Customer Loyalty Research: Word of mouth is key to growth!
New customer research from academics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and The Listening Company has found that word of mouth, both positive and negative, is a powerful predictor of business growth. Dr Paul Marsden of the LSE said: 'These findings suggest that businesses seeking year-on-year growth may be overlooking their most powerful growth-generating asset; existing clients, customers or consumers.' The report concludes by suggesting that the net-promoter score as a measure of word of mouth advocacy may be useful not only in predicting sales growth, but also in predicting share performance and employee productivity. Full copy of the report - Advocacy Drives Growth.
These findings are supported by Harvard Business School research involving 400 major US companies. The findings were published in a 2003 Harvard Business Review article, "The One Number You Need To Grow". The conclusions showed a direct correlation between customer loyalty and sales growth. They found that by asking customers one simple question 'Would you recommend our services to a friend?' they were able to predict the sales growth of a business.
Rate customer loyalty with Advoc-8
Opinion-8's Advoc-8 application can be used very simply to find out whether your customers are acting as a volunteer salesforce and advocating your services - and if not why not. By asking your customers, on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely they are to recommend your products and services to a friend, you can categorise them into Promoters, Detractors and Passives. This lets you:
- Know your Promoters and ensure you keep their loyalty.
- Identify Passive customers and find out what it would take to get them on side.
- Find out who your Detractors are and how you might convert them to promoters.
Turn customers into loyal allies - and keep them that way!
Comments, whether recorded over the phone or typed in with a web-survey, are immediately available for viewing online. A dial graphically shows the extent to which specific aspects or parts of a company are turning customers into an unpaid salesforce. Critically, it also highlights which elements of the company are more likely to antagonise. Feedback from can then be linked to the customer account number so that Agents have this information to hand whenever they answer the phone. This allows you to address individual concerns every time a 'member of your unpaid salesforce' you!
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