When it comes to bringing new yogis to your business, you have different methods to try out.
From social media posts and paid ads to flyers and organic traffic on your website.
But when we look at performance and invested effort, referral marketing is one of the simplest and cost-effective ways for yoga businesses to get new clients.
It comes as no surprise that successful yoga practitioners and studios rely heavily on word-of-mouth marketing.
Here is the simple reason why. Before anyone joins your class, they need to decide if you are the right place for them.
People research, look for reviews, read about other people’s experiences, look at your program and offers.
In other words, they are putting in work to help them make the best decision, which is expected since it is not a one-time purchase.
Yogis are looking for a place where they will feel comfortable, surrounded by friendly people and skillful teachers.
When we consider all the variables in the decision-making process, it is obvious why it can be hard to cut through the noise – even if your business is the perfect match.
Referral marketing works great in this case because it usually comes from a person we know, and based on research, 92% of people trust recommendations when it comes from a friend.
So, by focusing on referrals, you are reducing the friction people usually experience before deciding to join you – and the less friction there is, the easier it is to bring in new clients.
Here are 6 tips to help you obtain more clients with referral marketing.
Provide a remarkable experience worth mentioning.
First things first – people talk about businesses in 2 cases: when they have had an unbelievably unpleasant experience or when they have had an amazing time.
And yes, you want to be the latter since 55% of people will refer you if they are satisfied with your business.
So when you are focusing on providing the best possible experience to your clients, there is a great chance that people will start to talk about your business even if you are not offering any rewards.
Thinking about how you can provide a better experience?
Start asking your clients for feedback to hear what is wrong.
Go through negative reviews (if you have any) and solve the issues that cause them.
And most importantly, build a strong relationship with your clients by sharing valuable and useful knowledge.
Offer attractive rewards.
Since clients are doing you a favor by referring, it is a good idea to give them something that will make them feel special.
Rewards can drastically impact the number of referrals you are getting – research shows that 88% of Americans are looking for some kind of incentive.
However, you need to choose incentives for your referral program carefully. Offering extremely generous rewards can turn into a costly experiment, but also, if incentives aren’t tempting enough, you will see low engagement.
The best way to choose rewards is to decide how much you are willing to spend on obtaining new clients through referrals.
Use a loyalty program to boost referrals.
If you are already using a loyalty program to get people to come more often, make it possible to earn points whenever they refer a friend to your yoga studio.
This is a great way to engage clients since they will be able to earn points easier and also collect rewards faster.
Keep in mind to highlight that clients will receive points only if a referral signs up. You want to make sure you are rewarding actual conversions.
Keep clients notified.
People forget, or even worse, they don’t know you have a referral program.
Make sure that from the beginning, you notify people that recommendations are always welcomed and highly appreciated.
If you are collecting new clients’ emails, use the welcome email to introduce them to the referral program.
On the other hand, if you are not using any kind of email marketing, make a nice-looking flyer you can give to your clients.
Set a clear goal.
It is always easier to move forward when you have a clear goal – the same goes for referrals.
For example: We at Referrizer know that some small businesses don’t have a budget big enough to invest in marketing automation.
To help business owners overcome that challenge, we made it possible to get Referrizer marketing automation for free through our referral program.
For each new referral, our users get a discount on the monthly subscription. With 6 referrals, they get Referrizer for free for a lifetime.
You can use the same system for your referral program.
One referral can be 15% off on the next class.
For five referrals, you can give them 25% off on 10 classes.
Five referrals = 30% off in one month.
Make referring simple.
Reviews are very similar to referrals.
Both are valuable for you and happy clients are willing to provide them.
As it often happens, people forget to give you a review, or perhaps the review process is too complicated.
The same thing can happen for clients who want to refer a friend to your business.
Making it simple for people is the key to getting more word-of-mouth referrals.
Here is how we make it easy for everyone to refer with Referrizer.
Instead of hoping your clients will remember to mention you, we use text and email campaigns to reach out to your loyal clients and boost referrals.
When your clients receive text messages or emails from you, they are able to refer a friend in 3 clicks without downloading the app or creating a profile. Your client’s phone number becomes their ID.
The best thing about it, while it is super simple for them to refer, it is even easier for you to monitor referrals with our unique link id, so you don’t need to keep track of them manually by yourself.
Want to learn more? Schedule your 1-on-1 demo here.
