The shopping experience for customers has changed immensely over the past few decades, with the biggest change being brought on by the growth and prevalence of the internet and e-commerce. Nowadays, most consumers will buy just about everything from the comfort of their own home as more and more businesses become accessible online. This, however, poses a new challenge to businesses that now have to compete with a growing pool of competitors from across the world.
Keeping a loyal and happy customer base is crucial to your business’ growing success. In fact, studies have shown that customers with a strong history with your brand are worth up to 5 times more than a new customer. That’s why its important to go above and beyond when engaging with your users, especially your power users.
What is a power user?
Power users are your brand’s most active and engaged customers. It shouldn’t be too hard to identify them. They can be your repeat customers, users that engage with your brand on social media, customers who leave positive reviews for your business, or all of the above.
When engaging with your customers, they are your top priority because they have already had a positive experience with your brand. By going the extra mile with them and making your power users feel appreciated, you can further amplify their voice and turn them into stronger ambassadors for your brand.
Incentivizing your power users
Customer referrals and social proof constitute a relatively large number of sales in most small and medium businesses. However, if you’re not incentivizing your power users to refer others, or to engage with your brand online—chances are your business isn’t realizing their full potential. There are a number of ways you can incentivize your power users to help you reach more customers and grow your business.
Discounts, points, deals, raffles. If power users have a clear monetary incentive, it will boost their enthusiasm to promote your brand, refer other buyers, leave positive reviews, create content, etc. This can be achieved by offering them exclusive discounts and deals if they follow through with certain actions or giving them more entries to exclusive raffles the more they share your content, and so on.
Early access, behind the scenes, etc. While not being monetary incentives, these methods give your users a sense of exclusivity. Treating them like an exclusive group with early access to content and items, a view behind the scenes of your business, and other such ideas, will foster a sense of belonging with your power users. This will make them feel like part of the team and they will be more likely to promote your brand.
Appreciation. For some power users, simply being acknowledged by your brand in a creative way might be enough for them to continuously advocate for you. Hand-written notes, personal videos, and any other type of intimate communication can make them feel extremely valued and positive about your brand, making them all the more likely to be positive ambassadors for your business.
Make your users part of your brand
By giving your power users a sense that they are part of your “family”, your success will feel like their success and they will be more likely to go the extra mile for your company. Using tools like Innercircle can make it easy to engage with your power users and incentivize them in a way that will turn them into the strongest brand ambassadors that they can be.
Many companies make the mistake of thinking that being personal and appreciative to their customers will weaken their brand, but the opposite is true. Engaging with them at eye-level will only help your brand grow–so don’t be afraid to reach out and say thank you!
