According the statistics published by the Pew Research Center, approximately 85% of Americans own a smartphone and approximately 79% of those individuals use social media to regularly communicate with those important to them. So how do we use the aforementioned statistics to benefit how you communicate with your target audience? Let’s take a few moments to look at how you can create an inviting customer interaction situation with you and to include those they trust as well.
It’s no secret that consumers prefer referrals compared to trusting advertisements. People like to have a source vetted before they begin to trust what is being offered to them. If a trusted source can vouch for your goods or services then the trust wall has been lowered and you are more likely to get a new customer. We spend, on average, about 5 hours a day on our mobile devices. Conversations are constant and we are processing the information that is being sent to us every moment. As the saying goes “Nothing beats a referral”. If a trusted source recommends a product or service, you are highly likely to seriously consider purchasing it if it meets your needs. What’s important is the product, price, place and how it is being promoted to your. There are many aspects to what goes into a potential customer’s purchase decision but a referral takes much of the anxiety out of a purchase. Technology, such as smartphones and other digital devices, allows the information to be sent and viewed much quicker than waiting to have a verbal conversation with another individual. What we know is sharing info, via digital device, is instantaneous and creates a permanent record that can be view again and again.
So with the advent of instant communication and recall options, consumers can make an informed decision and even circle back with the referring source for more information, if needed. The key to getting a consumer to purchase from you sooner is to give them a system that can be incorporated into their routine that allows them to relay the information about your offering to others but more importantly offer an incentive to pass along that information. As mentioned in past blogs, we live in a WIIFM society (What’s In It For Me). The solution also has to be frictionless and intuitive. A complicated system will not get much use and the reward has to be instantaneous in order to motivate individuals to regularly use it and encourage others to use it as well. A solution that is, most likely app-based, simple to use and share with other is also preferrable. But remember, anything new that requires a user to learn a new routine is not always acceptable. Early adopters and innovators are typically the ones who use new technology first and the late majority watches to see how the aforementioned use and benefit from what’s called “disruptive technology”.
My mission, in launching Dealium. is to retrain consumers to share referrals via a seamless information sharing and rewards process. If you can get consumers to use a new application that allows them to share great deals simply by sharing a referral hyperlink that includes information about the business being promoted and offer a referral reward discount for doing so, more consumers will use the technology to share information faster and be rewarded for their efforts more often. Here is an example. A mother with school age children is getting ready to send the kids back to school and knows other mothers in the same situation. All of the mom’s love to save money and also like to hear about great back to school specials that offer great customer experiences and a discount. Being that mom’s typically like to save money and want to reduce their search time, a mom who has access to Dealium and is made aware of a great deal that saves 15% on back to school clothes is highly likely to share this deal with other moms looking for the same type of deal and reduce their search time and effort searching for those types of deals.
Dealium helps solve a problem for both the consumer and the small business. The consumer gets the discount and the elimination of having to do tireless search for back to school deals and the business gains new customers in a viral way because the referral reward discount can be shared in one click using email, sms and social media. Technology makes all of the previous things possible with absolute minimal effort. Viral results happens for both the consumer and business thus becoming a “day in the life” process improvement. We know that consumers are always pressed for time and anytime a consumer can save time or money, that will always be preferred. Dealium was created to address the pain point of small business customer acquisition and to reduce the time and effort consumers use looking for small businesses that offer great customer experiences with the ability to save money as well. At the end of the day, you have to solve a problem for the customer that is not prompted when asked. In their mind, they know it is a problem and have most likely tried other types of systems or attempted to create a system to address their problem.
As a reminder, Dealium is a cloud-based SaaS Digital Referral Marketing & Customer Engagement platform that integrates referral code sharing technology, SMS, Email & popular social media platforms. Dealium helps create brand awareness, brand exposure & new customer acquisition opportunities for our small business subscribers.
Register now for free, forever, Consumer account. Dealium is a subscription referral marketing & customer engagement solution for small business owners. Dealium costs about $7 a day for the small business owner.
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