If the lifeblood of any business is customer cash, then perhaps we can consider customer satisfaction the heart and soul.

As a CEO, you likely are well aware of the value of a satisfied consumer. They stick around, spend more, and often become fierce advocates for your company, its products, and services.

But what if we could quantify the impact of that third value — “package it” into a measurable resource that can help your business scale and grow? 

I believe this is absolutely true — I call it the “V-FACTOR” — a means of using digital channels to catalyze and engage customers — then amplifying their fervor in a way that is more impactful, and far less spendy, than other attention-getting methods. In fact, a dose of “V-Factor” goodness can multiply the impact of your paid marketing campaigns — adding a third dimension to a 2D program. 

So what is this magical force that I’ve coined the “V-Factor”? Let’s take a deeper look. 

Advocates on Steroids

When someone loves your product, you want them to tell someone else. But most people don’t like to be salesy or feel like they are pushing products on their friends. The easiest situation for sharing occurs when someone asks your customer, “Hey, where did you get that? How does it work? I would really love one of those right now. How do I get it?” 

The concept of amplifying your marketing efforts by creating network effects or asking customers to share reviews has been around for a long time. There’s even been a way to measure this product virality – a gauge known in marketing circles as the “K-factor.”

But that old-school measure doesn’t take into account what created the “viral-ness” in the first place. That’s where the V-FACTOR comes in. Short for Viralness FACTOR, the V-Factor, for Harley enthusiasts, is not a motorcycle component. It’s the accelerant that is going to get people naturally talking about and sharing your brand.

V-FACTOR taps into natural goodness that can develop word of mouth fast and can encourage sharing by introducing the least amount of friction. The sooner you figure out what it is, the further ahead of your competition you will be.

Cultivating the “V”

So, how do you encourage “viralness” to happen? Though it varies depending upon your product or service, the basic steps are as follows:

1. Identify your most vocal, social customers:They might not be your best customers or the ones who buy the most; they are the customers who are most willing to share the “brand love” with others. You can survey customers to find them, but the best way is to nurture customers who are already doing what you want them to do and get them to do more.
   
   
2. Identify ways for customers to experience your product benefits in the presence of other prospects: You are looking for “social moments” — those times when people come to appreciate your unique benefits by seeing or experiencing your product or service in action. Examples might include:

• • Exhibiting a paid app for free use at a children’s museum (with an automatic discount for the paid version).
  • Sampling a new brand of power protein shake with a group after a fitness class at the gym.
  • Sitting at an airport gate with a suitcase that can be used as a desk, a portable seat, and a charging station.

3. Find ways for customers or prospects to amplify these “social moments”: Especially if your product or service isn’t naturally social, sharing “use case” moments on social platforms and tagging the brand name, with pictures, quotes, shoutouts, etc, can help get the awareness buzz going in a way that peaks curiosity and authentically brings new users to you. In addition, services professionals as well as product brands use requests for digitally shared public reviews/referrals, content marketing (articles/blogs), or sharing advice on social platforms to generate NPS, buzz, engagement and social proof.
   
   
4. Adding a referral mechanism to the normal use of product/service: If prospects need to sign up to see what customers share, your product or service has a “built-in” referral mechanism that can quickly grow your base organically. Many crowdsourcing sites -- where customers earn “use” credits by posting and sharing content or inviting friends to signup free -- also generate referrals in a behaviorally seamless way. To develop a “built-in” referral mechanism for your company, brainstorm and discuss the following with your team:

• • Profile your ideal customer
  • Identify ways that they share information and ideas with friends
  • Determine how to become a natural part of that conversation
  • Then, think about ways to make your product/service an integral (or automated) part of the “conversation”

Bringing it Home

At this point, you may have generated a healthy list of ideas to consider when identifying and developing your product/service V-FACTOR. As you filter, prioritize and test ideas, here are some considerations to keep in mind:

• If you have a commoditized consumer product or a low-priced service, or you’ve developed a program that is too complicated to explain to your customers, takes too much staff time to manage, or can’t be effective without significant corporate support, your program might not be scalable or cost-effective in the long run.
• If a program does not have the potential of achieving a K-Factor above 1, it may not be worth investing a significant amount of time, budget or effort to scale (you could opt for a lower level of maintenance support instead). Move on and test other ideas instead.
• Some industries or customer verticals are more social than others. Establish your brand beachhead with the group with V-FACTOR that will grow your revenue quickly, then expand to new verticals once awareness velocity gains momentum.
• Be clear about how you are going to measure results. Will success be based on promo code uses, website inquiries, on-site purchases, newsletter signups, or something else? Understanding the customer journey and the behaviors that demonstrate success, and setting up data-gathering mechanisms upfront, will ensure that you will be able to make timely decisions and pivot quickly.

As I’ve learned through my work with client companies — the most efficient way to set a company up for rapid, cost-effective growth is to cultivate situations where customers will do the selling for you just by being your customers and make it easy for them to share the love for your product, service or brand.

What’s your V-FACTOR?