Roy Hessel, president and CEO of Clearly and founder and CEO of EyeBuyDirect
In 2016, SomeGirlJess uploaded a four-minute video to YouTube showing off a haul of brand new eyeglasses she had ordered online. The video shows her carefully unboxing three pairs and enthusiastically modeling the new frames. As of today, it’s been viewed more than 33,000 times.
We didn’t pay her. She’s not an “influencer.” She’s just a really happy customer.
Jess is not alone. We have people who own dozens of our glasses and tag us in every bespectacled selfie. Others have built campaigns on Facebook to spread the word on our behalf. I’ve even gotten fan mail from prison!
This intense customer loyalty didn’t happen overnight. And it doesn’t rely on paid ads, SEO gimmicks or the latest marketing tech. For other businesses out there seeking that elusive “word-of-mouth” magic, here’s a look under the hood at how to inspire extremely happy users eager to sing your brand’s praises.
Reset expectations on price and service
EyeBuyDirect was the first company to offer prescription glasses for $6. Minimal overhead (we design and manufacture in house) translated to a price point that immediately caught people’s attention and generated its own buzz. But after that, it was up to us to capitalize on that interest by being reliable in our service, and staying fresh in terms of style.
Other industry “disruptors”—from Netflix with video to Casper with mattresses—have followed this same formula: leveraging technology and direct sales to reset expectations on price and earn rabidly loyal fans. Critically, all of these brands also have a reputation for over-the-top user experience, which keeps buyers coming back. It’s precisely this combination of cutting hard costs and directing extra resources into the buyer’s experience that lays the groundwork for enduring loyalty.
Stay true to your muse
Especially with an online retail platform that gives you access to anyone with a computer, it’s easy to lose sight of your target market. But staying true to your “muse”—that ideal customer—is key to creating a strong, consistent brand.
Dollar Shave Club, a budget razor subscription service, does a great job of targeting their key demographic—18- to 24-year-old males—with a laser focus, creating funny viral videos and branding their site with quirky, masculine assets. Our own focus is in large part on millennial women, and our resources reflect that: from the assets on the site and our language on social media to our UX and the models we choose. We don’t just share photos of glasses on a white background, for instance. We show them off with copies of Kinfolk and cups of coffee, critical millennial accoutrements. After all, why should we expect our customers to tie their own identities to our brand if we’re not speaking their language?
Incentivize your community
Happy customers make great brand ambassadors … but a little economic incentive can take this to the next level. When we first started a referral program—which allows customers to get credit when they refer someone who makes a purchase—we didn’t expect it to grow like it has. We now give away tens of thousands of glasses each year, but the return has been hundreds of thousands of new customers. Brands from Dropbox to Tesla (which gives back cold, hard cash) have seen similar success with this tried-and-true approach.
But it’s also possible to reward people in less tangible ways that nonetheless foster community. Affirmation and sharing on social media can be a powerful incentivizer in and of itself. When people post about us, for example, we reshare those pics and tweets on our site and social media accounts. It’s something that costs us nothing, but it’s incredibly engaging to shoppers from a generation that loves a good selfie.
Crunch the numbers
Internet retailers enjoy a distinct advantage over brick-and-mortar counterparts: you’ve got troves of behavioural data right at your fingertips. With hard numbers, you can trace the buyer’s journey, from discovery all the way to purchase, and double down on the promotions, pages and copy that are driving traffic. Even more importantly, you also get a window into “unhappy” customers and those who visited the site without making a purchase.
But we don’t just use site analytics: we also go straight to the source for feedback. Quick-and-easy 10-second surveys (answered with just a happy or sad face) allow us to hear from the customers themselves about their satisfaction. Regular analysis helps us correct course before larger problems start to emerge.
Focus on user experience, not necessarily customer service
Customer service is important. Companies like Zappos have built their reputation on it. But from my perspective, user experience—ensuring that buyers have a seamless, effortless journey through your site—is in fact far more critical. So we channel our resources into making online shopping as easy, if not easier, than the real thing. This embraces everything from “virtual try-on” technology that lets people model glasses on their own faces to photos and videos that show products from all angles. In the end, the best customer service is not needing customer service at all. (And when people do need support, we offer help via email or chat windows, not a call centre: millennials hate the phone anyways.)
Ultimately, the real “secret” to happy customers who spread the love about your brand is that there is no secret. If you have a product that is truly distinct, stay laser focused on your target customers and commit to making purchases hurdle-free, your following—and revenue—has nowhere to go but up.
Roy Hessel is president and CEO of Clearly and founder and CEO of EyeBuyDirect. The ideas in the article are his personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the companies.
Favorite