Why word of mouth is so effective

One of the best things that can happen to a retail brand is having your loyal customers share your brand with their friends and neighbors. This is especially true for brick and mortar retailers who rely heavily on the experience of shopping to beat out online competitors.

Contrary to popular belief, 80% of today’s shoppers prefer to shop in-store. Plus, nearly half of customers enjoy going to physical retail stores to discover new products, according to Mood Media’s Shopper Sentiments survey.

So if a friend says your store is worth a visit, shoppers will likely look to you the next time they’re looking for something new.

That’s why among the several forms of advertising which can be used to generate sales, word of mouth, or WoM marketing will stand as not only an “ol’ reliable”, but a powerful, effective tool for driving loyal customers and growth.

If you’re looking to drive more word of mouth business at your retail store, keep reading for the tips you need.

What is word of mouth and why is it important?

In the simplest of terms, word of mouth, or WoM, is sharing experiences and opinions to other consumers. This can be done in the form of personal communication with family, friends, acquaintances, or a more recent form, through the means of social media platforms.

Why are word of mouth recommendations so influential in the world of retail?

When satisfied customers relate their positive experiences to those within their social circles, people are more likely to act on these word of mouth recommendations because there is a higher level of trust.

This word of mouth trustworthiness is backed by data. According to survey data from Nielsen, 83% of consumers trust recommendations from “family, colleagues, and friends about products and services.” With this high statistic, WoM recommendations are ranked the highest in trustworthiness.

Word of mouth advertising is a powerful marketing technique and a cost-effective way of growing your business.

Now let’s look into how you can leverage a word of mouth strategy.

How to start effective, word of mouth marketing in six steps

So you want to use word of mouth to generate more sales for your business, but not sure where to begin? These six steps will get you started.

1. Build a loyal client base

Start with earning happy customers. Excellent customer relationship management and improving your associate’s work experience all affects client satisfaction. When you start here, you will build a loyal customer base who wants to give their acquaintances good recommendations for your business.

With word of mouth, your customers are going to be the face of your referral programs, so it’s essential to prioritize their satisfaction. Which leads us to our next step…

2. Prioritize the customer experience

Next is checking (and double checking) if your business will bring in more customers from its current state. From the customer’s point of view, is your store appealing to their taste? Does your business offer excellent customer service? Would your target audience bring someone else here to shop?

By putting yourself in the shoes of your customer, answers to these questions will come easily to you. And if you don’t like the answers, brainstorm to make changes as soon as possible. Why? Because if your customers don’t have a positive experience, your word of mouth recommendations will be very low.

A good sign of your customer experience is how you treat your associates. Be sure to check out how to create excellent associate experiences before continuing this article.

3. Learn from your repeat customers

Next, is taking note if you have returning customers. If so, train your staff to ask insightful questions to learn why they are returning. This will help you understand what attracts your customers and what you can improve to attract more.

In the end, the customer is there to buy a product, of course, but they won’t be coming back if you don’t provide excellent positive customer experiences. Be sure to be a place of comfort and belonging for your clients, and you will have them coming again and referring to their acquaintances.

4. Encourage customer reviews

Next, to continue your word of mouth marketing campaign, you’ll want to establish your marketing channels. Is there a place where customers can leave online reviews and are you encouraging them to leave these reviews?

Once you’ve earned a few customer reviews, sort through both the positive and negative reviews alike, and act on the feedback.

5. Make the most of social media

It can’t be emphasized enough how important social media marketing is for your physical retail store’s positive word of mouth communication. Be sure to have a strategy for your target audience when you create social media posts and content.

This kind of content marketing is free advertising and gets your business out to far more people than you could’ve found on your own. And they can like, share, and follow your retail company before they even step foot in your store.

With social media also comes the potential to get the word out of your business through influencer marketing. You can pair up with social media influencers, content creators, and people who make user-generated content to amplify your word of mouth marketing strategy. Social media has endless potential to be an effective word of mouth channel for your retail store.

6. Offer a referral program

Implementing a referral loyalty program can be a real breakthrough for your store in increasing your WoM recommendations. This strategy will help you leverage your established customer base by incentivizing them to share customer referrals.

You can offer a store or brand ambassador program, or simply incentivize with store credit, early product access, gifts, and discounts. Not only will this improve customer retention, but also the quality of your clients’ recommendations to their acquaintances.

With this traditional advertising method comes an opportunity to innovate in these real person-to-person interactions. Recommendations from people outside your business will foster a sense of community that new customers will feel once they enter your store and experience your amazing customer service first hand.

How Clientbook can leverage your word of mouth strategy

Clientbook’s client management software empowers retail stores to foster meaningful connections with their clients and turn an average customer into loyal advocates and organic promoters of your business. In this way, Clientbook can bridge the gap between the effectiveness of traditional WoM and retail management.

Word of mouth marketing is most effective when there’s already customer loyalty built in. If you want to increase the trust your clients have towards your business, Clientbook offers a transformative tool to help you have a closer relationship with them.

Conclusion

The undeniable truth is that word of mouth recommendations really do work. However, WoM marketing can easily slip past the view of your marketing strategy. The power personal recommendations have to spread to potential customers in their purchasing decisions is priceless.

Encouraging reviews, maximizing your social media, implementing a referral program, and providing excellent customer service will help you take the offense of creating a word of mouth buzz surrounding your business.

Harness the networks of the marketing team which is readily available at your fingertips: your customers. Clientbook makes customer relationship management highly effective, easy, and fun. If you want to see exponential growth in your business, book a demo with Clientbook today.