At least one third of the people who buy from any brand do so on the recommendation of a friend or trusted acquaintance. That fact alone makes brand advocates your greatest weapon for influencing buying decisions for your product/service. Leaving referrals up to chance or goodwill, however, is a missed opportunity. You can influence how often your referral sources think about referring your business, and the best way to do that is by launching a referral program.
A referral program is a systematic way for you to incentivize advocates of your brand to spread the word about your product or service by offering a reward or commission for referrals that turn into purchases. In doing so, you’re extending your reach well beyond your own circle of influence to obtain quality leads from trusted sources.
Rather than simply absorbing all praise from the raving fans among your customer base, incentivize them to express their gratitude by spreading the word about your awesome product and brand.
Referral programs are effective because you’re enrolling a troop of fans, influencers and consultants who are likely to connect with your target audience to spread the word about your goods or services. With reward as an incentive, advocates are motivated to refer new customers who in turn refer new customers.
A confident recommendation of your product invites your brand into a pre-existing circle of trust between your brand advocates and those they refer. This is why referral leads are so valuable and tend to have much higher retention rates than organic leads. You’ll go from a friendly referral here and there to a vocal community of loyal advocates.
With Ontraport in your marketing tool belt, there’s no excuse for leaving this crucial part of your word-of-mouth marketing out. Ontraport has everything you need to create reward and commission-based referral programs that complement your particular business: anything from single or multi tiered referral programs to referral contests and beyond. Not only that, but you’re able to launch a personalized hub for your referrers to obtain promotional tools and track their sales and commissions at their leisure. With the use of Ontraport-generated referral links, all sales made by referrals, as well as any correspondence, are tracked and automated without you having to put in any extra work. If you haven’t yet launched a referral program for your business, there’s no better time or place to start.
Yes, you should make it easy for people to refer you. Yes, you should be aware that asking for referrals can help. But no, all the tactics in the world won’t help you get the referrals you want. The only thing that will make you remarkable is being worth remarking about.
- Seth Godin, Bestselling Author
Learn How Ontraport and Referral Programs Can Grow Your Business.