5 Simple Ways to Turn Your Clients Into Advocates

Business owners will be the first to tell you how difficult it can be to effectively market new clients. It can be even more difficult (but also more rewarding!) to turn your clients into brand advocates. But in doing so, you solidify them as clients for the long-term, while reaping the rewards of additional sales through trust, referrals, and positive reviews.

With the importance of brand advocacy now in mind, let’s look at five ways your business can increase its number of client advocates.

Kristen Wilson Photography

Design: Intrigue Design and Events

1. Establish a referral program

Giving satisfied clients an incentive, often financial, to refer your product or service to others can be a quick and simple way to increase advocacy. One often-overlooked key within this strategy is to establish an incentive for both the referrer and the referee. You’ll often find businesses that incentivize the referrer but will lack in providing additional motivation for the person they are referring.

For example, if I give existing clients $50 for each friend they refer to us for their big day, I still need to add an additional motivation for that new client. If I were to also offer the new client a free toss bouquet or bathroom arrangement for booking, the offer becomes much more enticing. Plus, existing clients may feel more comfortable recommending the product or service to others if they know they are providing value.

2. Ask for feedback

Constantly seeking open, honest feedback on your business can serve as a way to assist your business in both the short-term and long-term. In the short-term, feedback can aid in increasing advocacy by helping clients know their voices are heard. More importantly, feedback proves vital for the longevity of your business because it allows you to accurately identify both your strengths and weaknesses. Allowing, and even incentivizing, your current clients to evaluate their experience with your business can cement their feeling of importance. Plus, it's a million times better to get their feedback through a process and mitigate any issues that may arise rather than wait for a review that may be less than five stars.

3. Create their proposal on the spot

These days, clients expect everything to be delivered instantly, and their floral proposal is no exception. Unfortunately, many florists will take one to two weeks to create a proposal after they've completed a consultation. By using a floral software during the consultation, you're able to meet and exceed their expectations, which means that potential clients may book with you more quickly and be more likely to recommend you to their friends.

Kristen Wilson Photography

Design: Intrigue Design and Events

4. Surprise!

Acts of kindness are never a bad idea, but the timing of them can impact effectiveness. For example, let’s say on Mother’s Day that a mother receives a beautiful bouquet from her child. While the gesture is certainly appreciated, the mother knew there was an increasingly good chance of something happening due to the fact that it was Mother’s Day. Now, imagine that instead of it being Mother’s Day, it was a random Monday. The mother in this example would be blown away by her child’s gift! By offering a random act of kindness, regardless of its financial value, you enhance the chances of your current client’s raving about your business in their online review. The team at Curate heard of one florist who would throw in a special gift for the happy couple at their hotel room. Their clients always loved that final touch!

5. Say Thank you

It is always nice to be thanked for any contribution you make. The same goes for clients who contribute toward your business revenue. My personal favorite way to show gratitude is to send a simple handwritten thank-you note. While the thank-you always makes the client feel appreciated, the fact that someone took time out of their day to handwrite a note makes the act more personal and impactful, resulting in stronger advocacy.

A more creative way could be combining a handwritten note with a small gift such as a goody bag, which would add in the surprise element. For example, say a bride chose your business for her upcoming wedding. How reassuring would it be if, a week later, she received a short, handwritten note in the mail accompanied by a small gift card to the local coffee shop near her. In doing so, the chances of her telling all of her friends and family about the happiness your floristry brought her increases—even before her big day.

Closing Thoughts

When you turn your clients into advocates, the potential rewards for your business are truly endless. Be sure to add these five tips into your standard practices to ensure that your clients are continuously telling all of their friends about how you happy you made them!