If you have any friends, and I’m sure you do, you are telling them about the great deals and quality service you experience in the marketplace. Whether it was the amazing experience at the nail salon or the generally low prices at your favorite sports shop, you’re always sharing. Before social media and like/share buttons, we were already telling our real life friends how we felt about our consumer experiences. It’s just natural!
So as a business owner, see the natural as an opportunity and tell your customers that there are rewards for their sharing. if you take what they already do naturally and say thank you to them with a special incentive, then they feel special and you have access to potential new customers. Your customer referral program is just another way to continually fill your funnel.
Comcast has a customer referral program that invites current customers to share about their service, and if a referral signs up you get money. it’s fairly easy to do this. Here are a couple of methods that work:
- Ask your customers how they heard about you. If there was a referral by another customer, note their account with a forthcoming discount on their next purchase.
- If you have a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) you can document who was referred and who referred them, when they were referred, whether or not they converted or were sold, and how you will follow up.
Most of all, don’t forget that a referral program is an important part of the customer experience. It is an aspect of the brand you are building and your customers will remember the value or disvalue of referring their friends. Make it a simple, positive experience, make it repeatable, and don’t forget to say thank you!