Scaling Your Referral Marketing Program: 3 Questions to Ask

The best way to convince your customers to simply and consistently share referrals for your product or service is to develop a highly productive, low-maintenance referral marketing program. Of course the idea of building buzz around your brand with face-to-face interactions and friend-to-friend suggestions sounds amazing, but how can this translate into a major inbound marketing advantage and turn into a new stream of revenue? It’s pretty simple.

Learn how to scale a referral program and grow your business by asking three important questions:

Who is referring the brand?

Brand ambassadors have the power to champion your services and advocate for your product in circles via word-of-mouth that just can’t be replicated using a big brand voice. A 2016 survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Ambassador revealed that 82% of Americans say they seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase. This means that your marketing efforts should empower your customers to share and suggest your brand, but your company must also have a way of tracking influential customers that are driving new leads to your business. Untracked customers are like secret admirers - it’s great that they’re into your company, but you can’t return the favor if you don’t know who they are. Save yourself the heartache and secure referral marketing scalibility by creating a system that directly links your brand ambassadors to the new customers they have attracted.

How will brand ambassadors be rewarded?

Once you have  a list of contacts, it becomes easier to reach out and reward them. A 2016 survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Ambassador revealed that 88% of Americans say they would like some sort of incentive (money, product or service, loyalty points, early access, swag) for sharing a product via social media or email. Whether your company wants to thank a select group of longtime customers for their loyalty or encourage new leads to spread the word, incentivizing specific efforts and developing unique rewards bridges the gap between your brand and key members of your audience. Targeted rewards make allies of the trusted friends, trendsetters, and influencers that make up your referral marketing network.

What are the most critical data points?

Business is all about relationship-building, but number-crunching comes in handy too. The best way to stay accountable for referral marketing ROI is to decide on pivotal areas of growth. Do you want to attract more customers or enhance a specific customer segment? Are you aiming for increased social engagement or does email capture really matter for your brand? No matter the marketing dilemma, you can’t find a solution to your problem if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Determine which metrics matter most for your goals and decipher customer behaviors that can guide your marketing efforts.

The Answer

Identifying your brand ambassadors, rewarding specific actions and incorporating customer behavior into your marketing efforts are the most efficient ways to grow your referral marketing program. But in order to really scale your efforts and amplify the trail of word-of-mouth whispers that follow your product or service, you’ll need an automated referral marketing program. Every company wants to grow, but first you’ll need to develop a process that can keep up and strengthen your referral program ROI. It’s time to start scaling!

Do you want to learn how to turn more of your customers, partners, affiliates, and fans into revenue generators?Request a custom demo from one of our referral marketing software experts today!