Did you know that word-of-mouth publicity is the major reason behind the buying decision of a customer? Referral marketing for e-commerce also leads to a 16% higher lifetime value as well.
One of the most shocking statistics that we came across was that 83% of the consumers are ready to refer a product to someone they know, but out of these people only 29% actually do the same. (According to Texas State University)
We are quite sure that these statistics would have painted a clear picture of the importance of referral marketing for e-commerce sales in today’s business world, which is being dominated by online sales.
Now, looking at all of this, the only question that would have popped up in the mind of a business person has to be – how to use referral marketing to boost e-commerce sales?
And this is exactly what we are going to talk about in this post. So, let us begin right away!
Determine the rewards
Before you begin thinking of offering a referral program, the first and the most important thing you need to figure out is the reward that you are going to offer.
There are two options – offer some monetary incentive or a discount. Now, this is where the game begins.
There are many factors that play a decisive role here. According to many surveys, people in America prefer getting monetary incentives more than any other reward. In fact, 77% of them do!
You can easily find plenty of other such surveys in the market and then think about the most appropriate reward for your niche audience. After all, there is no point in offering a reward that does not entice the audience.
Promote your referral program as much as you can
Without proper promotion and intense referral marketing campaigns for e-commerce, even the biggest of brands failed to reap rewards from their referral programs.
Once the rewards have been decided, the next step is to make sure people know about these rewards. This is where the power of marketing comes into the picture.
To make sure that you promote the program in the best possible manner, here are some tricks that are worth trying:
- Send emails to your existing customer list
- Create call-to-actions and place them relevantly
- Use prompt messages
- Leverage your presence on social media
All these things when brought together can do wonders for your brand in promoting the referral program that you have launched.
Make the process of easy
Do you know the biggest secret behind success in referral marketing for e-commerce stores? It is making it easy for your users to refer your business to others.
The best example of this strategy comes from Dropbox, which started offering free space to users for referring their brand to their friends. The results were legendary. Their sales shot from 100,000 users to 4,000,000 users within 15 months. In fact, they saw a 60% rise in the number of signups during that time.
Can you beat that?
Now, this is where you can learn a trick or two from this online giant.
Remember – customers are going to run away from things that are hard. They love to do easy things and this is what you have to do – make it easy for them to share your brand. And, in return be certain to get great rewards!
Reach out to customers
As already mentioned, people are willing to refer a brand they trust – but only a few of them. This is because not all businesses ask them to do the same.
Now, if you want to make the most of your e-shop referral marketing campaign you need to reach out to your existing customers and ask them for the same. You will be shocked to see that people won’t hesitate in promoting a product or referring people to a service that they found useful.
So, why not do it?
After all, you are offering an incentive in return as well.
Keep reminding your customers
Referral marketing for e-commerce is not a one-time affair – it is a continuous process. You need to constantly focus on your customers and keep sending regular updates reminding them of what you are offering as part of your referral program.
After all, you must not forget that it is quite easy for users to get distracted and move away with all the noise that is there in the market. You must, therefore, plan a regular strategy. For instance, if you are focusing on email marketing devise a plan to resend the emails after a particular time gap.
Doing such small things in the right way could prove to be the difference between success and failure of your campaign. So, make sure you do them right.
E-commerce referral programs are a lot of work
To sum it up, we would not misguide anyone by saying that it is easy to create and run a successful referral program. No, they are not. In fact, they require a lot of sincere effort. But, everything that is worth it requires effort. Isn’t it so?
The question is – are you willing to put in the work or not?
With meticulous planning, sincere efforts and proper thinking, any referral program can be made successful. There is no dearth of examples that show brands that planned their referrals programs right and are making a heyday even today using their success.
Want to create a successful referral marketing program using email marketing? Check out this pre-build email sequence, all done-for-you.
Last thoughts on referral marketing for e-commerce
To sum it up, all we have left to say is that referral marketing for e-commerce holds great potential for businesses that want to leverage the power of their existing clientele and use it as a weapon to demolish their competitors.
After all, there is no better way to acquire more customers than to let your existing customers bring others to you. Isn’t that something that lays the foundation of a thriving business?
If you agree, then begin implementing these tricks in your referral program and see how things turn out.
All the best!