How to Start a Referral Campaign

If you’re looking for a way to grow your business, the answer might be right in front of you. It’s time to start thinking about how to start a referral campaign that will help you get new customers and spread your brand awareness.

With the right marketing strategy, the referral process can be an effective tool for gyms and wellness businesses who are trying to make their first few waves into their local communities. You may not know where to start with this process, but it doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive.

Referrals are important for your business, but you should avoid pushing too hard when asking for them. Especially if you have loyal customers, they’re likely to talk about your business with their friends and family without being asked. If you maintain a persistent referral campaign–and show real appreciation for every referred friend you receive–your campaign will eventually catch on and you’ll receive more referrals from your happy customers.

What is a Referral Campaign

There is no doubt that referrals increase sales. When it comes to making new purchases, more than half of Americans rely on word-of-mouth.

Yet, many companies are struggling to maximize the results of their referral programs. In most cases, referral programs are not promoted properly, so companies lose money and customers.

Word-of-mouth marketing programs usually have a list of successful referrers responsible for increasing the number of customers you get by spreading the word about your brand or company.

One way to increase referrals is to run referral campaigns. Successful customer referral programs include marketing tactics to inform people about the referral program’s benefits. Referral marketing is a way of turning your current customers into brand advocates who can give you referred customers.

Why Should You Plan Your Referral Campaign

When you treat your referral marketing campaign as an ongoing process, it will be easier to get more customers because you’re offering something valuable. Referred leads have a 30% higher success rate and are 16% more valuable over a customer’s lifetime because they were referred by someone already familiar with your product or service.

Referral marketing is a great way to attract new customers, but it takes time and effort. If you don’t plan your campaign properly, it can be hard to see the results. Putting together how the referral process works in advance, and providing everyone with the information they need via social media, email, or website, makes it easy for people to refer others without having to spend too much time on the process.

How to properly plan a campaign

A successful referral marketing campaign has a plan. You need to decide what you want your target customer to do and how much time, energy, and investment you are willing to put into the program.

Plan when to send your referral campaign

The idea is to get your most devoted clients to spread the word about you. To make it worth their while, they need a way of understanding what makes your product or service so different and successful – that moment when someone realizes how amazing your business is.

Depending on your customer’s needs, you can strategically time the delivery of a referral campaign. Sending it too soon may lead to wasted effort and sending it too late will hamper their interest in what you have to offer. How do you know when is best? Study how they interact with your business or service such as purchase history and lifetime revenue; these are clear indicators that tell you when they’re ready to learn more about your referral program.

Determine the target audience for your referral campaign

Your target audience within your customer base must be a good fit for what you want them to do and it’ll help avoid wasted time on customers who are unwilling or unable.

Referral programs can be successful if you identify your target customers before you launch them. How come? You can get more return on investment (ROI) from your referral campaign if it is more targeted and focused.

Getting to know your audience and their needs requires understanding them. The best way to do that is by studying them directly. You can collect this information through online surveys or feedback forms after attending your gym classes or visiting your business. You can also determine which social media posts got the most views and comments (and if any complaints were raised) by reviewing your social media analytics.

You can have a more reliable connection with your audience and ultimately generate new business by using research to understand your audience and create a better-targeted referral campaign.

Figure out how to segment your target audience

For businesses to effectively promote referral campaigns, they must segment their customers. You will get a better return on investment if you understand where you stand with each customer segment. For example, if you manage a boutique fitness studio that is looking for clients, make sure your email campaigns target people both new to exercise and who have visited in the past but haven’t been for a while.

You can reach out to your brand advocates, who are your most valuable customers who have made repeat visits or purchases. Treat your brand advocates like they are your closest friends by touching base with them after they’ve made a purchase or even in a happy birthday email. The same principle applies to your existing customers, and get them to be your biggest brand advocates for your company.

Warm leads who have shown an interest in your product or service but have not yet purchased it could become customers soon. Make sure you take into consideration these warm leads and then tailor your referral campaigns to these leads, such as using personalized email marketing campaigns and demonstrating how the referral program can benefit them and their friends and family.

You also most likely have past leads whether they’ve visited your gym or bought products from your store, but you don’t know how interested they are in your referral program. Regularly scheduled low-cost referral campaigns at least a few times a month can bring past prospects into your referral program, increasing their likelihood of taking part.

How to start creating your referral campaign

Developing relationships and nurturing your customers and leads are the keys to successful referral programs. Referral campaigns are an easy way to strengthen the bonds you’ve already built, while simultaneously creating new ones to help promote your referral programs.

Social Media

You can start your referral campaign with social media sites by giving your customers a variety of options for sharing. It’s an inexpensive and effective method that can grow your audience and improve conversions and have people share content in their networks. After your customer wins an incentive such as a gift card, encourage them to tag your account on their social media accounts so their friends and family can see it and become referred friends. User-generated content on social media influences 79% of people’s purchase decisions.

Consider posting videos and images to grab people’s attention about your referral program. Social media will help you kickstart your referral program and turn leads into customers.

Website

Your referral program is best promoted throughout your website, such as the home page, about page, or contact page. The most important thing to consider in creating your website content is the keywords you want to target since the referral campaign will be focused on getting traffic from search engines. Create content that educates your audience about the benefits of using your product or service by creating blog posts, videos, and webinars.

A separate landing page can also provide your customers with a central place where they can find all of the information they need about your referral program. It should explain the value of joining the program right away to potential referrers. When you’ve designed your landing page, make sure to link to it on your website by including it in prominent areas, like the sidebar, footer, and top menu.

Email Marketing

You can run a referral campaign by sending personalized emails to customers who are more likely to be interested in your referral campaign. It’s one of the most affordable ways you can start a referral campaign, so it’s a great option for small businesses or startups with limited resources.

You can increase engagement with your referral program by sending an eye-catching announcement email template. List all the benefits your customers will receive when they refer your business to a friend. You should use call-to-action buttons with obvious call-to-action messaging and appealing colors to increase results.

Launching Your Referral Campaign

Now that you have all your various marketing channels, it’s time to launch your referral marketing campaign. Set up your analytics on your referral marketing platform so you can easily track your progress. In the future, you can use analytics to determine what channels work best for your segments and where they are most active to improve your referral campaigns.

Tracking Your Referral Campaign Results

Many referral marketing platforms offer A/B testing, which allows you to try different referral variations and see which resonates best with your audience. Which generates more conversions, a CTA near the top or bottom of the landing page? What works better for brand advocates: bigger or smaller incentives? Does personalization affect your ROI?

You should keep track of all the metrics relevant to this program: the number of referrals, conversion rate, and average revenue per customer acquisition through referral marketing.

Referral Campaigns Can Work for Your Referral Program

Whether it’s emailing your current customers or using social media to spread the word, a referral program has network effects naturally baked in. The more customers who participate in your referral program and the more you reward customers, the more your referrals will multiply.

Referral campaigns are a great way to grow your business. With good planning and execution, referral programs can be highly effective at driving new customers. You must plan carefully before launching this type of campaign so it has the best chance of success.

How to use Referrizer to collect reviews, get customer feedback and protect your online reputation from angry customers

Knowing what customers think about you is important. Sometimes these insights help you to:

Boost sales if you collect awesome testimonials.
Improve products/services thanks to direct feedback from your customers.
Reveal critical mistakes that angry customers tell you about.
Better understand your own customers.

However, not every customer review is for everyone’s eyes, especially if it’s something that can damage your business reputation. So here at Referrizer, we created the ultimate solution that helps businesses collect online reviews, feedback and protect their reputation all at the same time.

Take a look at exactly how Referrizer manages to do this.

An important thing to notice. If you are wondering how you can get people to actually share their thoughts, businesses use smart Referrizer text and email marketing to ask for feedback once they visit businesses.

Here’s an example of a super-effective email that we use:

And here’s an example of a simple but also effective automated text message that one of our clients use:

Now we can focus on reviews, feedback, and reputation protection.

Collecting online reviews

Here’s a situation. Customers visit your business, they make a purchase and an automated email or text message like the ones above is sent. Once they click on the link, customers will see this:

If they are satisfied with the service, naturally they will click on the happy, green smiling emoji, which directly leads them to the selected review site.

It can be Google, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor… wherever you want to boost reviews. They will be directly taken to that page, so the only thing they need to do is to write a few words and publish the review.

Why is this method so effective?

You are asking customers for a review at the best possible time… after visiting your business
You are providing a direct link that leads your customers to review sites. Customers doesn’t need to search for your business by themselves and do unnecessary additional work

Collecting customer feedback

If you are wondering what happens if someone doesn’t have a great experience to share, that’s where customer feedback comes into play.

If customers don’t feel like they received exceptional service and click on the yellow button with the neutral emoji, they take a totally different journey.

Instead of going directly to the rating site, they are able to provide private feedback so you can discover what was wrong and hopefully improve future experiences.

Protecting your reputation from bad reviews

The same as with customers who have a neutral experience, from time-to-time it could happen that you have an incredibly unsatisfied customer who feels the need to share his/her bad experience.

Even if asking this kind of customer for a rating sounds scary, it’s the best thing you can do.

Once he/she clicks on the angry red emoji, he/she will have a similar journey that collects feedback and keeps it private and visible only to you.

Whatever the dissatisfied customer writes, once again the same as with neutral customers, it stays only visible to you. In this way, you keep your reputation protected from the angry 1-star reviews written in all caps, while you are getting useful insights into things you can improve in your business.

What next?

If you want to boost your online reviews and collect customer feedback while protecting your online reputation, start the Referrizer free trial now and try out our Reputation management tool for 14 days.

Ultimate Guide to Refer-A-Friend Emails That Get Referrals

Many businesses use social media marketing and introduce the referral program through excellent customer experiences. However, when you need to get the word out about your referral program, sending emails is a great way to do it.

Email remains the most cost-effective marketing channel for small businesses. This makes emails a great way to continue to spread the word about your referral program and help grow your business.

As a way to get more referrals, use a personalized email strategy that includes attention-grabbing emails and referral rewards your customers want. When you create the right emails to express the benefits of your referral program and allow them to pass the word along, you can achieve a more effective referral program for your business.

What is a Refer-a-Friend Email?

The refer-a-friend email can help you promote more awareness of your referral program by offering incentives for your customer base to refer their friends, who may be interested in your products or services. It is a message that you send to your customers, inviting them to tell their friends and network about their experiences with your business.

When to Send a Refer-a-Friend Email

Before you send your first refer-a-friend email, ask yourself: why send it, and how much will my customers love it?

If you want your product or service to succeed, you can’t just randomly send emails. You need to wait until customers are ready for your offering. Send refer-a-friend emails only when someone is ready to use your services and is open to your referral offer.

The best times to send refer-a-friend emails are:

Immediately after customers bought a product from your business
Right after they came into your business for a small group class or spa session

If they are loyal customers at one of these points, they know your business. You can take advantage of this by reaching out to them with refer-a-friend emails that include more referral rewards and value. You can even intrigue them with more exciting referral bonuses in your email marketing strategy such as a thank-you email after a class or a purchase.

Anatomy of a Great Refer-a-Friend Email Template

If a business sends refer-a-friend emails to their existing customers without including any referral offers or incentives, many people are not aware of what it takes to join referral programs.

There are many email templates out there, but referral emails are different as they need to be clear, direct, and personal. To increase referrals and sales, use these four essential components of a great referral email template that will entice your existing customers to share your product with their friends.

Email Subject Line

Keep your subject lines simple and direct when writing an email. You need to be careful to not sound too spammy or desperate in the subject line, since they may turn customers off and not click on the email.

Refer-a-friend emails can include any of these subject lines:

When you’re first promoting your referral program

Refer Friends to Win Big

Grow Your Network, Grow Your Health

Referral Program: Earn Rewards for Your Referrals

After a customer buys a product or service

Refer a Friend & Get 20% Off Your Next Spa Day (Or Gym Class)!

Refer & Get a Free Product!

10% Off Your Next Spa Day Just For Telling Friends!

If a customer hasn’t taken part in the referral program

Hey, Want to Get Rewarded For Spreading the Word?

Get Rewarded for Being Your Best Self

Become Part of Our Gym (or Spa) Referral Program

To spread by word-of-mouth, you can also appeal to their emotions

Become a Gym Referral Legend

Refer Your Friends to The Best!

Get Rewarded for All Your Hard Work

Don’t forget to add your customers’ names to the email subject line as personalized emails can lead to an open rate of 50%. It’s easy to get lost in all the details when you’re writing a good email and forget about what really matters- getting the right headline (and your customers’ names) right.

Email Headline

A catchy email headline can be the difference between people opening and ignoring your referral emails. The right words will make them want to open it, but the wrong ones will cause them to delete or move on.

Creating an email headline that captures a customer’s attention can take time, but it does matter to capture their interest and have them read beyond the subject line. Email headlines become all the more important since they appear in the preview text since 43.5% of people read their emails on their smartphones.

For your email headline, refrain from using overly long or complicated sentences. The headline should be used for offering your recipients a sneak peek at what’s inside the email. If it is interesting and relevant to them, they are likely to open the email.

Email Copy

As simple as this may seem, imagine you are writing an email for one person rather than hundreds or thousands. Tell them what you would like them to do after reading your exciting message.

Tone, voice and language are three critical elements that make up a strong email. You should consider what tone of voice you want to use with your customers because it can either help or hurt your referral marketing campaign.

Be sure to also include what your incentive is, why the customer will want it and how they’ll benefit from taking part in the referral program. Your incentive must be very clear and easy to understand for customers to choose whether to participate.

It’s also important to be clear on the rules and stipulations of your referral program. If you use a “get-give” system in your program, make sure the customers know what they are giving or receiving for every successful referral. They also must know if there is a limit to the number of referral bonuses or if they have to refer a certain number of people, so they know what to expect from the program without any confusion.

Email CTA

In order to make sure that the referral process doesn’t feel like a lot of work, you need to have one clear and actionable call-to-action in your email. When sending refer-a-friend emails, make sure that you have one clear CTA.

Your calls-to-action may say, “Refer a Friend Now” or “Share Your Referral Link.” It is very important to give your customers a specific call-to-action if they’re to participate in your referral program. By doing this, you will be more likely to get them to take action.

Create the Right Refer-a-Friend Email

Your referral program emails are part of your referral marketing strategy that lets you leverage your existing customer base to grow your business.

You can use this type of email to ask customers for referrals, and it’s one way small businesses are increasingly successful in getting more referrals from their existing customers. The best refer-a-friend emails have clear CTAs, tell the incentive upfront, and give customers an opportunity to do something with the information they just read.

A wide range of email marketing tools can help you with sending and tracking email marketing emails. But it can be too much to track alongside your referral program metrics.

A referral marketing platform gives you the option to customize email marketing messages based on referral tracking. When you’re working with a referral marketing platform, every aspect of the process is automated.

Not only will you be able to track your referrals, but also promote them using social media and email campaigns. You can see how your referral emails work all in one place and help you improve your referral program.

The new Referrizer reputation module generates even more reviews for you

We have made incredible improvements that will help you to easily collect positive reviews, protect your online reputation, and show everyone how awesome your business is.

For every business, reputation means everything! It’s one incredibly powerful thing that can skyrocket your business when managed properly. It helps you to:

Deliver strong social proof and set yourself apart from any other similar business in your area.
Position high on Google’s top results and get discovered by tons of new people.
Boost sales by delivering strong testimonials that are doing all the convincing for you.

So, yeah… Online reputation means a lot and if you are using Referrizer you already have a pretty advanced technology that takes care of it. Now, that technology is on a whole new level. Check out what the new version of Reputation management does for you:

Amazing updates:

All review channels under your control – With the new reputation management, you get a clear overview of all connected review channels so you can grow them simultaneously.
Monitor how big an impact you created on your reputation – Results are all that matter. In the new version, you are able to track reputation growth from the moment you join Referrizer.
Track your reviews – Keep track of all your reviews from one place and, if needed, quickly respond to them without the need to leave the backend.

Check out the new pages that are waiting for you:

1. Boost review page

The name speaks for itself. When you need to boost your reviews, on this page you will find 6 incredibly effective ways to do that.

Automated email campaigns – Set it once and let an automated email campaign engage your customers for you.
Blast email campaign – Ideal for quickly boosting reputation. Simply use a beautiful email template to reach out to customers and get them to post reviews.
Text campaigns – If you collect customers’ phone numbers, text marketing campaigns will get you instant attention and generate tons of new positive reviews.
Loyalty program – Combine your loyalty program and use points to motivate customers to post reviews.
Triggered keywords – Let customers automatically claim your special offers by sending you keywords to your business number.
Grow customer database – Use a WiFi unit to get existing customers’ phone numbers and emails so you can reach out to them and boost your reputation.

2. Manage reviews page

Here’s where the magic happens. You can publish positive reviews or find negative ones and respond to them. An improved reputation management tool allows you to save time you would need to spend on tracking all negative reviews that could damage your business.

3. Review widget page

Social proof has one of the largest influences on buying decisions. The review widget allows you to promote your incredible reviews and testimonials from happy clients on the most important places – your website and your landing pages. Increase your online conversion rate by simply putting a spotlight on positive experiences from other customers with your business.

One awesome summary for the end:

Our team put incredible effort into making the reputation module really special and useful for you.

With these new improvements, you can take care of your business reputation like a professional reputation manager. The new reputation module gives you next-level organization so now within seconds you can jump from tracking progress to taking real steps for improving your reputation.

Most importantly, even with new big changes, everything remains easy-to-use thanks to a simplified design that provides a smooth experience.

How to increase business referrals

To get ahead of the competition, every business must grow, and that includes fitness or wellness businesses. Your business needs to retain the customers it has while still attracting new clients to be profitable. Even if you already have a loyal customer base, the market can change at any time, and you may lose a few customers.

If your clients are satisfied with the results you provide them, they should be motivated to refer their friends to your business. But having a profitable referral program on hand may help a great deal in your marketing strategy to help increase business referrals.

What Are Business Referrals?

According to Hubspot, a business referral is when an existing customer refers your business to a new customer, which may happen in a passing conversation. It could come from your referral marketing efforts. Often, referrals are made on a whim, but companies can increase business referrals by putting customer service first and then using referral marketing platforms to help keep track of referrals.

Customer Experience

If you want your fitness and wellness business to grow, give your customers something to talk about before you start asking for customer referrals. As you and your employees go about your daily classes and sessions, you must always think about people’s needs. To be able to keep their attention, you need not only to thrill them, but also to delight them.

Give people results

Your customers are already walking billboards for your business. If your current customers are pleased with the results of taking your fitness classes or getting spa treatments, they will tell friends and family about you.

When they see how much healthier and fitter your clients are, they will reach out to you and start to come into your business. This is one inexpensive way to gain referrals because you know that these are quality referrals who are coming in to fulfill a need, rather than using traditional marketing such as paid advertising.

Present the benefits that can help them achieve their goals

It might be worthwhile for you to find out what a customer’s goals are when they visit your gym or wellness shop in order to attract customers who respect your knowledge. Once you know their goals, you go above and beyond to provide them with the right solutions that can help them in their daily lives.

For instance, in your fitness boutique, you can teach them more than just what exercises to do, how to do them, and when to do them. Help them understand why doing a particular exercise will help them achieve their goals.

Your goal when seeing a frequent customer is to make the most of your time with them. Even when you are not with them, you want them to be efficient at their other workouts and daily life activities.

Take care of your customers

When delivering one-time spa sessions or classes, always offer high points throughout the customer experience and even afterward. This means you should continue to invest in your customer relationships and provide strategies so your customers will remember your business.

For instance, offering a challenging workout is one thing, but making them sore or injured in the process is another. You don’t want your customers saying things like, “That class I took a few days ago left me with sore muscles.”

Whenever possible, make sure you ask your customers if they have any pain or previous injuries before a class. Always give adjustments if you notice a new member joining your class.

In a spa, customers must feel comfortable enough to tell massage therapists about previous injuries or pain so that they are able to massage any problem areas on the body accordingly.

Establish customer loyalty by providing excellent customer service, and maintaining tight after sales service standards.

In today’s world of faceless customer service messaging and texts, customer service is highly valued. You will have a strong base from which to build a referral marketing program if all of these are handled correctly.

Customer Experience

No matter how hard you try, even your most loyal customers may not know about your referral program. Don’t assume that customers stopping by your business are aware of your referral program. Customers have already praised your excellent customer service to their friends and families, so use their loyalty and trust in your business by informing them of your referral program.

Ask for referrals by word-of-mouth and online

Word-of-mouth marketing requires promotion. Have your instructors talk about the referral programs before or after class to help spread the word with customers. You can provide your current customers with free gym or spa pass cards, which they can hand out to friends and family.

Your website can include a referral form for members. Set up a social media campaign centered on referrals, encouraging followers to refer friends. Adding social media integration to popular websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can assist with sharing content, linking to unique content, and promoting special offers.

Offer a double-incentive referral program

For a customer to refer their friends and family, provide both existing clients and potential new customers with a double-incentive referral program. Referral programs that reward both the customers and the potential customers receive that same incentive or a different one from each other.

For example, if a customer refers to a friend who buys a class package, they both receive a free small group training session. The customer can also receive points or credit for the referral.

It’s worth noting that the incentives may need to change depending on your customer base and marketing efforts. Depending on your situation, you may want to create referral programs for potential customers as well as for local social media influencers.

A tier system may also be an option, where your customers get more benefits with each referral including branded merchandise or membership in a community of brand ambassadors.

Make your referral program easier for sharing

Most businesses make the mistake of thinking their customers know how to share a referral link when they join a referral program. In fact, your customers will ask the question, “How do I share my referral link?”

With the right referral marketing platform, customers can share their referral link easily via text or email. For example, they can share their referral link via a text message with a friend for a free workout and then they can earn $50. The friend comes in to redeem a free workout, and the existing customer receives the credit along with a thank you note.

Increase Your Business Referrals With These Steps

To be successful with a referral campaign, get to know your customers. Ask them about where their friends train and seek their input on what they would like to see more of that’s going to motivate them to bring friends and family.

In the day and age of social media, consumer referrals go beyond the face-to-face, conversational methods of the past. You can make it easier for your customers to refer their friends and family with a referral marketing platform, so you can keep track of business referrals and give them their due incentives.

If done correctly, a referral campaign can significantly increase the number of increased business referrals your company receives. Once you have established it, be sure to monitor its success and track where the greatest impact is being felt.

3+ ways to build an opt-in customer database by using Referrizer

Discover how to build your opt-in customer database using tools you have in Referrizer.

3 easy ways to build a database

1. Scan QR Code or Text YES to your Texting number

One of the easiest ways to collect client’s opt-in permission is to have your clients text YES to your Texting Number (Smartline)

How does it work?

Tell your clients that you updated your communication policy and they will not be able to receive Text updates and deals unless they opt-in their number.

Simply, they need to scan the QR Code and press SEND.

PRINT an OPT-IN QR Code template. Purchase from Office Depot or Staple acrylic 8.5 x 11” stand to place print inside.

Download your OPT-IN TEMPLATE HERE.

2. Email Opt-in Campaign

Want to send Email Opt-in Campaign to your customers right away?

3. Smart Line

Referrizer’s Smart Line is a tool that allows you to encourage every client that calls your business to opt-in for marketing messages.

How does it work?

When the phone call ends, your clients/leads will receive a text message that thanks them for calling and asks if they want to get notified about special offers, promotions, and news.

One of our spa clients managed to get 1456 new opt-ins just by using the Smart Line feature to engage clients after the call has ended.

Smart Line advantage.

The Smart Line is connected to your CRM in Referrizer, so if a client/lead who already opted in is calling you, he/she will not receive the message that invites them to opt-in again.

What do you need to start collecting opt-ins with Smart Line?

If you have a Referrizer premium account, the Smart line tracking number is already available to you. To start using it, you will need to promote the Smart Line number whenever your clients may find it. For example: Social media platforms and the Google business page. If you want to activate the Smart Line tracking number, check out this article to see how.

BONUS

4. Smart WiFi

If you want to target existing clients to opt-in for marketing messages, Smart WiFi is a tool that is ideal for targeting people who are inside of your business.

How does it work?

When a client tries to connect to your free business WiFi, if you have Referrizer Smart WiFi active, it will ask them to provide their name and phone number to continue. By doing so, clients are opting themselves in to be able to use your free WiFi.

Smart WiFi advantage.

Once your client opt-in and connects to your WiFi, the next time he/she visits your business, Smart WiFi will recognize them and automatically check-in your client. This comes in handy for your loyalty program since clients will be able to check-in and earn rewards easier without involving your staff.

How to get Smart WiFi in your business?

In Referrizer, we provide you with a device that turns your regular WiFi into a smart one. This device is free, but it comes with a $149 deposit that will be returned to you if you decide you don’t want to use Smart WiFi anymore.

Click here to order your Smart WiFi device.

Best way to boost your opt-ins with Smart WiFi.

Providing a phone number for access to WiFi certainly isn’t the best deal for clients. Usually, they expect some kind of reward when they share a piece of private information.

However, Smart WiFi can work well even if you don’t offer any kind of discount if framed in the right way. Two ways you can frame it:

Tell clients they will be among the first people to hear about upcoming special offers.
Let your staff explain the benefits of checking in easier and earning points.

5. Check-in Kiosk

Same as for Smart WiFi, Check-in Kiosk is an effective way to get clients in your business to opt-in.

How does it work?

When you use Referrizer Loyalty program, one of the ways clients can earn points is through check-ins. Check-In Kiosk is a tablet that allows your clients to confirm their visit by entering their phone number.

How to start collecting phone numbers from your clients?

Simply order your free Referrizer Check-in kiosk here. We will send it to you in no time so you can start collecting opt-ins as soon as possible.

6. Opt-in Paper Form

Sometimes, you don’t need any kind of advanced technology to get people to opt-in.

Politely asking clients when they are in your business if they want to receive a special offer works just fine.

Get them to fill in and sign a short document with their name and phone number that explains that they will occasionally receive promotional messages. After that, the client has opted-in legally and you have the green light to send them marketing messages without any hesitation.

What to do with the contacts you collected using paper opt-in?

Apart from automatically updating your contacts in Referrizer, you can also manually import contacts into your CRM. During the import process, you will have a choice to select if the client has opted-in for SMS or email marketing. Make sure that you choose the right channel that the client has selected.

Download FREE paper opt-in for you to use in your business to collect clients’ phone numbers.

7. Landing page

If you are using Referrizer landing pages, you have a super-easy way to collect customers’ emails. The same as with the methods mentioned above, the number of subscribers will depend on the way you ask for the opt-in.

What to write?

Here are a few ideas that you can put on your landing page:

Get informed about exclusive rewards.

Receive special offers from [BUSINESS NAME] in your email.
Get notified about awesome offers from [BUSINESS NAME]

How to start collecting opt-ins from your landing page?

If you have an active landing page in Referrizer, follow these steps to activate a subscription section:

Click on the Landing Page module in the Referrizer backend (left side menu).
Select a landing page where you want to add a subscription section.
Find the “subscribe element” on the left side and activate it. It will appear on your landing page.
Edit text, background, and button color to make it perfect.

Referral Tracking for Small Businesses: How to Get Started

There are few things more persuasive than the referrals of people you trust. It is also free, so you can get a much higher ROI with referral marketing. In the U.S., friends’ social media posts influence 81% of customers’ buying decisions, compared with 78% who are influenced by posts by the brands they follow.

Customer referral programs work best though when you are clear on your sales and marketing goals, make changes to encourage sharing and referrals, and implement a tracking platform that helps you achieve marketing and sales objectives.

What is referral tracking?

Since many people rely on the opinions of friends and family, they often ask them for recommendations regarding films, restaurants or books. People like to share products related to their favorite companies, such as gyms or workouts.

Think about the scenario where your gym or fitness boutique gets referred by not one referrer, but a lot of people. Now, you’ll have to track which referrals came from each person. Referral tracking is a method of monitoring and collecting data on all activities related to your referral program.

Your existing customer base can receive their personalized referral code or referral link, and when their referred friends and family use one to check out your business, you will be able to track all your customer referrals.

What are the benefits of tracking referrals?

Referrals need to be tracked for several reasons, including identifying who to reward and when. While tracking referrals can provide you with deep insight into how to increase referrals, it can also help you make smarter decisions about your marketing strategy. Several other reasons exist that can help you with your referral program.

Measure the level of customer satisfaction

You can gauge the satisfaction of your customers by tracking a few key metrics in your referral program. Referrals are more likely to come when your customers are happy with your service. NPS (Net Promoter Score) is one metric you can use for measuring customer satisfaction. The likelihood of a satisfied customer referring your product and services is greater than that of a dissatisfied customer, regardless of if there is a reward.

See how many people have signed up for your referral program

Review your referral marketing program’s participation rate to help you evaluate its success. Looking at participation rates or numbers of sign-ups can help you determine if the program is working. Your referral marketing strategy may need to be altered if your participation rate is low.

Check how often your referrers share their referral codes

Take a look at how many advocates are sending referrals, and which channels they prefer, such as email, text messages, social media, a referral code, and so on. Your advocates can then produce more content and improve the experience of using the program.

You will be more likely to get recommendations from happy customers. When you offer an incentive, you can measure satisfaction right there. Clients who receive a relevant reward will refer others.

Track the number of referrals from your customers

You can see how much an advocate gets referrals by tracking their referral rate. From that, you can create a level-based reward system and the number of referrals generated by your best advocates can go a long way.

You may have an advocate who shares their referral code and referral links with their 10,000 followers on social media. However, not everyone will click on the referral link. This equates to only .1% of followers clicking on the link. Ensure that what you offer will satisfy a new customer.

See how many referrals actually follow through

Your referrer might share many times, but only get a handful of referrals. Now you need to see if that referred friend will show up to your business.

You’ll be able to track how many referrals visit your gym after being referred. By using this number, you can determine whether changes are needed for your referral program. The number is often used by marketers to gauge a program’s success.

To measure the effectiveness of your redirect page, landing page, and confirmation page, you can also look at how long it takes a consumer to buy a product after clicking on their referral code. A low number of referrals may indicate you need to restructure your referral marketing program or reconsider your referral rewards.

Ensure referrals are valid

If you do not track references accurately and effectively, you might be charged for referrals that aren’t genuine. It could also decrease the overall return on your program if you pay for referrals that aren’t authentic.

The right tracking can enable you to determine which references are rewarded, which is important to ensure only legitimate referrals get paid and that self-referrals and fake referrals do not get anything.

Analyze how the referral marketing program affects revenue

Incentives provided to members will likely have a significant impact on your profit based on how high your conversion rate is. You can offer your existing customers an incentive to convert friends and family into members through a 10% discount. But a free trial for conversion could result in a loss of profit.

How can you track your referrals?

For the business owner trying to keep up with referral marketing, keeping track of your referral information is one of the more challenging and perplexing aspects of referral marketing. There are several methods for tracking, including flyers, cards, and referral program software.

You may need a simple solution rather than something more complex depending on your business needs.

1. Real-life Referral Process

For a spa or wellness boutique that offers printed materials like gift cards to customers, you can provide referring customers with copies of business cards and flyers to hand out to their friends. You can also add a referral code to printed referral cards, which will link the referrer to anyone who uses it.

2. Online Customer Referral Process

When you work with a good referral platform, the simplest referral program would be:

A referrer participating in the referral program invites their friends and family via their referral tracker, which could be a referral link or code.
The referred friend is then tracked using the unique identifier that can be found in a referral link or code.
A referrer receives a reward when a friend purchases referrers, products, or services through the link provided.

3. Referral Platform Process

It becomes easier when using referral program software and the software does all of the work.

On a confirmation page, JavaScript web pixels are used to track user characteristics (via cookies).
A postback URL is a link back to the referral program software with the conversion data and URL parameters you provide.
An API call returns the URL parameters provided by the referral program with the referrer’s referral.

Looking for a referral program platform?

Referrizer is an automated referral marketing tool that helps you to increase referrals and easily keep track of rewards, advocates and new customers that you generated through word of mouth marketing.

Always Review Your Referral Tracking Process

When running a referral program, keeping track of referrals is a critical part of your overall marketing strategy. The more visible a referral program is, the more likely it is to succeed. Your referrers should be able to utilize their referral codes or referral links on social media, fliers, and even traditional cards.

Don’t forget that a successful referral program is all about providing an excellent customer experience so your customers are more than willing to refer you to others. You can still use referral tracking, in either case, to keep track of your customer referral program, increasing the chances of your business growing.

Top 25 Referral Marketing Program Mistakes

If you have happy existing customers who are pleased with your products and services, it is a good idea to ask them for a referral. The relationships you have with your customers can help you grow your customer base, since they can refer friends in their networks.

But just chatting to your customers about referring isn’t always enough. The setup and management of referral marketing campaigns usually entails a lot of moving parts, so there is a risk of referral programs failing. You must also work hard to ensure that you maintain the satisfaction of your current customers to continue and grow your business.

We’ve identified 25 common mistakes business owners and marketers commit in referral marketing, so you can plan your referral marketing strategy and avoid these failures.

Beginner Mistakes

1. Neglecting customer satisfaction

If you have a lackluster product or service at first, then there’s no way customers will refer you to their friends. Be sure you’re delivering services and products that exceed your customer’s expectations before asking for a customer referral.

2. Asking customers for referrals when they may not be ready to refer right away

There may be a hesitation from people to tell others about your company right away. You need to recognize when your customers will trust you enough to start recommending you to friends and family. Luckly, as a business owner you should know your customers well enough to decide on the right timing.

3. Assuming no customers means no referral marketing

There is no need to wait for a critical mass of customers before you begin focusing on referral marketing. You can scale your word-of-mouth marketing alongside your other channels such as paid ads and influencer marketing as your company grows.

4. Targeting the wrong customers

Boosting referrals will be difficult for brands that have not connected with their customers. To find the right audience for your company, look through your sales data and social media channels.

5. Referrals don’t know where to take the next steps

You shouldn’t leave too much to chance when attempting to reach new customers. Going from a word-of-mouth referral to a confusing or overly detailed referral page can discourage a friend from going through a referral.

Launch Mistakes

6. Set and forget

When you launch a referral program, you can’t simply forget about it. Especially in the early stages, it’s important to keep track and if needed redesign, evaluate, and reassess it on a regular basis.

7. Zero personalization

A personalized referral is just as important as an invitation to join. If a customer feels that they are not treated as a person but as simply a number, they will not join your program.

8. Not choosing the right type of promotions

If your business is one in which customer privacy is key, customers revealing their referral links on social media will cause problems. Referral cards and emails may be more appropriate alternatives.

9. You still have not figured out the best strategy

There is no shortcut to success when it comes to referrals. If it remains stagnant, consider changing your goals or incentives after giving your program some time to become adjusted.

10. You're not patient enough

As soon as your referral campaign fails to generate the millions you had hoped for, you give up. To be successful, you must reevaluate your campaign regularly and refuse to give up on your referral marketing.

Referral Marketing Mistakes

11. It’s hard to find

The importance of maintaining a visible referral program on your website, social media pages, email newsletters, and even in your brick-and-mortar location cannot be overstated. Getting the program out in front of the customer will likely get them to notice it and investigate it.

12. The registration process is complex

Signing up for your referral program may be too confusing for customers. Make sure that signup is frictionless and access to referral incentives is straightforward.

13. Your customers have a difficult time navigating through your referral webpage

You don’t have to go for a fancy design for your referral program’s webpage, but you do have to make it meaningful for your customers and easy for them to navigate. A customer may otherwise reconsider joining the program as a result of this.

14. Your website hides the CTA (call-to-action)

If you hide your call-to-action on your website, customers are less likely to interact with it. Make sure your website includes a basic call-to-action that directs the audience to the right place where they can join your referral program.

15. Your content is hard to understand

Customers should not be forced to read long blocks of text if you want them to recommend your products. The average person looks at a website’s written content for 5.59 seconds, so you only have a few seconds to tell your customers what your referral program is all about.

Promotional Mistakes

16. There is no invitation to customers

If customers don’t know your program exists, how will they learn about it? Do not forget to personally ask your customers for referrals, and to encourage them to endorse your business by using word-of-mouth marketing.

17. The way you ask customers to start referring

Getting clients to join your referral program won’t work if you come across as desperate. This will seem insincere and will make your customers feel uncomfortable.

18. Referrers haven't heard from you enough

Don’t forget to continue to engage your referrers, or you otherwise let them flail in the wind. However, don’t go too far either or you’ll annoy them, which could result in no reads, deletions, and unsubscribes.

19. You have failed to get feedback from customers

Seeing low levels of engagement may lead you to reach out to customers in order to learn why. Using this valuable information is one method of transforming a referral program.

20. You don't say "thank you" to your referrals

Send a personal thank you message or call the customer if they take the time to make a referral. It is increasingly important to show people you care by offering them simple courtesies.

Incentive Mistakes

21. There is no reward for the referral

Referral programs that reward the referrer while offering no incentive to the referral usually fail before they get off the ground. By offering rewards to successful referrals as well, you will add an extra incentive to encourage them to try out your business.

22. You only offer irrelevant rewards

Imagine you have referred your friends to a company and are excited about getting a unique incentive only to be offered a low-quality branded pen or mug as a thank-you for your referrals. To generate excitement about referral marketing, you should offer a range of rewards to your customers, from cash rewards to gift cards to discounts.

23. The incentive structure is confusing

If you can’t explain your referral incentives to a five-year-old, then it is too complex. Referral programs must be simple for customers: This makes it easier for them to figure out what rewards they will earn so that they are more inclined to refer their friends.

24. You don’t know how many incentives you gave out

If everything is going well and your customers are happy with your incentives, then you need to know how to track the overall performance. Getting the best results from your referral program requires that you track referrals and review key metrics.

25. You use a spreadsheet for tracking

Thanks to software that makes setting up referral programs easy, you don’t have to manually enter referrals into a spreadsheet. You can track referral incentives, measure performance, and track referral incentives all in one dashboard.

Bottom line?

Referral programs are excellent strategies for rewarding current customers and gaining new ones. When launching a referral program, companies expect hundreds of new customers right away.

However, it’s best to focus on creating a well-run, referral program that gets customers excited with relevant incentives and meaningful appreciation from the company. With some testing and patience, your referral program can get off to a good start.