Your advocate recruitment strategy is a crucial piece to getting a an advocacy program started on the right foot as well as maintaining growth (for “open” program types). We have a few tips if you’re looking for guidance on how to recruit the right people to your program, as well as a stellar example of how an online home decor brand called Woven Nook has approached recruiting their best customers for the advocacy program.
Recruitment Strategies:
Publish an application on your website - Since you can easily create a custom application through Roster, this is considered a must when setting up and recruiting advocates into your program
Dedicated email to past customers - This is a great way to reach your customers, share the news about your program, and directly invite them to apply or join.
Post purchase email - Incorporate a dedicated email (similar to the email you send to past customers) into your automated post purchase email flow. It’s best to have this email hit their inbox about 2 days to 2 weeks after the customer receives their physical product so 1) they have time to try it and 2) you capitalize on their initial excitement of receiving your product.
Email newsletter banner - This is an excellent evergreen recruitment strategy and will ensure you always have a steady stream of applicants. All you have to do is design the banner once and automatically include it in your newsletter templates!
Social media post(s) - If you have invested time and resources into your social media strategy, you probably already have a strong brand community on social media. Leverage your social community by announcing the program to your followers and driving them to the application page to learn more and apply.
Packaging insert - Add a special invite to their product shipment! You can include a QR code or the link to the application page for them to apply.
When considering which methods would be best for your brand, remember that your customers are your best brand advocates! We generally recommend implementing a variety of recruitment methods instead of choosing just one. Check out our recruitment guide for some great templates you can use and customize for your brand!
BRAND EXAMPLE: WOVEN NOOK
Woven Nook has implemented a variety of the recruitment methods above to ensure they have a steady stream of new advocates without requiring much time and effort from their team.
Woven Nook’s program is an ongoing ambassadorship where they allow all customers who apply into the program to have access to personal and shareable discounts, and participate in campaigns.
Joel Reichart, CEO of Woven Nook and MavenThread, explains their approach: "Our customers are our biggest advocates and we want to allow everyone into the program who applies. Our program stays consistent with consistent applicants and we continue to grow it by always recruiting more ambassadors. We recruit our ambassadors by regularly posting on Instagram + IG Stories, sending out recruitment emails and integrating our ambassador program into automated email flows. In a few short months we have already seen significant revenue growth from Roster and our customers are loving being a part of our program!"
Their Recruitment Strategies:
Dedicated email to all customers: Woven Nook designed a simple recruitment email and sent it to all of their subscribed customers.
Email Newsletter Banner: They also include a small banner in each of their email newsletters with a link to the application. This banner is hyperlinked to their application page on their website and is included at the bottom of all of their newsletters.
Social Media Posts: Their social media manager regularly posts about the ambassador program on social media with swipe up links / link in bio to apply. Here is an example of a recruitment post for their sister brand’s, MavenThread, program.