Every type of business can get a referral in someway. Whether it's word of mouth or programmed into your product you've probably heard that referrals are important. In this post we help discover why referrals are important.
Higher Lead Quality
78% of B2B marketers say it generates leads of good or excellent quality. Getting leads is only half the battle. Depending on where your leads are coming from, they will all convert at different rates. Some channels will always perform higher than other channels and if you don't have referral marketing as a channel to help bring in leads you are potentially missing out on a very high quality source of leads. Tip: Go look at your past signups in Google analytics and figure out where your highest converting visitors are coming from. Double down on whatever source that is.
Increased Lead Quantity
60% of marketers say it generates a high volume of leads. Referral programs are unique in the sense that once you set them up and implement a good referral program, it should start working for you. Other methods of lead generation such as content marketing (which is an awesome source of leads), always require some type of input to get more leads from the channel. Referral marketing does not, implement your program and start reaping the rewards almost instantly. Tip: The more channels you can get automated and working for your business, the faster you will grow.
Lower Cost Per Lead
54% say referral marketing has a lower cost-per lead. Getting your business to generate as much ROI is possible is what we do as marketers. Referral marketing is one of the lowest cost-per lead growth channels available to you today. Implementation can be take as little as 5 minutes or might need a developer on it depending on the type of business you run but, in the long-run it's almost always worth it. Tip: Calculate all your current customer acquisition costs and estimate where referral marketing would fit in.
Everyone is doing it... For a reason
88% of marketers use referral marketing and loyalty marketing software. Every type of business from ecommerce to service industry businesses are starting to implement referral programs and it's not because it's a trend. Referral programs work and it adds a growth channel to your business that can add a new source of revenue into your business. Tip: Research your competitors and see what referral programs they have implemented. Then focus on what they're doing wrong and implement a better version for your business.
Marketers rate referrals as the 2nd highest source of quality leads
Referral marketing barely falls right behind trade shows & events as marketers top lead sources. If you've been paying attention to marketing in the past year, you will have seen how much businesses are starting to value growth channels such as: email marketing, retargeting, SEO, webinars and more. Even with these markets emerging as high quality growth channels, most marketers agree that referrals are the 2nd highest quality growth channel available. Tip: Categorize your leads into different channels such as content marketing, retargeting, etc and see which ones are performing the best for you. If you don't have referrals as a source imagine how it would affect your business being the 2nd highest source of leads.
Plug & Play Referral Programs
Here is a quick list of some of the top referral programs you can use today:
- Referral Rock - Plug and play referral system you can setup in 5 minutes
- ReferralSaaSquatch - Referral program for Stripe.
- Ambassador - Turn your customers into brand ambassadors
- Refersion - Ecommerce referral program for shopify, woocommerce and magento
- Referral Candy - Automated referral program for SaaS