Even if customers love your service or products, they may not be talking about it – and that can hurt business.
Word-of-mouth recommendations – usually the best form of advertising, marketing and sales – are down about 20% since 2008, a Colloquy study recently found.
Customers aren’t telling colleagues, friends and family through conversations, email or even social media about their experiences with companies and their employees and products as much as you might think.
Just 58% of customers in the survey say they recommend products or services, down from 73% in 2008.
Why are they tight-lipped these days – especially with the growing popularity of online review tools? Experts say it might be because people aren’t buying as much, so they have less to say.
The good news: As long as you have customers, you can get them talking about your service and products. Just ask them.
When you talk to satisfied customers, remind them how to post reviews on your website, ask them to become Facebook fans or invite them to fill out a comment card or survey that you can send via email.
