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How To Get Online Referrals For Your Business
You can’t grow your business unless you find a way to bring in a regular stream of new customers.One of the best ways to do this is figure out a good strategy for high quality referrals: this way, you are utilising your existing customers too.
After all, a good referral confers instant credibility to your brand: a potential customer is far more likely to want to buy from you if someone they know and trust has recommended them.
There are many steps you can take to get a good customer referral programme in place, some of the most effective of which are laid out below:
Call To Action: Referrals don’t just happen on their own – many of your customers may be quite happy to give them but people are busy so it probably won’t occur to them to do so unless you plant the suggestion in their minds. This means you have to ask. But crucially, do it at the right time: don’t do it at the cash register, for example: perhaps send a follow-up email after the sale to ask if they are happy with the service and whether they would recommend you to a friend. Also, you should give them the material to back this up: send them newsletters to forward, or ask them to recommend your page on Facebook. This will reinforce your message
Offer Incentives: Whether it’s a discount, loyalty card, service credits or regular upgrades, find an incentive that fits in well with your business model and your customers’ priorities. If you have chosen the right approach, then your customers should be happy to recommend you to their acquaintances in exchange for something that positively benefits them. If done right, the cost to you will be more than offset by the increased business you will bring in. But make sure the referral process is simple or people will be put off – and be sure to send them an email thanking them for taking the time to do it.
Targeted Approach: Don’t just send a blanket email around to everyone: begin by identifying who your most influential customers are and then actively target them first. And remember: these don’t have to be the ones who spend the most money with you – they should be the ones who hold the most sway with others in your industry. When it comes to campaigns such as this, a focused approach is nearly always more effective than a scatter-gun approach. In addition to customers, you could also contact companies that offer complementary services to your own and agree to recommend each other.