Empathica Granted Patent for GoRecommend[TM]Social Media Advocacy Solution

BIRMINGHAM, England, November 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Empathica, a Mindshare Technologies company, has been granted a patent for its social media advocacy product GoRecommend^[TM].

The US patent covers the system and method employed by GoRecommend for connecting brands to social media by identifying brand advocates of a particular product and mobilising them to share positive experiences across their social networks.

To date, GoRecommend has been successfully implemented by over 180 brands worldwide, including major UK brands such as Iceland, Waitrose and Halfords. Retailer Iceland has received nearly half a million social media recommendations from its customers over the past 12 months.

Overall, more than 1.5 million original recommendations have been made using GoRecommend to date. Those personalised recommendations were shared with more than 225 million friends and followers via social media platforms.

"As the data exemplifies, GoRecommend delivers tangible results for brands," said Julia Staffen, product director at Empathica and co-inventor of GoRecommend. "Customers want to share positive brand experiences, but they need an easy way to do so. GoRecommend does this by converting satisfied customers into valuable brand advocates. It targets recommendations based on their unique experiences, and then amplifies those recommendations via email, Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets."

Julia adds: "Capturing the original voice of the customer through a recommendation makes it much more powerful than a simple 'like' or 'follow'; it extends the brand's relationship with their advocates and their networks."

In June 2012, Empathica updated the GoRecommend social media advocacy solution to feature a real-time feed of recommendations that can be embedded on a brand's website, Facebook page and other online assets to leverage customers' social recommendations. Combined with GoRecommend's existing capabilities, the new functionality allows brands to further extend their customer relationships and build out a measurable base of active brand advocates.

For more information on the "System and Method for Sharing Information" patent, U.S. 20110313874, visit: http://patft.uspto.gov/

Notes to editors

About Empathica

Empathica is the leading provider of social Customer Experience Management (CEM) programmes to the world's most respected multi-unit brands in the retail, hospitality, banking and petro sectors. Its rich analysis of survey data using state-of-the-art surveying and dashboard reporting software allows for performance-improvement solutions, evidence-based marketing insights, and customer experience management consulting.

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