Last Updated: November 2024
The post-COVID market is a volatile one. Customer’s buying behaviors have changed, and understandably so. It has become essential for brands to realign their strategies to convert potential customers and retain the old ones, leveraging Influencer Programs to navigate this changing landscape.
Online shoppers enjoy certain unique benefits. There’s a lot of online content to help buyers determine what features they want and which particular brand or product suits them. Almost all buyers go through product reviews published on e-commerce websites, as well as other websites. Blogs, vlogs, social media pages, and past user experience counts as well before making a decision. Potential customers prefer interacting within their network to weigh the pros and cons of a particular brand.
Role of Marketing Influencers in Customer’s Purchase Decisions
A good influencer is one with a dedicated network of followers and enjoys much more credibility than paid promotions or advertisements. Unlike the latter, influencers highlight both the pros and cons of a particular product. This ability allows customers to evaluate if a specific brand is a good fit for them or not, making it more authentic.
Perceptions change from person to person. However, happy customers often go on to become efficient influencers among their family, friends, and other social circles.
When it comes to assessing a customer’s lifetime value, influencer programs are the most effective of all strategies. A long-term association with a brand begins with trust. Influencers bring that trust factor from their firsthand experience of having used the product, as well as experiences of other people associated with them. Today’s hyper-connected social media makes it even more possible to reach out to anyone, irrespective of whether they know them personally or not.
An old tried and tested method was to use celebrities to endorse products. But in recent times, influencers have earned greater credibility because, unlike high-income celebrities, they are regular people looking for the same value for money experience. This makes them highly relatable to other customers. 70% of teens trust social media influencers more than traditional celebrities.
In a market still recovering from the COVID-induced economic crisis, potential customers will always double-check before actually making the payment.
Further, influencers are typically active across multiple channels like Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest, WordPress, etc. Each channel provides a diverse audience to which the brand is exposed to. Subtle, repetitive exposure to the same customers on those sites builds brand awareness.
Tapping in the Influencer Network
Depending on the product, the brand’s requirement, and its resources, one can choose between micro-influencers with limited followers or major influencers with a massive following.
Some channels are more suited than others. For example, skincare products can find a desirable audience on Instagram, whereas Youtube is the place for electronic accessories. Identifying which channel can help you reach your target customers is thus crucial.
Limited validity offers could be a major incentive for converting customers. This can help convert customers and give a major platform to the influencer who can leverage it to spread the good word. As influencers discuss both the pros and cons and provide incentives, they can function as powerful magnets for converting customers who have expressed an interest in the brand. The time gap between the expression of interest and actual sale is drastically reduced as the influencer knows the buying trends, needs, and budget of their followers.
Another way to tap into the influencer network is to organize events or sponsor competitions. This works especially for the young crowd – college students and early professionals, who love exploring things, places, and products. Providing samples work best with this crowd.
Retaining Old Customers
The best marketing strategy is catering to satisfied customers. Women who have found a product perfectly suited to their skin are unlikely to change the brand. And 86% of women use social media for purchasing advice. The same logic applies to other products, brands, and customers.
Often old customers can be persuaded to come back through subtle encouragement and healthy ‘influencing.’ Placing an influencer with a similar socio-economic background among the network of old customers helps retain them. The greater their satisfaction with the product, the more likely they are to stay loyal to the brand. Rekindling and retaining old relationships can further help create a network of influencers and show the “power of the word” at work.
The Customer Lifetime Value thrives on creating a community of repeat customers who eventually become the loyal guardians of the brand. And influencer marketing campaigns earn $6.50 for every dollar spent. A special “repeat customers only” discount program or added benefits can work like magic in retaining these customers.
How can Helplama help?
Online shoppers are not known for their patience. The captivating product image can only hold them for a minute or so before other brands catch their eye. Most customers have queries, and they would want an immediate response. Helplama has an army of professionally trained customer support executives who can handle almost any query the customer raises. Unlike most organizations, Helplama focuses a lot on getting the background right.
The best way to garner customer satisfaction is to provide the smoothest, hassle-free customer support after-sales. Not all companies or brands may have the necessary staff equipped to handle the volume of customer requests and tickets.
The professionals at Helplama are hand-picked to ensure that they are from the right background, possess the right vocabulary, tone, cultural sensitivity, and accent. We offer support across voice, chat, and email.
The executives specially undergo training on the front of our client store. This enables them to handle cases that may not be scripted. Even more, Helplama trains the executives on the client’s chat system to discharge their responsibilities speedily and effectively.
Helplama focuses on customer experience exclusively. We know that with every closed ticket, we have a satisfied customer out there. And they could be talking about the service support just as much as the product since that constitutes their brand experience.
Also, try Saufter – the customer service software that can help you automate and scale your customer support.
Check out our services here. And never miss a customer conversion again by Getting in touch with us !