Have you ever recommended a restaurant, clothing item, or other product to a friend? You probably shared it because you had an enjoyable experience. When people are excited about a product or service, they share it with others.
The same applies to your company. Brand advocacy effectively boosts brand awareness and sales, and your customers are your best advocates. Research agrees: 88% of survey respondents trust recommendations from their friends and family.
One of the easiest and most powerful ways to spread the word about your business is through a brand advocacy platform.
This guide will help you choose a tool to manage and build your advocacy program. With the right platform, you can create an advocacy program that works for you.
What Is a Brand Advocacy Platform?
Businesses can run advocacy campaigns using a variety of software platforms. In general, brand advocacy software is any tool that helps you communicate with and manage advocates. Typically, brand advocacy software focuses on either customer or employee advocacy. However, some products offer employee and customer engagement on one platform.
A closer look at the category reveals many tools with a broad range of functions. Some software caters to a specific aspect of advocacy, such as managing referrals or affiliates, running loyalty programs, or obtaining reviews. Some tools are more comprehensive, combining several functions into one interface. These versatile brand advocacy platforms offer an all-in-one approach to customer advocacy.
What to Look for in Brand Advocacy Software
Choosing an advocacy tool in a saturated marketing industry can be challenging. Defining your needs is the best place to start. Maybe you already have a loyalty program in place and just need a referral tool, or perhaps you’re starting from scratch and want a platform that handles all aspects of your advocacy program.
Consider features that align with your advocacy goals when evaluating different platforms. Typical functions include:
- Providing brand information to advocates
- Requesting reviews or testimonials
- Monitoring advocate interactions
- Tracking advocacy outcomes
- Issuing rewards to encourage advocacy
As you review, make sure your chosen advocacy software can fulfill your needs both now and in the future. Scalability is essential if you plan to grow your program to avoid reinvesting in another platform as your organization expands.
Also, consider ease of use, support, and cost. Ideally, a brand advocacy platform should integrate seamlessly into existing workflows to make it easier for employees and advocates to use. Technical support should be readily available, and software costs should be reasonable. Choosing the most affordable solution can be tempting, but an upfront investment may be more beneficial in the long run.
The 7 Best Brand Advocacy Software of 2023
The best brand advocacy software meets all your needs while being easy to use and affordable. How do you find it among so many options?
Below, you’ll find a list of our picks of brand advocacy tools, ranging from specialized software to comprehensive advocacy platforms.
1. Influitive
G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Best for: B2Bs of all sizes looking to cultivate and mobilize customer advocates
Influitive is a brand advocacy platform that empowers brands to build vibrant advocacy communities. Creating a diverse community of employees, investors, potential customers, and influencers offers opportunities to improve products, refine services, and resolve problems. Gamified advocacy campaigns also deliver tailored experiences through personalized onboarding and incentivized learning.
Influitive offers robust integrations with popular CRMs and marketing automation tools to guide members throughout the customer journey. The platform also provides tailored products such as Upshot, a tool enabling easier creation of customer stories to build trust.
Unique features:
- Gamified challenges for feedback, references, etc.
- Complete referral management
- Community discussions
- Reporting on hub activities
2. ReferralCandy
G2 Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Best for: E-commerce stores with at least 100 monthly transactions seeking word-of-mouth growth
ReferralCandy offers e-commerce stores a robust referral marketing program to transform customers into influencers. By rewarding customers when they refer friends, the platform aids businesses in acquiring new clients organically.
Integrated with major e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, ReferralCandy supports e-commerce brands by keeping existing customers engaged and loyal. The tool also offers robust tracking capabilities.
Unique features:
- Offer rewards to customers and their friends
- Automatically invite customers post-checkout
- Track new sales from referrals and traffic sources
- Know top referrers and their social media sentiments
3. nicejob
G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
Best for: Service businesses aiming to boost online reputation
By automatically collecting reviews and recommendations, nicejob‘s reputation marketing platform helps local businesses rank higher. The platform streamlines the creation of a portfolio of accomplished projects and leverages these accomplishments to secure reviews across major sites.
With their Sites website builder, nicejob will build customers a website that generates more leads and automatically publishes recent 5-star ratings. Sites also include a coach, updates, and a 10% sales increase guarantee.
Unique features:
- Automated review invites
- Reputation monitoring
- Portfolio builder
- Content marketing
4. Birdeye
G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
Best for: Local businesses and brands keen on improving their online reputation
Birdeye offers a holistic reputation and customer experience platform. The solution allows businesses to manage their online reputation, engage with prospects through various channels, and derive insights to propel growth.
The software encompasses tools for collecting and managing reviews across 200+ review sites, including Google and Facebook, ensuring consistent online listings, efficient appointment scheduling, and faster payment collection.
Unique features:
- Review management and ranking optimization
- Listings for consistent online presence
- End-to-end appointment scheduling
- Faster payment collection through modern avenues
5. Referral Factory
G2 Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars
Best for: Businesses seeking easy referral program integration and customization
Referral Factory offers businesses a streamlined way to launch referral programs. With over 1000 pre-built templates and seamless integration with CRMs, brands can effortlessly create brand-specific capture pages without requiring tracking scripts or developer input.
The software also boasts multiple onboarding options, a user-friendly dashboard, and a distinct certification by HubSpot.
Unique features:
- No need for website tracking scripts
- Create personalized capture pages
- Flexible reward structures
- Real-time data collection and integration
6. yotpo
G2 Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Best for: Brands focusing on nurturing consumer relationships and retention
yotpo is a comprehensive e-commerce marketing platform supporting brands’ direct-to-consumer growth journey. This comprehensive e-commerce marketing platform offers tools ranging from reviews and loyalty programs to SMS marketing designed to deepen customer relationships.
yotpo’s visual marketing tools offer customizable display options to engage customers with user-generated content, creating higher-converting consumer experiences that foster long-term relationships.
Unique features:
- Reviews and ratings management
- Visual marketing tools
- Consumer insights analytics
- Comprehensive loyalty and referral programs
7. Mention Me
G2 Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Best for: High-volume online retailers in retail, food, fashion, and beauty
Grounded in the principle that word-of-mouth carries immense value, Mention Me turns first-party referrals into a valuable marketing channel. The platform’s Referral Engineering® System uses your unique and evolving Referral Dynamics® to create a precision-engineered referral program backed by AB testing and a dedicated Referral Expert.
Mention Me’s unique “Name Sharing” function optimizes word-of-mouth marketing strategies to capture real-world conversations, driving up to 35% more referrals.
Unique features:
- Unique “Share by Name” functionality
- Built-in AB testing
- Tailored referral programs
- Insight and support from a dedicated Referral Expert
Brand Advocacy Platform FAQ
What is brand advocacy in marketing?
Brand advocacy in marketing occurs when current customers or employees promote a brand and its products or services through word-of-mouth, social media, and other channels. Advocacy programs can be formal or informal and often include incentives such as discounts or rewards. Brand advocacy is a powerful tool for companies to build customer loyalty and increase brand awareness.
Why do we need a brand advocacy platform?
Brand advocacy platforms are essential to build and manage successful customer advocacy programs. An advocacy platform allows companies to quickly identify, track, and reward their customers for spreading positive messages about their brands. Businesses can also measure the success of their advocacy programs by monitoring customer engagement and sentiment.
What are the benefits of a customer advocacy platform?
Companies can use brand advocacy software to engage loyal customers as brand ambassadors. The benefits of customer advocacy are plentiful: Not only does building long-term relationships reduce customer churn and lead to better retention rates, but it also drives sales through recommendations, renewals, upsells, and cross-sells. What’s more, powerful word-of-mouth generates social proof that increases trust and attracts new audiences, reducing acquisition costs.
How did you select each advocacy platform?
To select the platforms on our list, we collected data and reviewed ratings from online sources, including G2, Capterra, and each brand’s website. We considered criteria such as industry, features, ease of use, pricing, and support. We also examined user reviews, customer feedback, and third-party reviews. Finally, we selected the most highly-rated platforms that met our criteria.
Influitive Offers Everything You Need in a Brand Advocacy Platform
Brand advocacy programs thrive when they empower their advocates and provide strong support. The best brand advocacy software can help you identify your loyal customers and facilitate their success.
If you want to generate more leads and drive customer success, Influitive is the right choice. Our brand advocacy platform helps major organizations like Adobe and Mountain Dew create and manage customer advocacy programs with impressive results. From onboarding and training advocates to driving more referrals, we offer many customer advocacy solutions to meet your company’s needs.
See how our customers have transformed their advocacy programs with Influitive. Let’s build your best brand advocacy program together—contact us for a demo.
