How to Transform Loyal Customers into Brand Advocates

Breaking down internal silos is crucial for B2Bs

All B2Bs approach customer loyalty differently. For those just beginning to actualize a real loyalty strategy, it's a challenge to figure out what loyalty should mean to them. Jason Williams, community director for B2B software management system Ipswitch, spoke with eMarketer’s Caroline Cakebread about how Ipswitch defines customer loyalty and the teams and processes involved in creating loyal customers.

eMarketer:

What does customer loyalty look like at Ipswitch?

Jason Williams:

We use the term brand advocate more often. What it boils down to is getting customers to talk about our product naturally in conversations with their peers or tweeting about it without us prompting them. Nothing beats word-of-mouth marketing.

eMarketer:

What does your day-to-day strategy for creating brand advocates look like?

Jason Williams:

Once the customer purchases a product, we have a series of outbound phone calls and emails to make sure implementation is going smoothly. Those happen after 30, 60 and 90 days, and then we move them into our customer community.

People used to get badges for doing certain things and gain recognition within our peer-to-peer community of B2B marketers. Part of my job is bringing that back, and bringing the Salesforce Community Cloud back into play.

Customer loyalty started in the B2C space, and in the B2B market you’re dealing with the same individuals as a B2C company—they just have their company persona in front of them. People still function and think the same way in both worlds, and some of the same practices work fluidly throughout both.

Interview conducted on September 24, 2018

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