Referral programs sound great in theory, but they’re not guaranteed to be successful. If you want your referral program to actually drive sales, you’ll need to make sure it’s mindfully designed to appeal to your target audience as much as possible.
If you’ve never created a referral program before or you’ve determined that an existing program needs tweaking, you’re in the right place. This article breaks down the steps you should take to create a referral program that’s guaranteed to drive the results you’re looking for.
Offer A Reward That Feels Worth It
The success of your referral program is pretty much entirely dependent on what you offer. So if you’re getting a lot of exposure but no commitment, it’s probably because what you’re offering to your customers just isn’t enticing enough for them.
Some great ways to motivate people to join your program include promising access to discounts, free products, or even store credit, depending on what you’ve identified that your audience values most. If you sell a subscription-based product or service, you’ll probably find that offering customers access to a free month is more enticing than a one-time discount.
Make it Easy to Join
With only a few seconds to hold your customers’ interest, if they’re hit with a complicated sign-up process, they’re just going to X off the screen and forget about it entirely.
With that in mind, you’ll want to focus on how to make it as easy to join as possible. A good way to do this is to create a simple online form where your customers can join and start referring other people right away. In this form, you should clearly explain how the program works and how they’ll get rewarded. The fewer steps, the better.
Use SMS Verification for Secure Sign Ups
The last thing you want is for your program’s stats to be skewed by fake referrals.
The good news is that you can avoid this as much as possible by sending SMS verifications to your customers’ phones during registration. When you’re introducing this strategy, you’ll want to use an SMS verification service like https://www.smspool.net/ to confirm that your messages are sending correctly before rolling this new feature out across your platforms.
With all your customers having to take this extra step, you can confirm that users are providing real contact details, ensuring the rewards go to legitimate customers and not fake accounts.
Promote Your Program
Even the best referral program isn’t going to take off if nobody knows about it.
You’ll need to use a variety of marketing techniques to spread the word about your program. If you send a monthly or weekly newsletter, you can share the info here, as well as on your social media platforms and your website. If you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to add a dedicated page to your site with all the program details so customers can learn more and sign up.
Takeaway
A well-designed referral program that’s marketed effectively and tailored to your audience is guaranteed to succeed. But that doesn’t mean the first version of your program will be the one you stick with for life.
It’s wise to use tracking tools to see what’s working and what’s not. That way, you have the real data you need to adjust your messaging or consider offering extra incentives.