Your Clients As Storytellers: How To Increase Your Word of Mouth Growth
Simple strategies that will grow your audience organically
At Circe Health, we bring modern career support to holistic healthcare practitioners, to help you connect with more clients and grow your practice with ease.
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Whether you run your own practice or you work at a clinic, word of mouth is often seen as the holy grail of marketing because it means your audience is growing by itself. With your clients being so enthusiastic about the experience that they promote you on your behalf. It’s organic growth, and free marketing - and a big compliment too! But how do you get to the stage where word of mouth is your main source of new client growth? Or how do you grow from a handful of word of mouth referrals to dozens? I’ll dig into this today.
I’ve written about ways to grow your reach before, from partnerships to newsletter marketing. There’s lots of opportunities when it comes to marketing your services and growing your reach, but that also means it’s easy to get dragged in many different directions and waste your precious time. I’ve met plenty of practitioners who have built successful careers on word of mouth alone, without any paid marketing efforts. But one thing has changed - the way that people are making buying decisions is different in today’s online world, and you now do need at least a strong online presence to help encourage clients to spread the word.
People are 90% more likely to trust and buy from a brand recommended by a friend (HubSpot), and 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising (Nielsen). So it’s safe to say that word of mouth is a powerful tool when you want to grow your booking numbers!
It might feel like a passive marketing strategy; waiting, wishing, hoping for your clients to recommend your offering to their social circles. But that’s actually far from true. Today I’m highlighting the groundwork that’s needed for word of mouth growth, and the simple ways you can encourage clients to spread the word - without being sales-y.
Of course successful word of mouth growth starts with the quality of your offering and the client experience at each touchpoint. So, invest in the entire experience beyond just the treatment or consultation, and look for ways to improve all aspects - from your 1:1 communications before clients decide to book, to the overall experience during treatment (think: a friendly welcome, showing genuine interest to answer questions before and after, clear explanation of what you’re doing during treatment, managing expectations of treatment outcomes, etc.), a welcoming and relaxing treatment space and any relevant after-care.
You’ll also need a website that people can easily share and one that their friends can recognise as trustworthy, which includes clear positioning and branding. You can find a checklist of website must-haves here. The easier you make it for people to share your website, your contact details or a link to your social media - the more likely it is for your clients to share your work with others. Social currency plays a key part here; people like to be seen as the person who has high quality recommendations, and they’ll be far less likely to refer you if the mode of referral doesn’t reflect that quality. Sharing just your phone number isn’t going to instill a lot of confidence for those that you come recommended to, so you’ll likely be missing out on word of mouth referrals.
Make it easy for people to leave reviews, which in turn builds trust with new clients. Asking regular clients to share their testimonials is a great way to build your selection of testimonials, which also improves your Google Business Profile and is a crucial for an effective website.
Building genuine relationships with your clients will make them loyal customers. And as you help them with regular treatments, they’ll feel more inclined to support you by spreading the word with friends and family. Focusing on client retention will support your word of mouth growth.
People will always check your references online, also if they’re referred to you by a friend or family member. They’ll be looking to see if you can help them with their specific health concern, and if you match their personal preferences. Even when friends are raving about your treatments - each individual needs to determine if they can trust you before they decide to spend their time and energy, and invest their money into a treatment with you. They check this across your website, socials and customer reviews - so make sure your entire online presence reflects the quality of your treatments.
Something that can really help speed up word of mouth is a smooth booking flow and simple way to communicate - the easier it is for someone to book their treatments, and to find the information they’re looking for before deciding to book, the more people will rate your services. This is often overlooked by practitioners because it’s not directly part of the treatment itself - but your clients are taking every part of the experience into account when they consider referring their friends, family or colleagues to your services. This doesn’t mean you need to be available to answer calls and emails all the time, but clearly communicate your ways of working (incl. opening hours and response times) so your clients know what to expect.
Not getting the word of mouth referrals you’re expecting?
It’s absolutely worth reviewing your online presence, communication flows and branding on a regular basis to spot if there’s any ‘leaks’ that might prevent your word of mouth growth from really taking off, from a booking flow that’s unclear or overcomplicated, to confusing branding or missing website content.
If you’d like my help to increase your word of mouth growth, you can schedule an Online Presence review, and I also offer website (re)design services to make sure your website brings you more growth from word of mouth.
And you can make this an interactive exercise with colleagues or friends too, trade your experiences and ask for their honest input in ways that you could improve the overall treatment experience for clients.