Customer Advocacy Done Right!
Examples of Successful Customer Advocacy
Methodology
For Success
Defining Advocacy
Advocacy’s Importance
Implementing Advocacy
Measuring Success
Optimizing Advocacy
Subaru of America: Taking Customer Advocacy to the Very Top
When promoting Renee Rhem, Vice President of Customer Advocacy for Subaru of America, to the Subaru Executive Team in December 2021, the company demonstrated a commitment to expanding on the significant value and benefits the popular Subaru Love Promise program brings to the company and its loyal customers.
Program Objectives
At Subaru of America the Customer Advocacy department works to maintain customer and brand loyalty and foster positive partnerships with Subaru retailers.
What Makes It Effective?
Every month, Subaru of America recognizes an inspiring story from one of its hundreds of Subaru retailers across the country. One quick example from October 2021 involved a group of Subaru Cruise Ambassadors organizing an event that included collecting school supply donations from 111 cars and over 200 attendees. The event received countless mentions in local and regional news, even attracting the attention of rally car driver Bucky Lasek.
Extension Ideas for Subaru of America
Inspiring and enabling your brand advocates to self-organize digital and live events can be a powerful way to increase brand recognition and earn sales. Providing ready-to-use engagement tools like activity leaderboards, recognition badges and brand or product based micro learning journeys can help to guarantee current and future advocate success.
Like What You See in Subaru’s Program?
Starbucks @tweetacoffee Campaign
One of the most consistently innovative companies when it comes to customer advocacy, Starbucks pushed the envelope further with a rewards gifting campaign run through social media. The company created an easy way for app users with a linked Twitter account to send a $5 gift card to any other Starbucks app user with Twitter account. The result was 37,000 gift cards sold for $180,000 in additional revenue.
Program Objectives
To encourage customer e-gifting, provide greater value to customers who have linked their social accounts, and encourage customers to open and use the app more often. The @tweetacoffee campaign had several goals, and it exceeded expectations for all of them.
What Makes It Effective?
The campaign succeeded on a number of levels. In addition to effectively encouraging customers to engage through the app more often, the campaign was able to demonstrate a positive ROI. And more, 34% of users reportedly purchased more than one gift card for another user – valuable data for additional campaigns.
Extension Ideas for Starbucks
In addition to creating a great campaign of their own, Starbucks could identify a select number of its most engaged customers and grant them the ability to launch their own reward gifting campaigns – creating even more value for those customers who demonstrate the greatest commitment to the brand.
Like What You See in Starbuck’s Program?
Adidas’ Creators Club
Shop, review, participate, run and train, unlock rewards, and gain access to exclusive experiences, product personalization features, and more. Adidas’ advocacy program successfully encourages customers to increase their engagement while also embedding further into customers’ lives by encouraging the use of additional services such as exclusive features in their fitness apps.
Program Objectives
Encourage customers to consistently increase their brand and product advocacy through a structured, four-level program that can even begin before a single purchase is made.
What Makes It Effective?
Going far beyond rewarding points for purchases, Adidas’ program includes exclusive access to personalized training apps beginning in the second level. This creates a near inseparable link between the brand and customer as user fitness becomes tied to engagement.
Extension Ideas for Adidas
AI-powered user segmentation for each stage of the Adidas customer lifecycle would allow for more precise targeting of activities and incentives based on user demonstrated preferences. On the rewards side, digital badges could make a real-world impact when incorporated into the personalized products already available through the advocacy program.
Like What You See in Adidas’ Program?
Tesla: Crushing Advocacy Efforts with $0 Marketing Budget
Tesla is one of those few companies that have gained a huge following with zero marketing budget. Not only car buyers, but also individuals with little-to-no knowledge of cars rave about its innovative futuristic features.
Program Objectives
Develop a loyal brand following that’s not built on physical rewards and incentives but achieved through intrinsic rewards and a sense of accomplishment.
What Makes It Effective?
The company’s CEO Elon Musk is one of the most powerful and inspiring social media personalities. He’s also very responsive to tweets and comments that tag him. When such an inspiring celebrity responds to user comments, it immediately creates a strong brand connection and adds a likeability factor.
Also, Tesla combines the best of both worlds and goes beyond offering extrinsic rewards as a part of its advocacy strategy. Users develop a sense of responsibility and accomplishment by completing goals within their dashboard. Customers can see the amount of CO2 that’s removed from the environment and gasoline saved as a part of their advocacy efforts.
Customers still earn free gasoline and discounts on their next purchase as a part of their advocacy actions.
Extension Ideas for Tesla
Creating polls and collecting feedback from customers can further user engagement and boost loyalty exponentially. By collecting ideas from users who already follow the brand, Tesla can display how much it genuinely cares about its users and product innovation.
Like What You See in Tesla’s Program?
Apple: Brand Advocacy that Most Other Brands Envy
Apple has earned a brand following that’s hard to surpass or even rival.
The brand’s intent has always been to create a big idea that consumers connect to and actively advocate – ‘Building technology that’s so simple that everyone can be a part of the future’.
Program Objectives
To develop social buzz and boost product adoption through user-generated content created by existing customers.
What Makes It Effective?
Apple has always been known for bringing innovation to its products. It has successfully created an ecosystem that customers wouldn’t stop using. This motivated Apple to launch a social campaign that revolved around encouraging customers to take selfies on their iPhones and share on social media platforms with #shotoniPhone.
The idea was simple. Get users to create user-generated content that’s authentic and is relatable.
Apple rewarded users by sharing selected photos on its social handles and in TV commercials.
Apple was able to successfully create buzz and boost product adoption even during a worldwide lockdown.
Extension Ideas for Apple
Apple has done a great job of offering customers social recognition with its social campaigns. By integrating dynamic leaderboards and digital recognition badges, and offering the ability to share customer journeys, the brand can ensure continued loyalty and product adoption.
Like What You See in Apple’s Program?
Spotify: Wrapped
The music streaming giant launches the social campaign Wrapped every year in December. The month’s characterized by a flood of tweets, shares, and messages about Spotify users’ most played songs and followed artists.
It’s truly a marketer’s delight as Wrapped opens up new opportunities to turn customers into avid advocates and generate leads.
Program Objectives
To develop organic engagement by making use of data to create personalized data visualizations that can be shared across social media platforms, leading to increased lead generation.
What Makes It Effective?
The ability to track valuable user data that uncovers user behavior and browsing patterns opens up a plethora of opportunities to personalize listening experiences on Spotify.
By targeting Gen Z and Millenials, Spotify was able to offer them the opportunity to express how unique they are. The platform created unique and attractive data visuals that users felt motivated to share on their social media accounts. Not only music listeners but also music creators posted Recaps, leading to further user engagement.
Wrapped cards were made it to Instagram and Facebook stories that brought more signups and daily views.
Extension Ideas for Spotify
Much of Spotify’s success can be attributed to personalization. So far, it’s done a great job. It can further its reach and user engagement by creating multi-level tiers based on users’ activity history and engagement levels. Users can be offered reward points for increased listening activity on Spotify and referrals. Apart from offering the ability to share appealing data visuals, the music streaming platform can provide a heightened engagement and advocacy experience through digital badges and leaderboards.
Like What You See in Spotify’s Program?
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