REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Loyalty programs might be important, but true advocacy runs deeper.
There’s a clear difference between these two levels of customer engagement, according to Rob Fuggetta, founder and CEO of marketing company Zuberance. Guests enrolled in your loyalty program probably like your offerings, but they also might just be members as a matter of convenience or in an attempt to rack up points.
Brand advocates, on the other hand, will go out of their way to recommend you, he said.
“There’s no question that loyalty programs are critical and important, but there’s a segment of your customer that go out of their way to recommend you,” Fuggetta said during a recent HSMAI University webinar titled “How to Turn Loyal Customers into Salespeople.”
“True advocates cannot be manufactured or bought,” he said. “They’re recommending you because they had a great experience at your hotel and they’re inclined already to tell others about you. … That’s a type of loyalty that money cannot buy.”
Brand advocates are more trusted than traditional forms of marketing. They also spend twice as much as the average consumer, Fuggetta said.
Even better? They already represent a large segment of your existing customer base. About half of all guests are highly likely to recommend an “average” hotel, Fuggetta said, citing interviews and surveys comprising several million responses.
Fostering advocacy
Some brand advocates emerge on their own accord. Others need a helpful little nudge.
“Many hotel companies are doing this today, providing a system to make it easy for your best customers to advocate you,” Fuggetta said.
The roadmap to advocacy comprises three important steps:
1. Identify
Identifying brand advocates is easier than you might think. Simply ask guests the following:
“On a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being 'most likely'), how likely are you to recommend our hotel to your friends?”
Guests who answer from 0 to 6 are brand detractors; they’ll go out of their way to criticize you. Those who answer 7 or 8 are “passives”—susceptible to poaching, pricing promotions and other marketing gimmicks.
But those guests who answer 9 or 10 are very likely to recommend your hotel to others and are considered advocates, Fuggetta said. “It’s really simple to identify your advocates. You should be asking all of your guests this question.”
Getting them to answer it, of course, can be trickier. Use banners on websites, Facebook messages and e-mail follow-ups, he suggested.
2. Mobilize
Once you’ve identified your brand advocates, make it easy for them to sing your hotel’s praises, Fuggetta said. Make easy-to-fill out comment sheets and testimonials on your website. Allow them to share offers via social networking sites. Start online communities, Facebook pages and other platforms for advocates to mobilize.
One of the best platforms on which to fuel brand advocacy is your existing loyalty program, said Robin Korman, senior VP of global loyalty and strategic partnerships for Wyndham Hotel Group. These programs already have ready-made communication channels in the form of e-mail addresses and text updates.
The important thing is to cultivate an emotional connection, Korman said. Recognize your customers on an individualized, personal basis. Many companies are doing this by sending special offerings of announcements for certain point milestones, anniversaries and other achievements.
3. Track
Any good marketing initiative requires good metrics to track progress. The same is true for advocate activity.
Fuggetta said many platforms allow you to track clicks, opens, leads, sales and other actions.
Operations are key
Underscoring the above efforts is the importance of high-quality, consistent operations, said John Moser, chief marketing and brand officer for Denihan Hospitality Group, which has 14 hotels in its portfolio.
“You do need to work with operations in order to do this well,” he said. “… I can’t do it unless my operations team is creating more advocates.”
