Referrals from happy customers are a big key to growth for most companies, which is why so many brands offer their customers incentives to refer friends and family. Given the emphasis on influencer culture today, when anyone can become an internet celebrity whose word carries a lot of weight with their fans, highly produced commercial ads may not be as persuasive as the opinions of happy customers giving your business wholehearted referrals.
Leveraging the satisfied reviews of your current customers in your marketing can infuse the kind of authenticity consumers seek in the brands they support. Below, seven members of Forbes Agency Council offer their best tips for companies to encourage peer-to-peer marketing. See how you can use their advice in your own efforts to generate a profitable word-of-mouth buzz for your brand.
Forbes Agency Council members offer their best tips to help companies encourage peer-to-peer marketing.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Offer Monetary Value And An Emotional Payoff
A great incentive that has actual monetary value always helps, but the main thing people want is to feel connected and a part of something bigger. By inviting their friends to be a part of your brand, they are not only validating your company but also themselves and their relationships. The key, then, is to create an incentive that offers both monetary value as the lure and emotional value as the payoff. – Julian Scott, Shaw/Scott, Inc.
2. Offer Both A Referral Bonus And A Spot Bonus
It’s smart to offer clients a referral bonus the same way you would a recruiter and, ideally, an additional bonus. Since no one can sing your praises as compellingly as a current or former client, they are ultimately your best salespeople. We offer a referral fee as well as a spot bonus in free services for clients based on how many clients they bring us. It’s well worth the investment. – April Margulies, Trust Relations
3. Focus On A Compelling Customer Experience
You need more than just incentives; you need a customer experience that will make people want to share their referrals. Word-of-mouth marketing has become popular because it offers insights into how consumers perceive a brand in the digital world. It doesn’t take much effort. – Stefan Katanic, Veza Digital
MORE FOR YOU
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
4. Identify Potential Advocates In Your Existing Database
Many companies have built-in advocates in their fan base that they’re underusing. Start with a deep dive into your existing database and listen to social media to uncover any insights that will help you identify your strongest potential customer references. Interact with them on social media and use customer surveys to reveal great information on brand advocates who would like to join an incentivized referral program. – Megan Devine, d.trio marketing group
5. Benefit The Customer More Than The Brand
While an incentive should be relevant to the brand or product in question, it needs to obviously benefit the customer more than it benefits the brand. For example, a discount or an exclusive item is appealing. A coupon, on the other hand, requires action and suggests that the customer first needs to spend more money before they get any benefit, even if they’re already helping your business with a referral. – Dmitrii Kustov, Regex SEO
6. Implement A Two-Sided Referral Incentive Program
The best way to encourage peer-to-peer marketing is by implementing a two-sided referral incentive program. The brand will reward the existing customer for their time and effort in referring their friends and family, and the new earned customer will also be rewarded by the brand for their business. – Jonas Muthoni, Deviate Agency
7. Don’t Just Offer A ‘One And Done’ Referral Incentive
Keep the offer on the table for the first, second and 20th referrals. You don’t want them to ever stop referring others to your brand, right? So, make sure you continue to encourage them to do so by making it worth their while. New customers for you equals deals, discounts and motivation for them. Win-win! – Bernard May, National Positions
Go to Source
Author: Expert Panel®, Forbes Councils Member
