10 best referral program ideas that work

Often the best referral programs have three common attributes viz., a targeted promotion, a loyal customer base, and appealing initiatives. However, since every company is unique, a one-size-fits-all approach wouldn’t work. Every company needs to come up with a distinctive referral that specifically targets its audience. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of practical customer referral program ideas to derive insights from. This blog presents the 10 best of those for running an effective referral program. 

10 Best Referral Program Ideas that Work

1. Have a catchy headline

You should have a catchy and concise headline or slogan for your referral program. It should be to the point and explain the program’s benefits. It would be good if you can use numbers. This will attract your customers’ attention and motivate them to take part in your program.  

Here are some great examples.

• Share with your friends. Get 35% off

• Invite your friends; Get up to $30 off

• Tell your friends about us and you both get 25% off

• Refer and Receive $20

• Refer Your Friends and Get a Free Ride

2. Set clear goals

Source: InviteReferrals

Before you launch your referral program, be clear about what you want to achieve from it. This will enable you to come up with relevant referral program ideas. Here are a few things you have to ask yourself:

• What is the ultimate goal of running a rewards program?

• Is it to acquire more customers? Or just to make current customers make larger purchases?

• Or to increase conversions and sales?

Achieving each of these objectives is possible, but you may need a separate referral campaign for each goal. So do get clear with your objectives before you begin.

3. Ask at the right time

Timing matters when asking for referrals. You need to look for the right time when your customer would be happy to refer you. So, ask them when they’re the most engaged with your brand. It can be right after a successful customer support service, a purchase, or a product delivery.

You can ask for referrals with a message like “Thank you for your brand affinity towards us! We’re happy to serve you. We’d also love to serve your friends and folks who would enjoy our products.” 

4. Create a dedicated landing page

Oftentimes, businesses tend to overlook the need for a landing page for successful referral programs. However, you should have one. It should be uncrowded and clean. Cover all the essential information that your customers would look for under an FAQ section. 

This way, you can provide all the needed info in detail without cramming the initial messaging and CTA. Additionally, you’ll find it easy to update a referral program FAQ if you would have to add additional details or more customer queries. 

5. Use captivating visuals

Source: InviteReferrals

The human brain tends to process images surpassingly faster than text. Tap into this by using eye-catching images and other visuals to visually explain your referral program. The image you choose for visual marketing should be the main attention grabber of the page rather than a bystander. It should also simplify things by explaining what words are unable to. So, make sure that your image is gripping and relevant.

6. Have a great CTA

Your Call to Action tells the user what you expect him or her to do next. Having a clear CTA will take the guesswork out of it. So, consider employing an actionable word. Some examples are Sign Up,

Register, Refer Now, Earn Now, etc. 

The right CTA will be catchy, provide a clear insight on what they are clicking on, and be findable. When it comes to findability, your CTA button’s placement is important. It should be visible and make sense.

7. Ensure discoverability

After you include a referral program section to your e-commerce store or website, ensure that it is easily discoverable for your customers. For this, you need to consider all your customer touchpoints. Take each of these as an opportunity to share your program. You can also include your referral link to other vital places such as:

• Homepage

• Website menus

• Referral cards

• Blog posts

• Newsletter

• Email marketing campaigns

• Invoices

• Confirmation page

8. Target high-value customers

You can fire up your referral program’s success by inviting your loyal and high-value customers. For, they are often your huge fans who are most likely to engage and advocate on your behalf. 

You can identify these candidates by looking for attributes like making frequent purchases, sharing favorable reviews on review sites, engaging with your brand on social media, and/or scoring high on your NPS survey. 

9. Incentivize

Source: InviteReferrals

People are encouraged to refer their friends, folks, and colleagues when you incentivize them. Your reward can take different forms such as discounts, cash, cashback, VIP treatment, access to private events, etc. It can be double-sided (both the referrer and the referred to get it) or single-sided (only the referrer is rewarded). 

Whatever you decide to give, ensure that it offers tremendous value to the receiver so that he keeps referring more and more customers. One of the best referral program ideas that many companies employ is, giving a higher reward for the first referral. For, this motivates customers to join the referral program.

10. Run a seasonal campaign

Another amazing way to trigger some enthusiasm around your referral program is to launch a seasonal campaign. They leverage the hype of the season to drive success. So, during significant times like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, New Year, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, World Peace Day, etc. run referral campaigns. Just ensure that there is a grand prize at the end of the campaign. This will entice the entrants to enroll in it. 

Wrapping up

Referral programs are a great way to encourage your existing customers to spread the word about your brand. You can create your referral program by deriving inspiration from our amazing referral program ideas. A good software like InviteReferrals can facilitate alignment with your business model and automate referral program campaigns. This way, your program will be a great success and you’ll reap its benefits effortlessly.

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Author Bio:

Shivani Goyal

Shivani is a content writer at InviteReferrals, which provides referral software that allows businesses to attract new customers from existing customers through referral campaigns.

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