According to the most recent Nielsen Trust in Advertising report, 89% of people trust word-of-mouth recommendations. The interesting thing about this dynamic is that consumers don’t necessarily need these endorsements to come from friends or family. Instead, they’re happy to get a referral from previous or existing customers of businesses.
Referrals are one of the most effective marketing strategies for small business owners. For starters, referrals are free or low-cost. Moreover, per Deloitte, a referred customer has a 37% higher retention rate than average, making referrals one of the most lucrative channels.
So, how can small business owners get the high-quality referrals they need to expand their customer base? Here are some ideas that you can try.
#1. Provide excellent service
Excellent customer experiences are at the heart of any referral. Indeed, if you consistently exceed customer expectations, organic growth is possible through word of mouth alone.
However, aside from wowing your customers with the kind of service they just can’t get anywhere, a few little nudges will help you get the referrals you need.
One of the best tips involves reaching out to customers after you’ve completed a job to check their satisfaction levels. The key here is that if they have issues or concerns, you can resolve them before they fester or turn into negative feedback. Or, if there happy, you can ask them to provide a referral or a glowing review.
#2. Amplify referrals through social media
Social media gives small businesses the kind of reach that would only be possible with expensive marketing campaigns. Creating content that showcases your work is a great idea, especially if it’s visually striking and shareable.
Another good idea you can employ is to make posts with customer testimonials or encourage or incentivize happy customers to share the results of your work. Finally, engage with customers who thank you for your service over social media or encourage user-generated content that shows what you can do. These posts will introduce your business to your customers network, allowing you to pick up more work.
#3. Pick the right time
They say that timing is everything, and that’s true in life and in the business of getting great referrals. If your company has provided an excellent service, see it as a time to strike. Similarly, if a customer complements the quality of your work, use it as an opportunity to ask for a referral.
So, train your staff to look out for these opportunities and encourage the reviews and referrals that will boost your bottom-line.
#4. Start a referral program
Another proven strategy for driving sales through referrals is to start a referral program. In effect, this means formally allowing happy customers to recommend your services.
You can set up your referral programs in two primary ways:
- One-sided program, i.e., your customer refers to someone they know. If their friend turns into a customer, your original customer gets a reward.
- Two-sided program, i.e., your customer refers to a friend. If their friend becomes a customer, both your original and new customers get rewards.
The rewards don’t need to be spectacular. Discounts, free products, gift cards, or exclusive deals are all common incentives businesses use to nudge their clients. Just devise the program and promote it to start seeing results.
#5. Make referrals easy for your happy customers
Many customers would be happy to refer your business, but they won’t necessarily want to do a lot of work to make that referral. One of the best ways to smooth out the referral process is to remove as much friction as you can..
So, if you do start a referral program, ensure it’s user-friendly. Make the instructions crystal clear, and ensure your customers know the following:
- How your referral program works.
- What rewards or incentives can they get?
- How can they refer to their friends and families?
Some other good ideas include building a dedicated referral landing page on your website or social media pages. Adding referral links or codes on your website means that happy customers can recommend your business at the touch of a button.
#6. Email marketing campaigns
Email marketing campaigns are one of the best ways to drive referrals that turn into sales and revenue. They’re low cost, easy to automate, and they can scale with your business, no matter how big you get.
A solid referral marketing email campaign can make a big difference. You can set them up in many different ways. For example, if you’ve completed work for a customer, you can send them an automated email requesting a review or incentivizing them to refer someone they know. As suggested point #4 above, this email could lead to a referral specific landing page with shareable buttons.
Of course, if you have clear incentives for your customers, or a well-designed referral program, you can promote these with an email marketing campaign.
How Townsquare’s Business Management Platform can help
Implementing the various strategies included above might seem like a significant investment, especially for small business owners who are already short on time. However, Townsquare Interactive’s business management platform was built to take the hassle out of growing your business so you can concentrate on delivering maximum value to your customers.
Our business management platform comes with a raft of exciting features that can help you drive referrals. For example, our email and SMS marketing tools allow you to automate communication with customers so that you can:
- Setup and manage your referral programs.
- Send well-timed reminders that nudge your customers to make referrals.
- Track the performance of your referral programs.
The best part is that you can centralize, store, and manage each referral in our user-friendly cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) system. From there, you can boost your company’s reputation through efficient communication and integrated inboxes and calendars that mean you never have important emails or appointments.
Providing a seamless experience for existing and referred customers means your hard work and service can translate into grow, allowing you to drive sales and revenue. Contact our team today to get started.