{"id":5221,"date":"2015-09-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/?p=5221"},"modified":"2015-09-02T10:53:53","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T17:53:53","slug":"creating-customer-evangelists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkapps.com\/blog\/post-launch\/creating-customer-evangelists\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Customer Evangelists: Our Top 4 Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once you’ve launched your product and have some users, it’s time to focus\u00a0on growth. Here are our top four strategies for achieving growth by\u00a0creating customer evangelists.<\/em><\/p>\n

Making your customers so happy that they become evangelists isn\u2019t easy. But it\u2019s definitely worth the effort.<\/p>\n

After all, Nielsen reports<\/span><\/a> that 92% of people trust word-of-mouth marketing and recommendations from their friends and family above all other types of advertising. (And that\u2019s up 18% from 2007, which tells us consumers are only trusting these opinions <\/span>more <\/span><\/i>as time goes on.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer evangelism is an effective way to reach new users for your product or service. It’s also free in most cases. This combination of factors should make it an\u00a0important component\u00a0of your company’s overall growth strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Loyal Customers vs Customer Evangelists<\/h2>\n

First, let\u2019s define what a customer evangelist is. Most businesses have loyal customers or customers who regularly use or buy their products. However, a customer evangelist goes one step beyond a loyal customer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not only are customer evangelists\u00a0repeat customers, they are also believers<\/i> in your brand or service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/p>\n

Image credit<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

As Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell explain in <\/span>Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force<\/a><\/em>, these customers \u201cpassionately recommend you to their friends, neighbors, and colleagues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They also give you voluntary praise or critiques, allow the occasional mistake or drop in quality, and \u201cfeel connected to something bigger than themselves,\u201d (i.e. your company\u2019s community).<\/span><\/p>\n

You should make creating customer evangelists a priority for your business. Here are four strategies for how to do\u00a0so.<\/h3>\n

Strategy #1: Talk (and Listen to) Your Customers<\/h2>\n

When you look at companies with really devoted customers, you\u2019ll see a common trend. They\u2019re always interacting with those customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Case Study: Intercom<\/h3>\n

Take <\/span>Intercom<\/span><\/a>. This SaaS startup\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0<\/span>which just <\/span>raised $35 million<\/span><\/a> in Series C funding\u00a0<\/span>\u2014\u00a0<\/span>has built an enthusiastic user base by being super receptive to feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-founder Des Traynor<\/a> <\/span>estimates<\/span> that he spends 20-25% of his time<\/a> \u201clearning who (customers) are, what their product does, where they are based, how often they use Intercom, how they found us, what they love, where they want to see improvements, etc.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, Intercom recommends having (at least) one employee whose job <\/span>is \u201cto know exactly what\u2019s going with all types of customers.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Communicating with your customers turns them into evangelists in four ways:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They trust you more, which naturally makes them more enthusiastic about your company.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Their product experience improves, which also boosts their enthusiasm.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. You learn about small problems and flaws before they become big issues. This allows you to make all of your customers happier.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. They give you ideas you might not have developed yourself, resulting in a stronger product or service.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How to Implement This\u00a0Strategy<\/span><\/h3>\n

    To increase the quality and frequency of\u00a0your customer interactions, try:<\/span><\/p>\n