5 Ways to Increase Holiday Sales by Leveraging Brand Advocates
3. Advocates will accelerate purchase decisions and help reduce shopping cart abandonment rates. According to Forrester Research, seven out of 10 online shopping carts are abandoned before a sale is completed. This is an even bigger problem for companies selling high-ticket items like TVs or computers. However, because advocates are trusted and influential, their recommendations can speed up purchases that may have been considered for weeks or months to days or even hours.
4. Advocates will increase inbound clicks and traffic. The average clickthrough rate for advocate-shared content (e.g., the reviews and testimonials they create) plus branded content and offers is about 50 percent. This is about 10 times higher than clickthrough rates for traditional online marketing.
5. Advocates will get you new customers - and for less. A VoIp provider is acquiring customers for 54 percent less than other online marketing channels by getting its advocates to share promotional offers with their friends on Facebook, Twitter, email and other channels.
Advocacy is the engine that powers the retail industry. Don't wait to activate your brand advocates; the time is now to amplify the enthusiasm of your best customers to drive sales and recommendations for the holiday season.
Rob Fuggetta is the founder and CEO of Zuberance, a social media marketing company. He's also the author of "Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force" (Wiley, 2012).
