Get those G2 reviews!

5 way to build advocates

Author

Gary Chan
November 21, 2024

It's all about those G2 reviews!

When customer becoming advocates thats the real proof in the pudding!

We didn't get everything right

But if I were to re-do the playbook on customer advocates

Here’s my steps:

1. Deliver Exceptional Customer Experience

2. Implement a Loyalty Program

3. Ask for Reviews and Testimonials

4. Personalized Engagement by Industry

5. Foster an Exclusive Community

We didn't focus enough on nurturing paying customers into advocates

… to ensure long-term success and brand promotion

What we could have done:

1️⃣ What about Delivering Exceptional Customer Experience?

We would immediately focus on offering proactive and responsive customer support, resolving issues promptly and effectively. I would train the customer support team to go above and beyond for our paying customers and implement a feedback loop that continuously improves our service.

You know, we want to make sure we always get those “wow” moments throughout the customer journey—even after the customers have paid. ✨ These initiatives will set up opportunities for customers to naturally become more enthusiastic advocates. It really starts with having a great customer experience from your customer success and support teams. Nowadays, great service is a SaaS differentiator.

2️⃣ What about Implementing a Loyalty or Affiliate Program?

Building a loyalty program is like creating an exclusive club. 🎉 We would prioritize rewarding our customers because we have all these T-shirts lying around, stickers, socks, hats—you name it! Offering these gifts when customers refer us to others or deepen their product engagement is key.

We can also incentivize these customers by giving them early access to new features or special discounts for advanced features because they’re such long-term customers. This makes them feel special and encourages them to advocate for us while showing off your brand with your merch. 👕

3️⃣ What about getting Reviews and Testimonials?

We want our customers to promote us more on social media, either when they feel proud of their achievements or when they cross a product milestone. 🚀 We’ve had a lot of customers give us shoutouts on LinkedIn. For example, when they first signed up on our platform, they posted, “Hey folks, we’re now on our SOC 2 compliance journey. Stay tuned!” It was a great marketing post for them and for us.

We also started requesting them to help us create testimonials and case studies and get those G2 reviews! ⭐ Showcasing those customer success stories on our platform is gigantic proof that we are a real business—and that we are a great business! Amplifying these authentic voices will inspire others to become advocates too.

4️⃣ What about personalizing engagement by industry?

You can use your data to personalize your outreach and create special offers—whether it’s tailored use cases or using benchmark data. 📊 Nowadays, with AI, this should be easier than ever to create these types of content. Creating content by industry segments will deepen customer relationships and increase advocacy.

When customers see that there are others in their industry using this tool—like construction or healthcare—they feel like they’re part of something special. They see that our platform is listening to their segment and solving problems for them, making them more likely to become vocal supporters of our brand in their community. 🤝

5️⃣ What about building Community?

What I would highly recommend is that you start building a private community for your paid customers. Building online communities facilitates knowledge sharing and networking opportunities. 🌐 Customers can see that there are others like them using the platform.

You can create mentor-mentee programs where those who are multiple steps ahead can guide newer customers. This initiative will create a sense of belonging among our customers and empower them to become advocates by helping others.

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By implementing these customer advocacy strategies, you’re ensuring that customers feel satisfied, special, and good about becoming part of your brand champion community. 🏆 When they are brand champions, they drive word-of-mouth growth for your platform.

Just remember: it’s really all about those G2 reviews! 📣 Showcasing genuine customer experiences is key to building trust and loyalty in our community.

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I am Gary Yau Chan. 3x Head of Growth. Product Growth specialist. 26x hackathon winner. I write about #PLG and #BuildInPublic. Please follow me on LinkedIn, or read about what you can hire me for on my Notion page.