When you are trying to achieve your business goal, sometimes incentives can get in the way. For example, if your goal is to increase sales, offering a discount or free item may put pressure on your colleagues to buy instead of supporting their department or team.
If this happens, they might feel uncomfortable buying what you offered as an incentive. This can be avoided by using rewards that inspire gratitude rather than discounts.
Rewards that boost morale are much more effective than rewards with a low return. These rewards strengthen teamwork and collaboration, which are important for success in any setting.
This article will talk about some examples of reward types and how they can be applied in referral marketing programs.
Why should my business use referral marketing?
As mentioned earlier, referrals are one of the most powerful forms of advertising there is! This article will talk about why you should offer rewards to your current customers for word-of-mouth advertising.
First, you must understand that your current customers want what you have – they want to enjoy using your services or products. If someone else uses your service or product, then they will likely give their friends their praise (the ultimate form of advertisement).
By offering something special to these people who referred you, you create an incentive for them to keep referring others to you. Creating incentives for referrals is a great way to boost repeat business.
What kind of reward can be given away? Anything! You could give each referrer a discount on your services or merchandise, free materials related to their field, or even a prize box full of your goods.
What are the different types of referral marketing?
Another way to increase your company’s referrals is by offering rewards or incentives for them. This can be done through contests, prizes, or discounts to get more people doing what you want them to do already- refer a friend- product, or service.
The easiest way to implement this into your business is via online platforms. You can create a contest or giveaway on a website like YouTube so that your followers have to participate to win. Or, if you sell products that people would probably enjoy, then offer a discount to those who use one of your company’s products as part of their referral program.
This article will talk about some examples of reward-oriented referral programs.
How can I implement referral marketing program incentives?
Launching a successful referral marketing program is more than just offering an incentive, it’s about offering one that fits your business, offers clear benefits to you, and creates a memorable experience for your referrer.
There are several ways to structure your rewards program, so we will go over some tips here. Before diving into the specifics, let us discuss why incentivizing referrals is such a powerful way to grow your business.
The importance of incentives
In this era of digital distractions, people have become very sensitive to advertising and promotional materials. Consumers feel addicted to social media sites like Facebook and YouTube, so giving away free content or money to advertise a product may no longer work.
As mentioned before, consumers spend lots of time online looking at products and companies, reading reviews and comments, and figuring out what to buy. By adding word-of-mouth recommendations as advertisements, you lower the need for direct exposure. This is how most businesses operate today!
By offering rewards to those who recruit others, your company grows. People love getting gifts and discounts, and they spread the word to their friends to obtain them. Influencers use their social networks to get more followers, which then leads to more engagement with your brand.
What incentives can I offer?
While offering rewards or prizes is a nice way to motivate people, using them inappropriately will not work!
Running a referral marketing program is very expensive. You have to pay for your referrals’ products or services, you have to market the program, and you have to incentivize their referrals.
If you are trying to promote a product or service that does not exist yet, then it is even more difficult to incentivize someone else to create it for you.
By this point, you have probably realized that creating our products is a lot of work. Even if you did hire other people to do some of the work for you, you still need to advertise and market the product.
There is a reason why most companies are not the ones taking control of their money- they lack the resources to spend on advertising and marketing. It is too costly!
That is where referral programs come into play. By paying others to be representatives for your business, they will handle all the hard work for you.
What we mentioned before about running a referral marketing program applies here as well. If you use reward junkie points to purchase things for yourself, then no one will refer anyone to your company.
You must make sure that your referrals can enjoy the benefits of being part of your company like normal employees. This includes giving them discounts on their next order, free merchandise, etc.
What results will I see with incentives?
As mentioned before, referral marketing programs depend heavily on incentivized referrals to work. Without these incentives, you will not get very many people to refer your business!
The reasons why most businesses don’t offer rewards for referrals are twofold. First, most companies that offer reward programs simply do not have enough sales to make it worth their while.
Second, even if they did, there is no standard way to implement reward programs. Some give away free products with little or no incentive, while others offer bigger discounts or credits for those who refer buyers. There is no clear-cut winner!
This article will go into more detail about how big brands manage reward program logistics and what kind of results you can expect from them. But first, let us discuss some potential pitfalls of offering rewards to your customers.
How can I gain attention?
As mentioned before, offering rewards for referrals is a great way to get more people doing your business or product. But how do you create incentives that are effective while still being motivating?
The first thing you should look into is what works. What strategies have you seen work in the past? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time someone refers a friend, but it makes sense to know what has worked before!
Researching incentive programs is an excellent way to find this knowledge. Websites and magazines with reviews and tips are helpful resources. You may also be able to pick up some tips by talking to other marketers who run reward programs.
A second important factor when creating incentivized referral programs is the type of participant you want to draw in. People refer to different types of individuals depending on their personalities and situations.
For example, if your goal is to generate referrals from people who enjoy reading, then using a book as an incentive might appeal to them more than a movie would. Make sure to consider this when picking your reward.
What about timing? Some things just feel wrong when you offer a reward so soon after asking someone to do something. For instance, if you ask someone to refer a friend, why not wait until later to give them a gift?
This could hurt your program because it may turn off those who feel insulted by the offer.
What are the risks?
As mentioned before, incentivizing your referrers can backfire if they are not careful to stay within the terms of the program or feel over-incentivized. If this happens, they may end up referring fewer people or even dropping out altogether!
If you do choose to offer rewards for referrals, make sure that you have adequate coverage for all potential scenarios. This means having enough to cover when someone refers no one, one person gets referred but they don’t qualify, etc.
Another risk is creating too many incentives so that participants cannot afford to participate without them. You want to create incentives that are cost-effective for everyone so that anyone can enjoy the benefits of the referral program.
Blog post: How to Offer Rewards Without Creating Addiction
Bullet point: Don’t use money as the reward
By giving away money, you run the risk of your referrer taking advantage of the incentive by spending beyond the budget limit or buying things that are expensive instead of getting creative with it.
It also opens up the opportunity for fraud since dishonest party members could claim to be referred when they were not.
Rewards that inspire creativity are better than monetary ones because they promote additional activities that can be done with the prize, such as painting or writing with the prize material.
What should I do?
As mentioned earlier, offering rewards for referrals is a great way to increase business. But how much reward is enough? You can use keywords like “best referral” or “incentive program” to search Google to see what people are talking about.
You can also pick and choose which incentives are needed at different stages of the referral process. For example, if you have not made a referral yet, then giving out gift cards or coupons is a good incentive. Once you make your referral, more expensive rewards can be given out such as money or free products.
At that stage, using something like Amazon Rewards makes sense so that the referrer receives points toward their merchandise.