People talk. From their favorite shows to their favorite products, everyone loves talking about themselves. This is why referral marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing your company can invest in. Folks trust their friends and family more than they do advertisements. Therefore, if you can directly appeal to those potential consumers, you can increase your brand’s growth.
Accounting for 65% of all new business, it’s time to figure out how to make your referral program the best around.
Using the Customers
To start off the venture, you need to know your market base. Who buys your products? What do the customers want? Once you know this, you can come up with enough incentives to get your customers on board with a referral program. Unless it’s worth it for them, very few will actually voluntarily donate their time to such a project. One avenue for this is to discover their favorite products and services. You can then work those into the referral program by offering the favorites for free or at a reduced price.
Don’t forget the draw of questionnaires. Create research surveys to collect more specific data based around a future referral program. Use your current fan base to brainstorm what they would like in return for bringing in their friends and family. Once the answers are in, see what you can work with.
Using the Public
After the customers nearest and dearest to the company have been tapped, expand the program to the public. With signs posted in brick and mortar stores along with an online presence, even newer visitors will be tempted into taking part in the program for a chance to earn the reward. A past method was to handout brochures covering the fine details, but phones are now much more convenient. Be it an app or a mobile-friendly site, allowing them to use technology to apply actually has them do the hard work for you. As they enter and submit the referral information, this then immediately goes into a database where all of the collected customer references can be organized using your specialized referral software.
Using the Data
As the program continues, it’s important to not allow the crucial data you’re gathering to go to waste. By tracking your biggest sellers, who actually signs on successfully and other measures of progress, your marketing team can begin to build a structured plan that capitalizes on proven means of successful conversion. From there, you’ll be able to sustain a relatively long-lived increase in customer growth and satisfaction. Just remember that nothing lasts forever. Always be prepared with the next phase for marketing through referrals. For instance, with increased growth comes increased income. Maybe you can offer better prizes or create a special membership specifically for your highest referral grabbing customers to continually reward them for their hard work while enticing the rest to work harder.
