What Does Word of Mouth Marketing Look Like in the Digital Age? Before the Internet, marketing buzz was generated by word of mouth and advertising. The timeline would go a little like this: Suzie sees ad for product in the newspaper or TV commercial. She buys the product, loves it, and then tells all her coworkers, friends and family. Then the people she tells buy the product, love it and tell their co-workers, friends, and family. And the process repeats itself until the product is a hit. That’s an oversimplification, but you get the point.

It’s actually the same today. Word of mouth is still the most credible form of marketing. According to a Nielsen survey, 92 percent of respondents wholly trust a friend or acquaintance’s thoughts on a brand compared to 70 percent who trusted a stranger’s recommendation. It’s just that now, instead of it solely being confined to face-to-face interactions, it takes the form of shares, tweets, likes, etc.

And now with everyone’s niece or cousin being an Instagram, Vine, or a YouTube star, the possible gains for digital word of mouth are monumental.

So how can you get digital word of mouth to work for you?

1. Limit Choices by Doing One Thing Really Well

From its conception, Drybar set out to do one thing well–blowouts. This puts them in stark contrast with the countless salons that offer a multitude of services in hopes of getting more foot traffic. Because they only offer one service (at just $40!), and they do it really well, they’re clearly known as the best in town. And they can focus on providing exemplary customer service. Look at their Yelp and Google reviews and you’ll notice that most of their locations have at least four stars.

Like Drybar, Trader Joe’s secret to success lies in their limited options (carrying about 4,000 items compared to a typical grocery store’s 50,000), allowing them to focus on local vendors and customer service. The result? Their customers are the most satisfied in America despite Trader Joe’s not having the lowest prices or most convenient locations. But what they lack in those areas, they make up in cleanliness, fast checkouts, and friendly staff, culminating in a positive experience for the customer.

2. Have an Insider Program

People like to be in a group of the few. Play into that by developing your own insider program for loyal customers. Show them that you don’t take their loyalty lightly and that it pays to purchase from your brand.

This is another thing Drybar does well. With their Barfly membership program, members get a discount on their already low price, 10 per cent off their in store products and a free blowout for their birthday. And if they don’t use the blowouts they already paid for within a given month, the blowouts rollover and never expire. Not only does this membership program guarantee repeat clientele (the holy grail for salons), but also it provides elite status to their customers. It’s a win-win.

3. Make Rewards Fun

Although membership and loyalty programs, like Influitive’s, are great tools, rewards can be outside of those parameters as well. You can send customers some company swag or a monthly discount as a token of your appreciation. Sometimes the best gifts are the ones we don’t see coming. Another way to do the unexpected is by introducing some friendly competition into the mix.

Online food ordering and delivery website GrubHub turns their rewards program into a game called Yummy Rummy. All customers have to do is place three orders through GrubHub (price doesn’t matter) and they are eligible to win a bunch of free stuff, including free food for a year. You get one of four cards, giving you a 25 per cent chance of winning free dessert, free drinks, and other cool incentives. It works because the rewards are worth it (who doesn’t want free food) and, unlike other programs (cough, McDonald’s, cough) there’s a decent chance that anyone could win.

4. Make it Simple for the User

Even after you have a quality product, excellent customer service and rewards, it’s all futile if you don’t make it easy for them to talk about your product. Make it easy to share, tweet, post, whatever needs to be done to get the word out. Do this by having social media icons prominently displayed and inviting them to like your Facebook page and follow you on Twitter.

Digital word of mouth can be effective if you use these tips to your advantage. Just remember that it isn’t something you can force. Just like Suzie from the beginning of this post, [digital] word of mouth’s success derives from its organic evolution. That’s why having a quality product and service is so important. Users have to want to tell people about your brand. So make it easy for them. Be damn good at whatever you do.

How do you cultivate digital word of mouth? Let us know in the comments.

About the author:

Renee Warren is the Co-founder of Onboardly, a company that helps entrepreneurial minded lifestyle companies (Saas, E-Commerce, and retail) grow by doing three things: Acquire customers, increase conversions through key revenue-generating channels and turn those customers into brand ambassadors. You can reach her at renee@onboardly.com.

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