Find the ultimate referral marketing programs for your business!
Introduction
Referral marketing is one of the most effective and popular marketing strategies. It entails rewarding customers to promote a business to other prospective customers. It harnesses the immense power of word-of-mouth marketing. It also has a proven track record in converting that marketing into sales. Like most businesses, you also want to jump on the referral marketing bandwagon. There are many programs on offer. Each program has its own benefits and drawbacks. Each is suitable for a different kind of business.
But among all the referral marketing programs on offer, which one is the best fit for your business? Which one provides the best conversion rate? This article will help you find complete answers to all your queries.
Here are the optimal referral marketing programs to maximize conversion rates
1. Provide store credit to customers who referrals lead to new customers
The most popular referral program is the one in which customers receive credits. Any successful conversions can be rewarded with store credits to the referrers. These credits can then be used to buy further products and services from the business. This is a win-win situation as the customers get the products at a discounted price. In contrast, the organization sells more of its products and services. It also benefits from new customers. This business model can be used by e-commerce sites that sell a variety of products.
2. Provide the referrers with an upgraded product or service
Customers are rewarded with an upgraded plan or version of your services or products. This will act as a great incentive for the customers. It will also help businesses by providing a low-cost marketing tool. Providing upgraded services will not cost anything to the business. This program can be implemented very successfully by SaaS providers.
3. Benefits which will be provided at a regular basis
In this program, rewards will be given on a regular basis by the business for conversions. The biggest incentives to customers for referrals can be provided in the form of rewards. These will be given on a regular basis by the business. Customers with greater conversions will receive higher regular benefits. In the financial space, brokerage companies have applied this model successfully. When existing customers bring in new clients, they get rewarded. They keep receiving a part of the brokerage incurred by these clients.
4. Different tier membership programs
Businesses can create a multi-tier membership program. It provides greater benefits as the tier increases. The customers are upgraded to the respective tiers based on successful conversions. The tiers will follow a pyramid structure. The customers with the most conversions will be given the highest tier of services. This tier will have a few select customers. The rest of the tiers will have an increasing number of customers. The bottom tier will have the highest number of customers. This will result in a competitive spirit among the customers. It will also lead to a greater number of referrals.
The multi-tier model can be applied to membership type services like a commercial gym. The higher tiers can get a personal trainer, spa sessions, or free aerobics classes.
5. Mystery boxes as rewards
Many businesses want to engage a younger demographic into their referral program. To meet that aim, they gamify their referral marketing programs. The mystery boxes have the thrill of a surprise. This keeps the younger audience captivated and invested in providing successful referrals. This is also particularly useful for businesses that do not have a huge marketing budget. Most mystery boxes contain rewards of relatively low prices. Thus the whole program proves to be quite inexpensive for the business.
6. Conduct a high stakes referral contest
This is a referral program that can only take place periodically. A contest can be held, which offers significant prizes to the people. It is given to the most number of referrals within a fixed amount of time. The prizes can range from vehicles and expensive smartphones as the top prizes. It can then become progressively lower-priced prizes for lower referrals. Although this may have a greater cash outlay upfront, it is highly effective.
7. Provide benefits to the new customers who availed the referrals
This program offers a win-win situation to the customer. A successful referral results in rewards for both the referrer and the new customer. This creates a great incentive for customers to share referrals with close ones. They hope of benefiting their family and friends. More often than not, the referrals get converted into this program. This does result in double the rewards. But the business gets a more assured prospect of successful referrals.
8. Donate to charity for every successful referrer
This program appeals to the humane side of customers. Some specialized businesses have a certain target audience. These customers don’t feel incentivized by financial rewards. Those businesses donate a certain sum to charity after every successful referral. This strikes an emotional chord with the customers. They happily refer the business to their contacts. This has the added benefit of adding to the social value of the business.
Conclusion
Now move ahead with the perfect referral marketing program for your business.
You already know the great benefits of referral marketing. It has been proven the world over. Some of the most prominent digital organizations using it to their significant advantage. This article provides added knowledge of the best referral marketing programs. You can apply it for your own business and experience its miraculous benefits. Once you go the referral marketing route, you will never feel the need to try another strategy.
These are just some of the best referral programs. There are endless varieties which can provide even better returns for your business. Start implementing one of these programs. You will soon find the one perfect for you.