Table of Content
- 1 What is Referral Marketing?
- 2 Why is referral marketing so powerful? Â
- 3 Why referral marketing is important
- 4 Benefits of referral marketing for ecommerce business
- 5 Strategies for Effective Referral Marketing
- 5.1 1. Make it a Win-Win Program
- 5.2 2. Make Your Referral Program Noticeable
- 5.3 3. Promote your Referral Program on Social Media
- 5.4 4. Personalize the Program
- 5.5 5. Smoothen the Referral Channel
- 5.6 6. Research Well
- 5.7 7. Ask for Referral at the Right Time
- 5.8 8. Timely Measure the ROI of Your Referral Program
- 6 Some examples of referral marketing
What is Referral Marketing?
The concept of referral marketing is a strategy that relies on the power of recommendations and word of mouth to increase a company’s customer base through the networks of customers who are already there. Referral marketing comes in many forms; however, it is a method to attract your most loyal customers to spread the word about your company’s brand. This is how referral marketing transforms your existing clients into brand ambassadors.
Why is referral marketing so powerful? Â
Humans are naturally social beings. We naturally share our experiences with friends. Referral marketing is effective because people are influenced by actual people’s opinions significantly more than brands’ opinions.
If we have a positive experience, we’re in a state of mind to tell everyone about the experience. Shouldn’t we be? We want our families and friends to be able to share the wonderful things we’ve seen and experienced.
If we’ve experienced a bad incident, you can be certain that we’ll share it with others also. In the end, this is the most effective way to prevent pain and anger.
We can learn to avoid making the same mistakes by learning from others’ mistakes.
Why referral marketing is important
Make the product experience shareable. Your job is to discover ways you can add that personal touch. For example, you can incorporate a bit of your personality into your web design, your content, your images, your product descriptions, and much more.
Utilize the influencers’ power or joint ventures. We’ve learned that people trust recommendations from their friends and are cautious about endorsements from celebrities. People also trust “ordinary” influencers who write reviews because they’ve earned credibility. Certain companies also collaborate with businesses that are complementary to promote the customer base of each other. This strategy involves each business providing discounts or other rewards to customers of the other company, often in exchange for a portion of the sales generated by the referred company.
Offer outstanding client support. This is how you will get your customers to be happy. Happy customers are more likely to share their experiences with others. Take care of them and they’ll take charge of you.
Request referrers. This simple and effective method involves mentioning the referral program to as many customers as possible.
Training workers. In conjunction with asking for referrals, some companies also have a training program that allows employees to successfully market the referral program to every client.
Create viral content. Three fundamental rules must be followed when creating content to make it go viral.
- Discover content that’s been performing well in your particular industry
- Enhance the content you have created by making it your own
- Your beautiful content should be promoted to your fans
Benefits of referral marketing for ecommerce business
Although it requires promotions and rewards to encourage customers to purchase It also has many advantages that include:
Helps to target the audience accurately
Your current customers are aware of your service or product and potential customers and can recommend your product to people they are confident will find useful. This means that you can acquire high-quality targeted customers who require the benefits your product can provide without the expense of a marketing campaign.
Gain high-value, trusting customers
The ability to build trust for your company’s image is among the most important goals of marketing. Personal suggestions can go a long way in establishing trust and are viewed as more trustworthy than advertising. In addition, customers a family member or friend recommends are generally more trusting and loyal, making them the most valuable customers.
Boost brand recognition
Referral marketing is a great method for customers to become familiar with your brand’s story. People are usually very selective in the brands they select. Therefore, brands that appear authentic and honest are often preferred. When your customers endorse your brand and share their stories with the world, it is authentic, strengthens your brand’s reputation, and is highly resonant with customers.
Help to identify loyal customers.
Customers want to feel valued and could even move their business due to perceived lack. Referral marketing programs enable you to recognize, keep track of and reward your loyal customers by offering a more personal experience and making them feel loved.
Increase conversion rates
Referral marketing boosts conversion rates in a variety of ways. People who have been referred to you by a friend or relative might be more likely to buy something once they arrive at your sales or store page since they already trust your company’s name. As a result of referral programs, engaging on social media gives social proof that strengthens your credibility and encourages people to buy.
Increase customer engagement
Referral marketing programs integrate with other marketing strategies, including emails or social media, as well as customer service. They provide the motivation to stay in touch with your clients and improve engagement. Engaging customers more frequently helps establish relationships and improves the online reputation of your business. In addition, referral programs let you interact with and reward customers through social media platforms and encourage more referrals.
Improve customer retention rate
Referral programs assist in building and maintaining long-term relationships with your customers by offering insight into their motives and needs. In turn, customers participating in referral programs are more likely to remain with your business. In addition, it is generally more expensive to reach out and connect with new customers than to keep current ones, making retention among the main advantages of referral-based marketing.
Strategies for Effective Referral Marketing
1. Make it a Win-Win Program

Your customers will be recommending your product to friends due to some reason. Offer them the reason. It could be rewards or rewards to ensure that the customer gets something. The person you recommend is likely to be interested in the product they are referred to due to a reason.
Thus creating a referral system that is win-win for both the referrer and the person who is being referred will make the program more appealing for both sides.
2. Make Your Referral Program Noticeable
When you have launched your referral marketing program, make sure you don’t put it hidden in the back of your website store.
Advertise your referral program on each platform, including social media platforms, as also on the email lists you have created. Make sure to emphasize the offers and advantages of the referral program. Be clear about the method for referring customers to the top of the list within your store to attract customers.
Utilizing flash buttons or pop-up notifications could help make your programs’ referrals more visible.
3. Promote your Referral Program on Social Media

The launch of a referral program to meet eCommerce objectives isn’t enough. It’s important to convince the majority of customers you have to be part of it.
What is better than a variety of social media platforms to promote the referral system you have in place?
So, you should advertise your referral program across all social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
Take the example of Outlaw. They make use of Twitter to advertise their referral program to potential customers via Twitter.
4. Personalize the Program
Personalization is an excellent method to boost the engagement of customers.
Around 79 % of people tend to interact with the personalization of a message or offer. Therefore, personalized messages boost the likelihood of making customers refer friends to you.
Additionally, the probability of a response from the person will also increase if the invitation message is personalized.
5. Smoothen the Referral Channel

Referral marketing for eCommerce is not just limited only to word of mouth.
Other methods of sharing via digital media, such as email Facebook, Twitter, and Whatsapp are becoming common ways to refer friends and family members. This is why it is important to include clearly marked sharing buttons for these channels on top of the referral coupon codes.
Give one-to-one sharing choices because not everyone would like to endorse publicly.
6. Research Well
Plan your moves. Marking your referral as an experiment or hit could hurt your business.
Research across the board will help enhance the foundation for your marketing referral strategy, aiding you in making the right option for your program.
It is possible to take surveys to predict and understand the likelihood of a client’s referral opinion. Make a plan for your budget for the amount of money you intend to invest. Check out your competitors’ referral programs in case they have one.
7. Ask for Referral at the Right Time

The need to get your customers to use your product as a reference is crucial.
Even if you’ve clearly shown that referral system on your store’s home page online, Asking for the referral of a friend is an effective marketing plan if you have a plan for the timing.
The pre-order option is also feasible for certain programs that are planned strategically. For instance;
For most referral programs, the ideal moment to request the buyers to recommend is after buying the item.
8. Timely Measure the ROI of Your Referral Program
Monitoring the effectiveness of marketing efforts is essential to evaluate the marketing campaign’s effectiveness.
And referral marketing campaigns are no different.
https://wpswings.com/blog/ecommerce-referral-marketing/#strategy
Some examples of referral marketing
1. Adore Beauty – Beauty Products Online

Adore Beauty is an Australian online beauty shop that has over 18,000 users on Instagram. The shop is home to a selection of over 200 brands like The Ordinary, Dermalogica & Estee Lauder.
The company’s marketing strategy is to provide new customers with discounts and coupons.
The referral system also distinguishes the brand. Customers can earn an extra $10 for recommending the brand to acquaintances.
2. Threadbeast

Threadbeast allows users to create a profile with style and then get a personal stylist to create a distinctive package. Threadbeast has a strong social media presence thanks to over half a million fans on Facebook and more than 400 thousand of Instagram followers.
The program rewards brand ambassadors with $50 off the first package they receive, and they get a free product in exchange.
3. Leesa

They share pictures of their products with more than 150,000 people on Facebook.
Every mattress comes with a 10-year guarantee, and shipping is free and readily available. Because their products are reliable and last for many years, they depend on word-of-mouth to acquire customers. In turn, they provide a generous reward of $75 for customers who recommend it to a friend.
Get Unlimited Graphic and Video Design Services on RemotePik, book your Free Trial
To keep yourself updated with the latest eCommerce and Amazon news, subscribe to our newsletter at www.cruxfinder.com