can be easily swayed away by competitors.
- Detractors give the lowest score of 0 to 6. They’re not happy about your company and may even give negative reviews about it.
A typical NPS question looks like this:
However, based on what you’re measuring, you may alter the questions a bit. For example:
- Depending on the customer service you just received, how likely are you to recommend our company to others, on a scale of 0-10?
- On a scale of 0 to 10, depending on your experience with product X, how likely are you to recommend it to others?
- Following our recent mobile application update, on a scale of 0 to 10, please rate how you’d recommend our business to others
- On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to use our referral program?
You can also use open-ended questions in your NPS survey to understand why customers answer the way they do and how to make changes.
💡 The Key Takeaway: Measuring NPS is one of the best ways to determine how likely someone is to recommend your product, service, or brand to others. Based on what you’re measuring, you can alter your Voice of Customer (VoC) questions to get better answers.
Tips to Get More Customer Reviews
As digital marketing evolves, the significance of word of mouth remains constant.
In the past, word of mouth happened through casual chit-chat, but in the current digital world, those conversations have moved online.
People trust other people more than online ads. Some of the online review stats to prove this include:
- 91% of consumers will only consider a business that has positive reviews
- 82% of consumers check online reviews before contacting local businesses
- 76% trust recommendations from family and friends
- Most consumers will read at least 10 reviews before making a purchase decision
Customer reviews can make or break your business. So, how do you garner them? Below are some tips.
Recommended Reading: 6 Easy Ways to Increase Google Reviews (+1 Secret Hack)
Tip #1: Start by just asking
The best way to encourage customers to write reviews is to ‘just ask. According to Broadly Infographic, 70% of customers will leave a review if they’re asked to.
If you offer the best customer experience, your customers will always be happy to write about their experiences with your business.
Tip #2: Incentivize the process
While customer recommendations are unpaid, it’s okay to provide incentives for the customer review-gathering process.
You can offer gift vouchers to clients who write recommendations on review websites or social media platforms.
Tip #3: Answer client queries
Most customer inquiries that come through emails, social media portals, phone, or even online surveys start as glitches that the customer wants to solve.
If you resolve them quickly, you can request the customer to leave positive feedback based on the customer service offered.
Tip #4: Create a referral program
A referral program is one of the best ways to get new referrals from existing customers. The referring customers then get more features or incentives as a reward.
A referral program spreads quickly among the masses, and you can measure the impact with accuracy.
Better yet, customers referred by other customers have a 37% higher customer retention rate.
Tip #5: Include review reminders on your website or app
Make it seamless for your clients to leave a recommendation on your website or App by creating a great user experience.
Make the review writing process as straightforward as possible so your customers don’t find it tedious to leave valuable feedback.
Key Takeaway: Positive customer reviews can boost your revenue significantly.
The internet has opened up many ways through which you can collect reviews. Take full advantage of them to take your business to the next level.
Need Help Determining If a Customer Would Recommend Your Business? Contact Us.
Drive Research is a national market research company in Upstate NY offering services to clients across the United States. We offer market research services such as Voice of Customer (VOC), Customer Satisfaction, Customer Experience (CX), and more.
If you’re interested in finding out if a customer would recommend you, our market research company can help you measure NPS and other key performance indicators.
Contact us through any of the four ways below:
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Emily Rodgers
A SUNY Cortland graduate, Emily has taken her passion for social and content marketing to Drive Research as the Marketing Manager. She has earned certificates for both Google Analytics and Google AdWords.
Learn more about Emily, here.
