5 Ways to encourage word of mouth referrals

The Internet may be fast becoming the most powerful marketing tool available to organisations, but we shouldn’t underestimate the consistent influence of word of mouth referrals. A company lives and dies by its reputation and word of mouth has become increasingly important as the general public become less trusting of what Business and the Media say, and start listening to their family, friends and colleagues. Here’s five great ways to encourage positive word of mouth referrals:

ONE: Get the Customer Experience Right
Positive and Negative Word of Mouth are most often derived from your customer’s experience. Do you care about your customer’s overall experience? If you don’t, you should because there’s never been more choice for consumers, if they don’t like what they find with you, they can always go elsewhere.

If you want to encourage word of mouth referrals, you need to get the entire customer experience right. For organisations that care about encouraging positive word of mouth (PWOM) and diminishing potential negative word of mouth (NWOM), it’s important to reconsider how you deliver the customer experience. Consistently delivering an unforgettable customer experience is the most effective way of getting people talking about you, your brand, products or services. Your job is to make sure it’s unforgettable for all the right reasons.

TWO: The Follow Up
The customer experience doesn’t end at the point of sale. Following up your sales with a quick courtesy call can really make the difference. A follow up communication gives the customer the chance to mention any problems and helps your organisation to demonstrate that you care and customers like to think that you care about more than just their money.

THREE: Fix What You Find
The Follow Up was a great opportunity to measure the customer’s experience. But once you find something that went wrong in the customer’s experience, you can immediately improve positive word of mouth by fixing the problem fast. Demonstrating your efficiency and customer care positively promotes your business.

FOUR: Customer Referral Scheme
It’s possible that you can generate great positive word of mouth from your existing customers by setting up a customer referral scheme. It’s used by all sorts of organisations, the more customers they refer, the greater the rewards for all concerned. This is the perfect low-cost way of getting your existing customer-base to market for you.

FIVE: Catchy Product/Service Names
Develop catchy, memorable product and service names. Apple have been consistently smart about the use of the prefix ‘i-‘ before the name of many of their products, which helps them to become immediately memorable for existing customers and those seeking to find out more about those products. But who’d spread the word about the new XDP-555-DE2-XL/1?

Creating great word of mouth referrals is a lot more than simply creating hype. It’s about encouraging and managing the way that conversation spreads from person to person. To find out more about how Word of Mouth could help your business to grow, visit www.phconsulting.org.uk.