Advocates vs. Review Tools: Exploring the Differences, Benefits

Marketing teams are battling rising advertising costs, which means they’re looking for alternative ways to reach customers. Advocacy marketing is quickly becoming a favored tactic for teams, as it allows them to transform happy customers into authentic advertisers acting on behalf of their company. When it comes to advocates vs. review tools, which is best for your brand? What’s the difference? Which offers more benefits? Here’s what marketers should know:  

Differences between advocate tools vs. review tools

Let’s explore the distinct features and functionalities of advocate and review tools, highlighting how each can uniquely contribute to your marketing strategy and customer engagement efforts.

Advocate tools offer a more holistic approach

With an advocacy platform, marketers have access to various tools that can help them invite customers to join a community of like-minded people. 

Once they’re part of the team, you can encourage them to share positive experiences with your brand and products. 

The advocacy platform provides a more comprehensive approach to leverage advocates for your brand, while review tools are purely focused on earning reviews.

Advocate tools encourage customers to share more types of content

If you opt to use an advocacy marketing platform, you can reach out to customers and compel them to share marketing content. By reaching out you can encourage customers to share:

• Product or service reviews
• Testimonials
• Referrals
• Social posts that endorse your company or product
• Consumer feedback

A review platform’s primary focus is, as the name suggests, reviews. While some platforms add elements, like collecting UGC or referrals, the focus is narrow.

Advocate tools offer customers an incentive to participate

If you use the right advocate platform, you can reward customers for every action they take. Advocate platforms allow customers to earn points when they take actions like leaving a product review, referring a friend, or any other brand-supportive action. 

Customers can accumulate points and redeem them for prizes like gift cards, free products, or experiences. The points-based system keeps customers engaged and active as they work toward freebies. 

Review platforms often don’t want to build long-term customer relationships, so ongoing rewards are not part of their overall strategy. 

Advocate tools focus on loyal customers

Your happiest customers are most likely to support your brand and publicly endorse it, which is why advocate platforms focus on that target audience. By inviting loyal customers, you’ll see higher engagement and content volume. 

Review sites often reach out to all of your customers. Using the “spray and pray” method, they’re hoping their bulk outreach will net you a burst of reviews. While reviews may increase, it’s likely a temporary boost. After leaving a review, there’s often nothing to keep customers engaged.

Benefits of an advocate platform

The numerous advantages of an advocate platform include fostering customer loyalty and amplifying your brand’s reach and impact.

Enhanced customer engagement

Connect with happy customers on a personalized level that promotes their positive feelings towards your brand and products.

Authentic voices

When customers share content, be it a review or an Instagram post endorsing your product, your brand earns authentic exposure that consumers respond to. While you’re nurturing a relationship with your loyal customers, you’re also connecting with new customers.

Community building

Advocate platforms encourage a community environment that increases engagement and compels customers to act. By setting a series of challenges to drive content creation, you can ensure that customers remain active, which, in turn, drives retention.

Industry-specific customization

With the right advocate platform, you can tailor it to fit your niche. Advocate platforms have experience with retail, DTC brands, restaurants, SaaS providers, entertainment companies, travel, hospitality brands and more. 

Cost-effective solution

Marketers are tired of soaring ad costs and weak ROIs. Advocacy marketing provides a cost-effective way to leverage a resource you already have: happy customers. While it won’t replace your advertising budget, it can often supplement it with lower costs and better returns.

Ask customers questions

Are you developing a new product or planning to change your logo? Tap into your captive team of advocates and ask them for feedback. You can ask questions right on the platform and gather insights that can help you make informed decisions internally.