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7 Referral Program Ideas That Will Win You Customers for Life

Anthony Taylor February 15, 2019
Referral Program Ideas

You’ve probably heard that word of mouth is the most valuable form of advertising.  This still holds true today with a recent study stating that 83% of people trust the recommendations of friends and family.

How can you make it more likely that customers will talk about you to their friends and family? By using a referral program. Here are seven referral program ideas that can do great things for your business.

Referral Program Ideas

The concept behind these customer referral program ideas is that your customer gets something in return for mentioning you to other people. What that something is, will depend on your business and what your goals are. Here are some examples:

Refer a friend for points

Your customer receives a certain number of points for each friend they refer.  The points can be redeemed as a discount or for special gifts. This can be tied into a reward points program if you have one. Some programs will even give the referrer points for everything their friends buy.

Refer a friend for charity

Some companies have had success by offering to make a donation to charity for every friend that is referred. In terms of referral marketing ideas, this one is a double winner as it also shows the company in a good light for its charitable actions.

Cashback Referrals

How much does it cost you to gain a new customer? Do you have any idea? If you do, then you could just hand some or all that amount to one of your existing customers for a referral.

Store Credit

Alternatively, how about giving the customer that amount of value in credit to their account? You look far more generous than you’re actually being with this type of refer a friend program because the customer gets retail value off.  This makes your cost far less.

Gift Cards

Alternatively, you could offer your customers (and their referee) a gift card for signing up and spending some money with you. This could be a gift card for your product or service or something that appeals to your target demographic.

Free Premium Access

You’ll see this technique a lot with Software as a Service model, where they offer premium access. It’s a type of refer a friend program idea that benefits both parties, and it’s a way to show your low-level customers a taste of the good stuff along the way.

Raffle Entries

Rather than giving away a lot of small prizes, combine them all together into one big prize. Then, give your customers a chance to win by referring a friend. One lucky winner gets the main prize and you get a good story to talk about.

Can We Help with Your Referral Program?

These are just a few referral program ideas, but there are many ways you can customize them to suit your business. If you’d like more advice on running a great referral program, contact us today.

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