How many times have you heard that there is no better marketing than word of mouth ? In other words, the information that is transmitted among the brand’s own consumers. As if it is a friend, we tend to trust consumers who have already tried a product or service more than the information we receive...
How many times have you heard that there is no better marketing than word of mouth ? In other words, the information that is transmitted among the brand’s own consumers. As if it is a friend, we tend to trust consumers who have already tried a product or service more than the information we receive about it through traditional advertising.
According to the Customer Reviews BrightLocal LocalSurvey 91% of Millennials -, between the 25 and 40 – trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends and family. And 86% of customers say they read reviews of local businesses before using their services : you’ve got one of the most powerful marketing tools a brand has.
What do we mean by recommendation?
In our daily life, we talk about product recommendation when someone we know tells us about the benefits of a product or service based on their own experience. The success of these recommendations is therefore based on two aspects:
- The veracity of the testimony, because there is direct proof that the product/service was used.
- The bond of trust that exists between the two people.
By extrapolating this real situation to the digital world, we find that users are trying to replace this bond of trust with seeking opinions, recommendations and online notice to help them make decisions.
Also, according to the study cited above, the vast majority of users read an average of 10 online reviews before making a decision. Then, 50% of users who have read a positive review take action, for example by going to the company’s online store.
What benefits can referral marketing bring to my business?
As we have seen, recommendation marketing can be a fundamental tool for your business. Among the benefits it represents include the following:
- Attract new prospects and customers who also come with a positive perception of your brand.
- Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Campaigns reviews don’t require a large investment, it’s more about establishing the right strategy. However, the more visible the impact on your results will be, the more your conversion rate will increase and consequently reduce your CAC.
To give you an idea of how important reviews are to your business, Capterra conducted an anonymous survey of people who read reviews of software products. The result is clear: 98% of those surveyed said their buying decision was influenced by the reviews they read.
The Basics of a Referral Marketing Strategy
As we have seen, one of the fundamental aspects of referral marketing is that reviews and opinions are sincere and come naturally. So, there is no question of leaving to chance when managing a recommendation marketing strategy: nothing could be further from the truth.
It is possible to create a recommendation marketing strategy by implementing different actions:
- Encourage the user to share information about the product or service through incentives. For example, reward promotional codes or discounts the user’s followers who register through a specific link. This action is easily carried out thanks to consumer review campaigns : participants receive a product to test for free in exchange for an honest and sincere opinion posted on various e-commerce sites. At Hivency, brands can conduct this type of campaign directly on the platform in order to collect verified reviews (via full testimonials, videos, or even audio recordings) and strengthen consumers’ confidence in them.
- Make it easy for the user to share the product with their friends with just one click.
- Request a rating directly. This would be the case of mobile applications in which, after a certain time of use, the user is invited to take a few seconds to assess the benefits of the application.
- Use the influencer marketing. In this case, a series of influencers, nano-influencers or consumers close to the values and type of communication of the brand are selected and receive products in exchange of honest comments on one or more pages of merchant sites.
This last action is perhaps the one that can bring the most benefits to a brand, since recommendations from influencers are most similar to a direct recommendation from a friend. They therefore have a strong impact on users and generally lead to good results.
Identifying the referral marketing actions most relevant for your brand is the first step in creating a strategy. Remember that working with influencers is a good way to improve your bond of trust with the consumer.
Photo credits: @myleon via Unsplash