Benefits to Word of Mouth Are High

1. A customer community can increase customer loyalty.If a customer takes it upon herself to tell a friend or colleague something positive about your store, it reinforces her own commitment to your business. Additionally, the number of people she tells is a measure of the level of her loyalty.2. Loyal customers visit more frequently and they spend more per visit. We know that loyalcustomers who visit stores frequently have higher ticket averages per person than thosethat visit infrequently.3. A customer community reduces marketing expenses.Costs of promoting your store go down if you have a strong customer community.This can best be illustrated with a brief case study. A regional chain of restaurants, In-N-Out Burger, has incredibly loyal customers who love the restaurant for its simple menu, fresh ingredients and great service.4. A customer community can insulate you from competition.The more a customer is loyal to your stor e, the less likely it is that he will switch to a competitor.5. A customer community can increase your employee loyalty. Happy customers who keep coming back result in a happy staff. Happy staff leads to more employee loyalty. Think of it as a circle.

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"word of mouth spread offline is more positive and more likely to be interpreted as credible than wom spread online, according to a recent research study from womma member company the keller fay group. fifty-nine percent of those surveyed indicted they found wom transmitted face-to-face and on the phone was "highly" credible, versus 49% for online wom. the study also found that 66% of face-to-face wom communication was "mostly positive" versus 57% of the impressions on blogs and chat rooms. offline wom was also found to be 7% more likely to lead to purchase intent, according to the research." marsha t., advertising agency, baton rouge. la.

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