This is a guest post by Evelyn from Tada, a gamification and email popup app for Shopify.

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most desired forms of marketing. The referrals, trust, and overall brand buzz garnered by customers spreading the good word to prospects are worth its weight in gold.

Some products, services, and experiences unsurprisingly produce chatter, but there are specific things that your company can do to inspire word of mouth.

Of course, getting word of mouth is easier said than done, but once you start understanding how to become the talk of the town, the world is yours. Here are 7 ways to get your customers talking about you, making them likely to buy.

1. Try Gamification

As per MarketsAndMarkets report, “The gamification market size is projected to grow from USD 9.1 billion in 2020 to USD 30.7 billion by 2025.”

Why is it booming? Well, Gamification helps you engage site visitors and customers; consequently, it gets you more leads, sales, and positive word of mouth. It does so by applying game elements, game mechanics, and game thinking to a nongame situation (i.e., business).

For businesses, gamification is about integrating game mechanics into website experience and app experience.

Here’s an example: Tada’s gamified and full-screen pop-ups (with engaging activities like spin to win a coupon or pick a gift box to get discounts) help Shopify businesses capture more leads than standard forms or landing pages.

2. Host a giveaway

You should run contests and keep sharing the contest with friends as one of the requirements to win it. Maybe you can ask participants to share the contest on their stories or tag friends in their comments.

The more the people know about your contest, the more the people know about your business. A percentage of people who find out about your business in this way are bound to be interested in finding out more, even if they don’t end up winning a prize.

The net effect of these kinds of splashy strategies is it makes your brand more memorable.

3. Promote UGC

When surveyed, 85% of users see visual user-generated content (UGC) as more persuasive than brand photos or videos. Meaning, if your customers share photos of them using your product or a video reviewing it, their follower/your potential customers will trust their word (whether positive or negative).

The only problem is most don’t create UGC. But the good news is you can motivate them to create content on your behalf.

More than 50% of consumers believe that brands should provide guidelines for creating reviews or other content, while only 16% do so. If you are among the 84% of brands, here are a few tips to promote UGC:

Create Buzz for Your Brand – If you want your customers to talk about your brand’s products or services on social media, you need to give them a good enough reason to do so.
Run Contest/Quizzes on Social Media – Running contests/quizzes on social media is an excellent way of inspiring your fans to create UGC.
Offer Rewards – Rewarding your fans for their contributions is an excellent way of encouraging them to create UGC. You don’t have to pay them cash rewards or discount coupons all the time; even a small gesture of appreciation like sharing their content on social media is enough.
Ask Questions – Asking questions encourages your fans to create content. For example, you can ask questions about how your products have made customers’ lives easy or about personal experiences concerning your brand.

4. Have an affiliate program

Existing customers are excellent sources of new customers. But you cannot be passive and expect them to bring colleagues, friends, and family to your business. Instead, learn from successful businesses that powered their growth with referral/affiliate programs and launch an affiliate program.

Not only does the affiliate program bring you sales, but it also uplifts your brand by building awareness and credibility. Besides, affiliate marketing programs cost little to build and maintain if compared to other marketing channels.

5. Give a customized experience

According to recent research, 89% of companies primarily compete based on their customer’s experience. As a result, it is becoming ever more critical in the fast-paced consumer world to give customers a seamless and extraordinary customer experience.

The key takeaway is that although 80% of companies believe they deliver “super experiences,” only 8% of their customers agree!

By giving a personalized experience, you can make your customers happy and get them to spread the word. This experience can be something as simple as Starbucks writing customers’ names on their cups.