Who are the Super Users and Why Should Marketers Care?
Companies can easily identify and reach a variety of different segments in the marketing and consumer behavior space. The superuser is one segment that can be especially valuable.
A super user is a customer who uses your product or service the most frequently and spends the most money with you. They can be both growth promoters and detractors.
These customers are extremely valuable because they have a significant impact on your company’s success in a variety of areas, including sales growth, customer satisfaction, and word-of-mouth marketing.
Super users are advanced users who have gained additional expertise in your technology and are not necessarily subject matter experts. They can help bridge the gap between their peers and technology developers.
In a hospital, for example, nurses are frequently trained to become medical device super users.
They can assist their clinical colleagues in overcoming problems and using the system more easily because they understand both clinical priorities and the system.
- Super users are customers who use your product regularly and spend more than other customers. They tend to be the most loyal, have high satisfaction rates, and their views carry weight with other consumers.
- Super users are the most valuable customers in your data. They’re more likely to recommend you, they’re more likely to buy from you again and they’re also more likely to spend more money with you.
- They have a greater influence on your market share because of their use patterns. Super users also tend to be the most loyal; they’re much less likely than other customers to churn out of your business model altogether or switch products when faced with something new or better offered by one of your competitors.
Just a slight detour and out of pure curiosity, I wanted to find out what ChatGPT, a popular AI chat bot had to say about who a super user was. This is what it generated:
What ChatGPT said:
Super users, also known as power users or influencers, are individuals who are highly engaged with a particular brand or product. They often have a large following on social media or other online platforms, and they can help to promote a brand or product to a wider audience.
That’s pretty close. Shifting back to my post.
Super user behavior
Super users are your customers; they can account for a significant portion of your total revenue; they are typically long-term; and their loyalty can cause a ripple effect due to their network of connections. Super users are more likely to repurchase than others.
It’s critical to understand that super users’ purchasing habits are identical to those of regular users, but they’re more likely to repurchase at a higher rate.
As previously stated, super users are a great source of revenue and growth for your company. They also offer higher profit margins and more revenue per sale than other customers. This means that having these devoted customers is critical for any company.
Super users have a higher lifetime value than regular, so-called “average” customers because they have a higher lifetime retention rate, which means they remain loyal customers for a longer period of time.
They are also very involved with the brand and its content, such as sharing it on social media platforms. These actions increase the influence of super users in the eyes of other customers, who will most likely follow suit with their own purchases or recommendations.
Robbie Baxter, the author of The Membership Economy states that super users are “more likely to be brand advocates and lead generators”. Their influence is more likely to be shared in social media content. They can write reviews and even refer friends and family to it, thereby increasing their reach and influence.
Consider superusers to be members of your marketing army. However, you must be able to elegantly and frequently interact with them in a meaningful way, which means using non-intrusive marketing methods.
Social Proof
Social proof is another driver for super users. Many times, other users will be influenced to use a product because others do as well. This is often seen with social networks like Twitter and Facebook, where many users follow the same people in an attempt to stay updated with what’s happening in their lives. The same thing applies to products in general. People want to use what others are using and talking about. They can have a level of FOMO.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There are risks. Social proof can also work against you since super users have reach and influence in customer sphere. If they are unhappy and disgruntled, they can spread negative information.
If a product is being used by many people, it’s likely that they have some sort of issue with it. The more users there are, the greater your chance to find out what those issues are. Mitigate and take advantage of this risk, you can work on improving your product and ensuring that it meets the needs of its users more effectively.
The psychology of social proof is a powerful driver for super users because it can be used to create a community of followers. A company can use this strategy to build brand loyalty with its users and increase the chances that they will remain loyal customers in the long term.
Expanding WOM
Word-of-mouth marketing is extremely valuable and super users help drive it with their actions. Why is word-of-mouth so strong? It’s because people trust the opinions of their friends and family more than they do brand advertising. Not only that, but word-of-mouth can be amplified when it spreads through social media channels like Facebook or Twitter.
When people are talking about your brand online, it’s a chance for you to join the conversation and share your own thoughts or experiences. This is called social media listening and it’s an important part of building relationships with customers.
Super users are more likely to recommend your brand, buy again, and share content. They’re also more likely to spend more money than your average user.
Experience matters
The growth potential of a business is dependent on its ability to acquire new users but those new users will only become loyal if the experience is positive.
According to PWC, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.
The product experience creates a feedback loop where it can drive word-of-mouth marketing, which can be more effective than traditional marketing strategies.
When your product or service is used by people who love it, they are more likely to recommend it to their friends and family. A good user experience also increases retention rates since customers are more engaged in the product or service as they use it regularly.
Developing Super user persona
Personas can help a company understand their target audience and make better decisions about how to approach them. The more specific you can be, the better your chances of success.
Personas can also help you create a more personal and authentic experience for your users. You can use your personas to guide your decisions about which features to include in a product or service, or how to design or market it. They’re especially useful when you’re working with multiple marketing teams or agencies on the same project.
In order to create personas for super users, you need to first define what makes someone a super user. For example, if your product is a software tool used by developers, then one of your super users could be an expert software engineer who develop extensions or plugins into the your product.
In order to create personas for super users, you need to first define what makes someone a super user in your space. For example, if your product is a software tool used by developers, then one of your super users could be an expert software engineer who develop extensions or plugins into the your product.
The good thing about developing personas is that you already have data to work with! Your current CRM database will have good source of information that you can collect, curate, and analyze. You can use this data to get a better idea of where your super users are located, how many there are, and what they like to do. You can also add more information to the personas by asking questions like:
- What is their job title?
- How many hours do they spend on a typical day?
- Who do they work for?
You can also use social media to find out more about them. You can layer this data as part of your persona building process.
Armed with your CRM database, you can contact your customers directly to flesh your personas. You can do this by emailing them or contacting their companies directly. Make sure that your message is clear about what you want from them, whether it’s feedback on your product or input on how to improve it.
Wrapping it up
Super users are one of the most important groups of customers to track and understand because they provide such great value to marketing. They are a special group of customers who are much more likely to do the following four things:
- Can make a large impact on the success of your business. People who love your product or service will be more willing to spread the word, and they’ll also spend more money with you overall.
- Are loyal over time — that is, they’ll stick around even if there are other options available in their area or industry. They might try out similar products when they come out, but won’t switch away from yours permanently unless there’s some major change that makes it worth their while (like a price increase).
- Become a marketing force multiplier — or at least have them think about doing so. This will help boost traffic and sales for your company overall; since super users tend not only recommend but also buy from one another regularly, this can become an ongoing cycle where each person keeps coming back because they know what they’re getting into beforehand.
- Provide valuable feedback and suggestions for product and message improvement. They are often the first to notice bugs or features that need improvement. Their feedback can be used to help the product and customer success team create better products and services, which helps a company become more competitive in its field. Super users can also provide valuable market research, which is important when repositioning and fine-tuning your messages.
Are you interested in learning more about developer marketing, or perhaps just reinforcing what you already know? Get ahead of the competition in this cutting-edge industry by reading my recently published book Win Over Wizards: A Developer Marketing Handbook.
I’m passionate about helping people build great and innovative products. We’ve taken on the communication challenges of startups, entrepreneurs, B2B software companies and organizations working with university researchers. Visit us at signetscience.com to learn more.
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