Seduced by Marketing: A Customer Acquisition and Advocacy Love Story

“I Was SEDUCED by Exceptional Customer Service”

How do I get some of that? If you are a business, you know how hard it is to bring clients or customers in and keep them. You may have tried everything at your disposal-

• Ads
• Website
• Social Media Marketing
• Storytelling
• SEO Boosting
• (and anything else that ViviScape can help you with)

But, if you are not seeing the fruits of your marketing labor, it might be time to take another approach. What do you want your customers/clients to be saying about you vs. what are they saying now? Sure, “I was seduced by exceptional customer service” is a great header for a glowing review, but what does that really mean? And how does your business get there?

John Boccuzzi, Jr. discusses in his Ted Talk, I Was Seduced By Exceptional Customer Experience, about how businesses are failing big time at two major things- acquisition, for one, but most importantly, advocacy. He explains,

“Customer experience isn’t necessarily about the product or service that you offer, it’s about how you make someone feel during the buying journey and frankly after the purchase has been made.”

What is Customer Acquisition and Customer Advocacy?

Before we go too deep, let’s take a look at the buyer journey to see where acquisition and advocacy really fit into the model.

The buyer journey, also known as the customer journey or purchase funnel, is the process that a potential customer goes through from the initial awareness of a product or service to the final decision to make a purchase. It typically consists of several stages, each with its own characteristics and customer behaviors. Understanding the buyer journey helps businesses tailor their marketing efforts and optimize their customer experiences at each stage.

The Buyer Journey:

• Awareness: The goal in this stage is to capture the attention of potential customers and make them aware of your brand, product, or service.
• Consideration: Customers actively seek information, compare alternatives, and explore different brands. Your goal at this stage is to provide valuable content and resources that educate and inform customers.
• Evaluation: Customers narrow down their options and focus on a few brands or products that seem most suitable for their needs. They delve deeper into the specifics and may compare prices, reviews, and additional features.
• Purchase: The customer has made the decision to buy and is ready to make a transaction.
• Post-Purchase: This is an opportunity stage for businesses to continue building a positive relationship with the customer. Satisfied customers in this stage can become repeat buyers and brand advocates.

Okay, but where is acquisition on this model? Where really is customer advocacy? 

What is customer acquisition when it’s not even on the model? What many people will tell you is that acquisition, since it refers to the process of gaining new customers or clients for a business, is the prerequisite to the buyer journey. It’s all the advertising so you can get seen, right? They may even say that it starts at the awareness stage because once you are on the board, you are golden. But, if you haven’t been seeing the conversions that you know your business can get, can that really be right? 

And what about customer advocacy? That has to fit it at the end right? The buyer journey is complete, so the only solution is that they either become repeat customers or they don’t. Or, do they send you a nice review and never think of you again? Customer advocacy involves customers actively sharing their positive experiences, expressing satisfaction, and advocating for a particular company or offering. So, how do we get our target audience to not only be our customers but our own company cheerleaders?

At ViviScape, we strive to tell our partners that customer acquisition and customer advocacy is at every stage of the buyer journey. Think about these questions:

• Does customer service only begin when customers are ready to make a purchase?
• Does every customer need your product? If not, what does the rest of your non-target audience think of you?
• What is the best customer experience you ever had? Did you buy their product? Was it because their product was the cheapest and the best product? Or, did the customer service win you over?
• Did you endorse that brand later by liking their socials, leaving a review, spreading the word, or by purchasing again?

Let’s Take You on a Journey- A Buyer’s Journey If You Will

To give you an example of how this works in real time, let’s meet Elmo. 

Awareness stage:

Elmo is a wonderfully sweet red puppet who is suddenly going through a bit of an identity crisis. He becomes aware that the red hair he currently sports is O-U-T and that green is the wave of the future. He begins noticing advertisements, social media ads, and billboards that all have products that sell special formulated green hair dye. However, one of these product’s ad stands out. This brand includes ad dialogue that make it clear that their brand cares about its consumers and that they will be with them every step of the way as they make a purchase and dye their hair (customer advocacy). This brand also has better ad copy, inclusive images, and makes the customer feel rather than have the customer be explained to (customer acquisition).

Consideration Stage:

Although Elmo is more interested in one brand over the others, he still wants to do his due diligence. Who wants a bad hair day, right? So, he begins researching, reading reviews, and comparing brands. With other brands, he mostly finds information about how hair dyes work or the history of hair dye which isn’t helpful to him. But, the brand he was already eyeing took a different approach. Elmo was able to find video testimonials of how much this brand’s customers loved the product (customer advocacy). He also found tutorials that the brand produced about how to apply the dye, how to style your hair after dying, and even issues that may arise with dye (customer acquisition). Even though they offer what could go wrong, it was helpful to Elmo and makes him feel like they are really looking out for their customers.

Evaluation Stage:

While Elmo takes all brands into consideration, he can see that one is sticking out higher than the others. When he takes a deeper look, one brand simply does it better with higher ratings, better ad spend, and content that feels helpful and relevant. What really won Elmo over? He noticed areas on this brand’s website for potential customers to give notes and feedback. He could submit a form detailing his experience, thumbs up or down forum topics, and speak to a representative if he had trouble (customer acquisition). This made Elmo feel like the brand cares about their customers, not just sees them as dollar signs.

Purchase Stage:

Although this brand is one of the more expensive options, Elmo decides to make a purchase. He notices that the site is easy to navigate, the cart updates quickly, and there’s incredibly easy, spelled-out instructions the entire time. He even receives a help guide in his email upon purchase that walks him through what to expect when he receives the dye, how to use the dye, and a hashtag and Facebook group where he can send images of his new do to the brand’s online community! (customer advocacy and customer acquisition) He feels so excited to get his dye in the mail and feels confident he made the right purchase.

Post-Purchase Stage:

Once he receives his dye package and successfully colors his red hair, Elmo is feeling sharp and snazzy in his new green fur. He constantly mentions how much he loves his new hair to his Sesame Street friends, he posts online and tags the brand in his new Insta images, and he leaves a 5-star review with the company. When the company reaches out to ask him about his buying journey, Elmo actually takes the time to respond to the form and sends a glowing review (customer acquisition). On the question, “Will you recommend this product to your friends or will you be a repeat customer,” Elmo enthusiastically says yes! In fact, all of his friends are now interested in the dye and making their own purchase due to Elmo’s trust and happiness with the brand! (customer advocacy)

Don’t Take Our Word For It- Look at Customer Advocacy in Your Favorite Brands

Although our well-loved red head may be going rogue with a green streak, it may not be enough to fully grasp the concept of what is customer acquisition and what is customer advocacy. So, let’s take a deeper dive into some brands who do it right and how we can learn from the best. 

Apple

I know, I know. You hear about Apple products and how great Apple is all the time. It’s gotta be a broken record at this point how much people are in love with Apple products.

That’s.
The.
Point.

I can’t even begin to describe the epic Samsung vs. Apple debate and how people think you aren’t “cool” if you don’t have an Apple phone. But, that’s exactly what every company wants for their customer base- dedicated lovers of the product. Apple has made it simple for people to find, research, and connect with other Apple lovers which creates an easy funnel for people on their buyer journey which is the goal of what is customer acquisition. And, Apple has great marketing and ads, don’t get us wrong, but was your last Apple product purchase because you saw an ad… or because someone you know talked about how much they loved the Apple product? That’s what customer advocacy done right looks like.

Nike
Come on, guys. Are these really the best running shoes? Or, do they just make you feel cool? Customer advocacy is all about making your customers feel something. Everyone wants to connect, be invested in, and overall become more enriched. Can you do that by explaining to your customers why this is or would it be better if you helped them feel this way. 

Nike has successfully crafted a strong brand identity and culture that resonates with customers. The company’s “Just Do It” slogan, along with its association with elite athletes and sports events, inspires customers to pursue their goals and live an active lifestyle. Nike’s brand image of empowerment, determination, and achievement fosters a deep emotional connection with customers, driving advocacy and acquisition.

ViviScape

Of course we aren’t leaving ourselves out, but let me tell you why!

ViviScape’s whole mission statement surmises this: Work Together, Grow Together. And, we have thrown away the whole model of customer/client mentality. Instead, we are partners. And, if you have ever read one of our many 5-star reviews, you’d see why. At the end of the day, we want anyone that needs help to come to us and GROW. We have an easy 4D process that we take everyone through- starting with Discovery.

We want to discover you and your brand, your goals, your trials and obstacles, and ultimately your dreams for the company. If you could have it all, what does that look like and how can we achieve it? 

We then take you through our next stages, Design and Develop. We make sure that you can see the progress, have the say in what direction we take, but ultimately know and feel that the burden of having to figure it out and make it yourself is completely off your shoulders. We also have our expert team on stand-by for any and all questions you have. 

Lastly, we Distribute. We take what we know works and what your vision is and mix it together for public view. With your marketing kicked all the way up, it’s easy to see customers and clients pour into your new business ready for your customer acquisition strategies and willing to become your customer advocates. 

So, yeah, us too.

Are You Seduced Yet?

So, are you? Do you see why John Boccuzzi, Jr. uses this language when talking about the customer experience and how it’s so incredibly vital to the longevity of the company? How about remembering your own experiences, maybe with Apple, Google, Nike, or us at ViviScape? 

When you cater to your target audience, make them feel enriched and valued (not just from the product but from the full experience), and take time and dedication to making your buyer journey easy and more fulfilling, you foster a healthy customer base. It’s not just about having a customer buy a product, it’s about building a relationship with that customer so that they inspire loyalty and advocacy with your product. 

Of course, if you need help figuring out where to even begin with your buyer journey, how to create amazing customer acquisition strategies, and how to make your customers go from purchasers to full-blown customer advocates, let our expert team at ViviScape help.In the meantime when thinking about these two sides of the coin and implementing strategies surrounding both, think about this:

(a sentence I never thought I’d ever say in my whole life)
Is Elmo really happy with green hair or was he simply seduced?