They go by a number of different names and definitions: “True Believers”, “Brand Advocates”, and “Customer Evangelists” – whatever you call them, if you sell anything at all, you probably want more of them. For our purposes, we’ll use “evangelists” and define them simply as those users who are so enamoured with your product or service that they will go out of their way to recommend it to others. They do so not out of any financial incentive, but instead act out of a sincere desire to help others. Your product or service is so good or life-changing in their eyes that they are intrinsically motivated to ‘tell others of the good news’ (which is more or less what the term evangelism is originally derived from).
How are these evangelists created, and how can I get some?
In our short experience, we’ve found that evangelists are created directly through great experiences. That experience can come in the form of the product itself (ie. the design, form or function), through the benefits that come as a result of using the product, or through the support given when needed. I’ll give some examples of each, either through our experience of other products or through our customers’s experience of OpenCal, our online appointment scheduling application.
Evangelism at first sight.
In the first case, we have what I like to call ‘evangelism at first sight’. Apple is pretty much the standard example of this type of product experience. For most of us, there is an actual joy experienced from simply holding an Apple product. When I got my iPhone 4 (incidentally my first real Apple experience), there was something about the weight of it, the way it balanced in my hand, and the cool feel of the glass and metal that made me think, ‘This… is good.’ The product wasn’t even powered on yet and I already knew I loved it. That’s evangelism at first sight. Of course, had the iPhone then spectacularly failed in the following minutes, I probably would have been less impressed with it. So it’s more than just seeing and touching a product, ‘evangelism at first sight’ also includes the initial moments and experience of using the product.
This type of evangelism takes the most effort to create and is probably the most specialized. It begins well before the first prototype and comes from a deep understanding of what the product does and who it’s for and why it’s the right solution. On top of that, it helps if it can be physically beautiful or at least can create a lasting impression on the user. When you build a great product, you will occasionally receive these magical emails or comments which make all the delays and hard work worth it in the end. We have a few of these, and we put them in a ‘feel good’ folder to look at on days when a goal seems beyond reach.
Let the benefits do the talking.
“I’m booking clients three weeks out instead of one!”
That quote comes from one of our customers who really likes our service. For him, obviously, we’re solving a big problem around appointment scheduling, and we’re doing such a good job of it, he thought it right to let us know. That’s always a good sign. Hopefully, your product or service solves a problem, otherwise, you’ve probably got bigger issues than not having enough evangelists. That said, occasionally a product will solve a problem so well that a user instantly converts into an evangelist because of the resulting benefits. For example, anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge fan of KEEN shoes. I actually never realized how much my feet were bothering me until I bought my first pair of KEENs. Before that, I just thought sore feet were normal. Now, having gone through about 2 pairs a year for the past 5 years, my feet have never felt better. And I tell a lot of people about that, and I’m sure a lot of them go on to buy KEEN shoes as well.
If your customer aren’t raving about your service, talk to them, find out what they like and don’t like, and see if you can more thoroughly solve their problems. If you can, it will be time well spent. In fact, let’s take a moment to consider the business case for evangelism in terms of cold, hard facts, or whatever the equivalent for that is on the web. Here are just two examples of why evangelists are compelling:
Creating evangelists through customer service.
Let’s face it – no matter how well you build something, mistakes will be made, bugs will be found, and assumptions will be made to look foolish. As ridiculous as it sounds, you should cherish these moments, because it’s through them that you will have the chance to create an evangelist for your product. Without getting into too much detail, there are a few cardinal rules of giving exceptional customer service.
- Listen
- Empathize
- Always be honest
- Be a human
These rules work whether you are responding by email or speaking directly to a customer on the phone or in person. We’ll include more detail on how to use these rules to create customer evangelists in a follow-up post in on Thursday.
In the meantime, we would love to hear from you. Tell us your stories of how you’ve created truly evangelical customers and how it happened.
