Like many companies, Clarizen finds that prospects often research their company by connecting with like-minded customers over the social web or speaking with a reference.
While today’s buyers have come to expect real-time interactions, they’re also hungry for the human touch that inspires brand loyalty.
As a result, customer engagement — including advocate marketing — plays a pivotal part in Clarizen’s overall business strategy. Jen Howard says it is also critical to her role as senior manager of corporate marketing for the project management software vendor.
“It is extremely important for marketers to have an active, happy and engaged customer community in which to embrace prospective customers,” Jen explains. tweet this
“Not only will advocates promote your brand socially, helping to increase awareness, but ideally they will give your prospects that boost of confidence in selecting your solution — ultimately growing your business.”
Inspiring advocacy with customer engagement
Clarizen uses a variety of tactics to keep customers engaged. The company’s Champions League, which is managed using Influitive’s AdvocateHub platform, is one key component.
“Having our advocates complete challenges from learning educational tips, to providing references, certainly keeps them more engaged,” she says.
The company also holds regular global “Champions Events.” Select customers are invited to meet other customers, share success stories, as well as learn best practices from Clarizen staff on a more personal level, Jen explains.
A community and support site, The Clarizen Success Center, acts as a central location for both best practices and support needs, as well as an online community, enabling customers to collaborate, engage, and learn from each other in real-time.
“We also have a responsive social media team — one that catches issues either before they occur, or directly afterward and responds in real-time so customers know they are being heard,” Jen notes.
In addition, Clarizen offers free consulting in the form of daily Q&A webinars. “We have an expert on the phone delivering tips and answering questions, at no cost to customers, every business day,” she says.
All of these initiatives have an impact on the customer experience. The VIP experience and intimate nature of the Champion events foster a mutual respect, according to Jen. “Face-to-face communication and interaction goes a long way and it will keep our customers coming back for more.”
The Success Center is part of the company’s vision to drive first-class customer service, and enable Clarizen users to engage and learn from each other.
Social media is becoming increasingly important to the customer experience, Jen says.
“When customers feel like they’re personally heard and addressed, they’re more likely to stay loyal to the brand and spread positive word-of-mouth. The converse is also true—bad reviews travel fast.”
The Q&A webinars enables the company to communicate with customers in a personal way, but on a broader scale — regardless of size or geography.
Accelerating sales and reducing customer churn
With a reliable advocacy group of engaged customers, Clarizen’s marketing team has more opportunities to provide sales with strong references to help close deals. “New customer acquisition is a win all around — especially for the company bottom line,” she adds.
A happy customer base is also great for retention, Jen notes. “In a SaaS business model, renewals are king and churn is your worst enemy.” tweet this
How Clarizen gets more GetApp reviews using Influitive’s AdvocateHub
As more buyers seek out recommendations and reviews from knowledgeable peers, vendors are looking for ways to turbocharge their product reviews strategy.
Learn how Clarizen boosts the number of genuine customer reviews associated with their software using the integration between GetApp and Influitive’s AdvocateHub.
