Customer Advocacy Program: Build Loyal Customers Who Promote Your Brand
A customer advocacy program can be one of the most powerful tools for building loyalty and driving growth. Unlike traditional marketing strategies, it can turn most loyal customers into passionate promoters of your brand. Through a structured program, you can leverage the authentic voices of loyal customers and create a ripple effect – build trust, generate organic referrals and strengthen brand reputation scores.
This guide will cover the fundamentals of a customer advocacy program, explaining what it is, why it’s important, and how to create a successful program that resonates with your audience.
What is a customer advocacy program?
A customer advocacy program is a strategic initiative by a company to support and reward loyal customers who actively promote its products or services. It aims to identify highly satisfied customers and encourage them to share their positive experiences, testimonials and feedback.
This way, loyal customers become brand ambassadors, who drive new business and strengthen the brand's reputation through organic, customer driven-promotion.
Why is customer advocacy important?
Customer advocacy is important because it turns satisfied customers into powerful brand promoters. It leads to enhanced trust, loyalty and growth. Here's why it matters:
- Builds credibility and trust – Customers are more likely to trust recommendations from other customers than from traditional marketing.
- Drives organic growth – The organic word-of-mouth marketing that comes from customer advocates sharing their positive experiences is connected with a lower cost than paid advertising. It helps attract new customers without significant marketing investments.
- Improves customer retention – Engaging customers in advocacy programs makes them feel valued, which increases their loyalty and satisfaction. And loyal customers tend to stay longer and spend more.
- Enhances brand reputation – A strong base of advocates can protect and improve a brand's image. They can publicly defend the brand during challenging times or address misinformation.
- Provides valuable feedback – Advocates often provide honest feedback, offering insights that can drive product improvements and enhance service quality.
- Creates a competitive edge – Advocacy programs set a brand apart in competitive markets. Happy customers actively promoting the brand attract others, creating a cycle of loyalty and growth.
In summary, customer advocacy transforms customers into passionate brand ambassadors who promote growth, enhance reputation and build a loyal customer base.
How to increase customer advocacy?
To increase customer advocacy, focus on building strong relationships, deliver outstanding experiences and create opportunities for customers to engage and share. Here are some effective strategies:
Deliver exceptional customer service
Provide outstanding customer service and consistently exceed expectations to create positive experiences that customers want to talk about. Provide quick, empathetic responses to customer concerns and follow up after issues are resolved to build trust and satisfaction.
Create a seamless onboarding experience
Offer customers support through the onboarding process and guide them with clarity. By making the first impression as good as possible, you increase the chances that those customers will become advocates.
Follow the best customer support trends in SaaS and provide tutorials and resources to ensure customers get the most from your product or service.
Engage through rewards programs
Develop customer loyalty programs that recognize frequent buyers or long-term customers. Points, discounts and exclusive perks encourage customers to stay committed and are also one of the best ways to revitalize community engagement. Go beyond typical rewards to offer exclusive benefits for brand advocates, such as early access to new products or services.
Personalize customer interactions
Use personalized communication to make customers feel valued. Address them by name, recommend products based on past purchases or tailor email content to their interests. It will make interactions more relevant and memorable.
Ask for feedback and act on it
Regularly collect customer feedback through surveys or personal outreach to show customers that their opinions matter. Implement feedback where possible and inform customers of changes made based on their input. It will reinforce their role in shaping the brand.
Encourage user-generated content
Create opportunities for customers to share their experiences through photos, videos or stories. Encourage them to post on social media platforms with branded hashtags or share their content directly with the company.
Recognize or showcase this content on official channels. It boosts customer engagement and encourages others to do the same.
Develop a referral program
A successful customer advocacy strategy also includes offering incentives for customers to refer friends or family. Discounts, gifts or loyalty points motivate customers to share their positive experiences. Make the process easy with referral links, and reward both the referrer and the new customer.
For example, Bettermode, one of the best no-code platforms, lets you create a user-friendly referral process. You can generate unique referral links for community members and they can easily share them with their network. This simple process encourages participation – referring friends takes only a few clicks.
Publicly recognize advocates
Feature loyal customers in case studies, testimonials, social media shout-outs or newsletters. Acknowledgment can build a strong connection and encourage others to engage similarly.
Showing community member appreciation and recognizing top advocates proves the brand values their loyalty and dedication, fostering even deeper commitment.
How can Bettermode help build your customer advocacy?
Bettermode is a community platform helping businesses build a successful B2B customer advocacy program. Here are some Bettermode features that can help you with your customer advocacy efforts:
Centralized customer community
The platform includes tools like a community portal, customer support forum and knowledge base software that you can use to build a branded online community where customers may connect, share experiences and engage with your brand. These tools help create a strong foundation for revenue-driving advocacy and advocate marketing ROI.
By fostering a space for open discussions, Q&As and shared stories you can encourage natural advocacy as users interact, support one another and share positive feedback. It will create a strong foundation for revenue-driving advocacy.
Gamification and rewards
Bettermode includes gamification features like badges, points and leaderboards, to recognize and reward engaged users. They encourage customers to participate more actively and create a sense of achievement.
You can also integrate rewards programs, providing advocates with tangible incentives to spread the word about the brand.
Feedback and product insights
The platform helps brands collect feedback directly from customers through polls and discussions. You can also create a forum for customers to share their opinions.
With this direct line to customer insights, brands can make informed product improvements, which boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Exclusive groups and content for advocates
Bettermode supports the creation of private groups or spaces within the community. Such customer loyalty initiatives are ideal for recognizing and rewarding top advocates with exclusive content, early product previews or VIP access.
This approach fosters a sense of exclusivity and belonging among advocates. It strengthens their loyalty and makes them more likely to share their positive experiences publicly.
Educational support and resources
Brands can use the platform to share resources such as guides, FAQs and how-to content, which helps users make the most of their products. An empowered, educated customer base is more likely to have positive experiences and become advocates.
Customers can also use Bettermode's support features to help each other through peer-to-peer support. Building a collaborative, community-focused atmosphere naturally drives advocacy.
Social proof and referrals
Bettermode offers built-in features that can help you create social proof within the community. Members can showcase their expertise, engage in discussions and provide feedback. This visible endorsement builds trust and credibility for new customers, motivating them to become advocates.
You can also host a customer referral program with Bettermode. Follow advocacy program best practices and incentivize members to invite others and turn the community into a powerful channel for advocacy-driven growth.
Analytics and tracking
The platform's analytics lets brands track advocacy program metrics such as community engagement and identify top contributors to understand which activities drive advocacy most effectively. This data-driven approach can help you refine your advocacy strategy and focus on what works best for fostering loyalty.
By identifying and nurturing top contributors, you can build a base of dedicated brand advocates who are highly active within the community.
Conclusion
Incorporating a successful customer advocacy program into your business strategy can significantly elevate your brand’s reach and customer satisfaction. By turning loyal customers into vocal advocates, you create a cycle of positive engagement that attracts new customers, reinforces your brand’s credibility and strengthens customer relationships over time.
From establishing a community space to gathering impactful customer feedback, each element plays a role in building an advocacy program that drives real growth.
Ready to take your customer advocacy strategy to the next level? With Bettermode’s no-code tools, you can create a vibrant community that inspires loyalty, fosters advocacy, and drives revenue. Book a demo with Bettermode today to see how you can build a thriving community that transforms satisfied customers into powerful brand ambassadors!
FAQs
What is a customer advocacy program?
A customer advocacy program is a structured strategy that encourages satisfied customers to become active promoters of a brand. These programs aim to cultivate genuine, positive recommendations, referrals and testimonials that boost brand credibility and attract new customers.
Typically, customer advocacy programs identify highly satisfied customers who are willing to share their experiences. These advocates may participate in various activities such as:
- Writing reviews
- Sharing their stories on social media
- Referring others
- Providing testimonials
To nurture and retain these advocates, companies often reward them with incentives, recognition and exclusive perks, turning them into long-term brand ambassadors.
What is a consumer advocacy program?
A consumer advocacy program is a structured initiative that empowers and protects consumers by promoting their rights, interests, and access to accurate information.
Unlike a customer advocacy program, which focuses on turning customers into brand advocates, a consumer advocacy program is often led by organizations, non-profits, government agencies, or consumer groups and ensures fair treatment, transparency and accountability from businesses and service providers.
What is an example of an advocacy program?
An example of an advocacy program is Apple’s "Shot on iPhone" campaign. This program transforms Apple customers into advocates by encouraging them to capture high-quality photos with their iPhones and share them publicly.
The campaign showcases user-generated content on Apple’s platforms, in advertisements and on billboards worldwide, highlighting the phone's camera quality through real customer experiences.
What is an example of customer advocacy?
Customer advocacy refers to the enthusiastic support and promotion of a brand by its customers, who often share their positive experiences through various channels. Here are some notable examples of customer advocacy:
- Sefora's Beauty Insider Community encourages user-generated content and offers exclusive events for top members.
- Dropbox has a referral program that rewards users with additional storage for inviting friends. It effectively turns satisfied customers into advocates who help expand the user base through personal recommendations.
- Airbnb fosters a community of hosts and travelers who actively promote the platform through community forums, inspiring stories and an elaborate review system. The company also offers travel credits for successful referrals, incentivizing word-of-mouth marketing.
