By Chris Apostel -
Brand Advocates: The Secret to Driving Sales with Authentic Conversations
I’m lucky that I get to have heated discussions with some of the most forward-thinking eCommerce brands about the most exciting approaches in sales conversion optimization. While we talk about many exciting strategies, I’ll always encourage brands to first lean into prioritizing their brand advocates at the core of their businesses and online stores—I’ve just seen too many success stories.
In today’s fiercely competitive digital marketplace, involving brand advocates in your online store can play a pivotal role in driving sales. Finding a future-proof way to convert more website visitors into purchases is more important than ever and requires more than just transactions; it demands genuine connections with your customers through brand advocates.
At GUURU, we’ve pioneered a strategy that places brand advocates at the heart of the customer experience, enriching your website with authentic customer-to-customer exchanges that your visitors can truly connect with.
Bringing Brand Advocacy directly to your customers
In eCommerce, customer experience directly impacts sales conversions. GUURU has consistently led initiatives that deepen customer relationships by integrating knowledgeable brand advocates—loyal customers who genuinely endorse your brand—directly into your online store. These advocates facilitate live consumer-to-consumer conversations and provide community-generated content, enriching your product pages with information that resonates deeply with your shoppers.
Brand advocates bring authenticity and trust to important customer engagement points on your online store, proving that the heart of commerce lies in connection.
Don’t believe me? Check out a conversation between Karli (our client’s Guuru) and a real shopper.
I will share one of many successful interactions between a Guuru and our clients potential customer that drove a sale. A Guuru is a brand advocate who has passed a brand knowledge test. In this interaction, the customer stated that she needed to replace her boot board. She was having issues with finding the correct size.
Our client’s brand expert Karli quickly answered, looking to get more information to provide instant and relevant advice to the customer.
The conversation continued, the question was very specific and led to a very happy customer, who got exactly the information she needed. Karli combined his Atomic and industry knowledge.
Later on the customer left extremely positive feedback on Karli’s advice.
The client got the confidence to make a purchase she was happy with. She even promised to tell her friends about it. That’s the impact that authentic conversations with knowledgeable brand advocates have on driving sales. That’s how we can help your online store convert and retain more customers.
About Karli
Karli is one of the Guurus for our client, Atomic. He is a passionate brand advocate who has been using Atomic for a long time. That’s how he knows so much about the product and winter sports. That’s what makes him the perfect person to answer customers’ questions. Karli became an Atomic Guuru 10 months ago.
If you believe you have people like Karli in your brand community, you are a perfect fit for our Community Advice Solution. Don’t worry, we’ll show you how to find and engage brand advocates too.
Quantifying the Impact of Authentic Conversations
The results of incorporating brand advocates into your customer experience strategy speak for themselves:
- Conversion Rates: We’ve observed up to a 10 x increase in sales when customers engage with brand advocates compared to when they don’t.
- Return on Investment: Our strategies can yield an impressive 38 x return on investment, underscoring the efficiency of investing in genuine customer relationships.
- Average Order Value: Engagements with brand advocates have resulted in a 10% increase in average order value.
These statistics not only highlight the effectiveness of our approach but also demonstrate the tangible benefits of having authentic customer dialogues.
Leveraging Community Content and Social Proof
In today’s eCommerce environment, community content and social proof are invaluable. They reassure hesitant shoppers and provide a layer of trust that only genuine user interactions can offer.
By integrating these elements effectively, we not only enhance the shopping experience but also encourage customers to become brand advocates themselves, creating a self-sustaining cycle of engagement and trust.
Conclusion
At GUURU, we believe that the future of commerce hinges on authentic relationships. Our commitment to real human advice has set us apart in eCommerce solutions, because we help brands foster communities where every interaction counts—not just for sales, but for building lasting customer relationships.
A happy customer turns into a loyal one. Loyal customers are exactly what you need for long-term brand success and sustainable revenue growth.
If you’re interested in learning more about how the Community Advice Solution can help your brand, you can schedule a personalized 1:1 meeting with me or my colleague, Francesco.
About Chris Apostel
Chris is the Director of the DACH region at GUURU, a Swiss tech startup. He talks about D2C eCommerce and about bringing real customer conversations into online stores for compelling social proof and CX optimisation. Based in Cologne, Chris is also an outdoor and sports enthusiast.
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