Social Media Sales Tips (3) – Turn Angry Customers To Brand Advocates!

Throughout the “Social Media Sales Tips” article series, I will shed light on some very effective (yet often forgotten!) SM sales tips.

Previous posts in the series:

• A Shockingly Simple Social Media Sales Tip You Are NOT Using Today!
• Social Media Sales Tips (2) – How To Become Your Own Success Model?

Today, I will discuss the importance of turning angry customers into new brand advocates, but first things first: Allow me to ask you this question…

Are You “Nurturing” Your Customers Enough?

There is an old marketing school principal that says that you need to attend to your existing customers as much as you seek new ones. (if not more!)

It boggles my mind how many businesses over-obsess about acquiring new customers instead of leveraging their existing ones to make more sales. If you are one of them, reading the following BazaarVoice.com stats will certainly change your mind.

• According to Econsultancy, a staggering 90% of customers trust product recommendations from their acquaintances, while 70% trust opinions of total strangers! (July 2009)
• According to a survey conducted by eMarketer, Consumer reviews are trusted almost 12 times more than manufacturers’ descriptions. (February 2010)
• According to MarketingExperiments, a product conversion rate nearly doubled from 0.44% to 1.04% after displaying its five-star rating

The above stats clearly reveal that customers trust the opinions of “neutral” 3rd parties more than those of the product/service company. If you come to think about it, it makes so much sense; you and I are probably doing the same every day.

That’s why, in my humble opinion, catering to your customers is by far the most intelligent social media sales tactic I can think of.

Still, you may conclude that only happy customers can be ideal brand advocates, but here comes a huge shocker…

Did You Know That An Angry Customer Is A Blessing In Disguise?

Many studies have revealed that successfully rectifying angry customers’ issues will magnify their brand loyalty more than happy ones!

As ironic as it may seem, it is true! An angry customer (who is well attended to) can be your most trusted brand advocate and here are some stats that back me up.

According to the Retail Consumer Report (issued January 2011)

• 18% of customers with resolved issues made repeat purchases of the same product
• As a token of appreciation to handling their complaints efficiently, 34% deleted their negative reviews and 33% posted positive ones

These yesterday-angry-today-happy customers can bring you repeat sales effortlessly.

How can you respond to angry customers in a way that will turn them into brand advocates?

I discussed that in details in this article: From Mediocrity to Prosperity: How to REALLY Listen to Your Customers?.

How About Happy Customers?

Great question! These too can gladly spread the word about your brand. Stay tuned for upcoming posts in the series where I will detail how to make happy customers ecstatic so they can’t help but share your amazing product(s) with the world.

Seth Godin Sums It All Up…

One of the books that presented a tremendous paradigm shift to me was Seth Godin’s masterpiece Flipping the Funnel where he presented this timeless quote:

Turn strangers into friends.
Turn friends into customers
And then… do the most important job:
Turn your customers into salespeople.
- Seth Godin

I can’t think of a better closing to this article! What are your thoughts on nurturing existing customers versus acquiring new ones? Do you agree that the first strategy yields better results in social media? Did Seth Godin’s quote resonate with you? I can’t wait to find out! Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.