The Top 4 Mistakes To Avoid When Creating Your First Referral Program

Consumers trust their fellow consumers when it comes to the quality of services and products. People can be persuaded to purchase something because of a good word. Customers can also jump to another brand quickly if they read a lot of positive reviews about it.

Waiting for your customers to leave positive remarks about your brand and offerings online is not the only way you can leverage word-of-mouth marketing. If you want to get the most out of peer recommendations faster, implement a referral program.

A referral program is a marketing strategy you can use to encourage existing customers to recommend your brand and product or service to their friends, family, and acquaintances.

With the right referral management software and techniques, you can supercharge latent word-of-mouth, allowing you to get the most benefits from this marketing strategy in a faster time.

Building a Successful Referral Program

Although the concept of the customer referral may seem simple at first glance, there are several mistakes that can affect your program.

While some of these errors may seem small and unimportant to your strategy, they can have a huge effect on the program and your company’s overall success.

If you want to get the most from your company’s first referral program, take care to avoid these common mistakes:

1.Creating a Complicated Referral Program

Referral programs are supposed to be simple – you reward anyone who recommends a person who purchases your product or service. The process of enabling people to refer customers to you and getting their recompense should, therefore, be straightforward as well.

Because of this reason, it is important that you give your customers the shortest time possible to figure out what they need to do and what they will earn when they refer someone to your business.

When you make your referral program page or feature hard to use and share, you will limit your ability to drive word-of-mouth.

Additionally, if you require users to input a potential referral’s information manually, you create a barrier that hinders referral activity and possibly annoys your customers.

2.Choosing the Wrong Rewards

Your customers need a good reason to refer people to you. They won’t help you if they do not care about what you are offering.

To create a successful referral program, you have to offer incentives that align with your customers’ needs or preferences. Whether it is a tangible or intangible reward, it should be something that will motivate a customer to refer their friend, relative, or acquaintance to you.

If you want your referral program to work, you have to know and focus on what your customers want and give them an excellent reason to send people to you.

While you are deciding on a suitable reward, you will do well to consider providing an incentive to the referred person. This will help your program stand out and make it easier for your customers to encourage another person to purchase your product or service. 

3.Promoting the Program Insufficiently

Your customers and website or app users won’t refer anyone if they do not know about your referral program. As such, ensuring people are aware of your offer should be on top of your priority.

Once you have completed your program, feature it on your website, social media pages, receipts, and invoices. Also, make sure you display posters about it prominently inside your store.

Don’t forget to use images and video in your promotional materials since they are eye-catching, and most people are more likely to engage with them.

Additionally, prioritize creating strong calls to action (CTAs) and well-worded emails to entice anyone who reads them to do what you want them to do.

4.Using the Wrong Referral Program Software

Lastly, if you want to invest in a referral program system, you will do well to use an automated one.

An automated system can reduce the time you need to create and facilitate a referral program within a shorter time.

Using the right automated software also ensures you have quick access to analytics and can track the progress of your referral program, allowing you to tweak it when necessary. Additionally, you will be able to reduce errors associated with implementing this program.

All these features can help increase the conversion rates of your referral program.

Whether you have a food distribution business, car dealership, or retail store, a great referral program can boost your sales and profits. Avoid these mistakes and you can reap more benefits from this marketing strategy.