What is a brand advocate worth?

Here’s a new whitepaper from Satmetrix looking at the actual monetary value of ‘promoters’ and ‘detractors’ in the wireless telecomms industry. Their methodology used the value of buying power, customer tenure and referrals to conclude that each Promoter was worth c.$1,700 and .5 of a new customer to a brand, while each Detractor cost them $300.

As we’ve recently discussed here and here, there are subtleties around the ‘value’ of WOM that their definitions don’t take into account. And of course the really exciting figures emerge when you transform these ‘organic’ promoters into true evangelists by engaging with them in a long-term way, tapping into experiences and passions that have huge resonace for their offline and social media lives. They get even cooler when you respect the opinionated power of those organic detractors and get them involved in the conversation too.  

But it’s an interesting glimpse of the pre-engagement landscape, and Satmetrix VP Dr Laura Brooks reiterates that “a company’s ability to take action to increase Promoters and reduce Detractors has a significant impact on financial performance”.

In other words, there’s a blinding opportunity out there.

Brought into the world on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 and filed under Uncategorized.