Referral Marketing Program Benchmarks

Business / Referral Marketing TipsLeave a Comment

As you can probably tell, referral marketing program benchmarks are very popular these days. Companies that offer rewards for people who do business with others have become increasingly common. Most of these apps allow you to earn points by performing certain actions and then redeem those points for prizes or gift cards.

Most referrers receive a small amount of credit for the action they took in promoting the product or service through social media, word-of-mouth, or both. A few even get an incentive fee per referral sale, but most feel that this is not enough reward to influence their shopping habits.

As a seller, there’s little you can do about this beyond giving up. At least, until now.

By doing some research, however, we were able to come up with some benchmarks and tips for offering more lucrative incentives via referrals. So, what can sellers do to increase their referral bonuses? Here are our top five recommendations!

1) Track your performance

This may sound obvious, but it’s important to know how well your referral program is working. Luckily, many companies will provide you with easy to use tools to track this information. Some make you upload sales receipts or copy a piece of text before uploading a picture, but most let you add all of the details yourself.

The better you know your program, the easier it will be to determine if the changes you make are having an effect.

Diversification of products or services

A strong referral marketing program does not depend on one product or service. This diversity is important to ensure that your business has enough income to survive changes in the market and natural disasters (like when an earthquake strikes and closes down the restaurant next door).

Your referrals can be like a second revenue source who doesn’t demand high salaries, but they are still valuable to have. You will want to make sure that you don’t cut them off either, as this would hurt their reputation of bringing in money for your company.

Some ways to diversify your business include…

Having additional products or services that fit with what your current ones do. For example, if your business makes curtains, then offering window shades is another way to stay competitive.

Making the referral marketing program appealing

The second important factor in getting people to refer you is making the referral program seem interesting. People are typically not motivated by what things they can get for themselves, but rather what opportunities they can give others!

By offering them something in return, they become more inclined to spread your message and contribute to your business.

This is why most companies have reward programs where you earn points or rewards for doing certain actions such as buying a product or giving away a service.

The better your company’s products are, the harder it will be to persuade people to work for free or take no credit for their efforts. However, if you offer an incentive like a discount on your own products, that may motivate some individuals to start referring around.

You should also make sure the person who receives the incentive feels appreciated and respected. This way, they’ll feel compelled to keep saying nice things about you even when you don’t ask anything of them.

Offering a reward to boost your referral marketing program

Another way to gain new customers is through referral marketing programs. Companies offer rewards or discounts to individuals who then refer their friends for a specific service or product.

A common type of referral program is offering a discount to someone else’s business! For example, if you are looking to spend money this winter, your best bet is buying a pair of shoes. A great source for quality footwear is shopping at Amazon.

So what if I told you that you can earn $50 in amazon vouchers by referring people to buy some shoes from Amazon? You would probably try to refer as many people as possible to maximize your savings!

That is exactly how referral marketing programs work. By helping others achieve their goal, you get rewarded! The rewards are not always financial, but related to the products or services being referred for purchase.

By creating a happy experience for another individual, you help promote the brand, and hopefully create future sales.

Encourage referral marketing

A referral marketing program should not only have you offering your product or service, but also actively incentivizing others to purchase it for you.

The easiest way to do this is by creating an online form or app that people can use to tell their friends about the products and services you offer.

By adding a reward or incentive for them to refer a friend, they will feel motivated to spread the word about your company.

Rewards can be anything from credit towards your business, to merchandise, to freebies such as digital books or tools.

The rewards don’t need to be big – even something small like a coupon discount can make a difference!

But making sure that the reward isn’t just limited to one time only is key, so that people are actually given the opportunity to repeat how you’ve rewarded them before.

This creates sustainable loyalty which is what companies want to keep acquiring through advertising, word of mouth, etc.

Creating a website for your referral marketing programs

Starting your business from scratch is always an interesting way to go about it. But not every beginner feels confident in their web design skills, so they choose to use pre-existing templates or sites as inspiration for what kind of look they want to have theirs.

This can be problematic because most of these sites also include powerful referral programs that reward you for bringing new people into their site. These rewards are typically in the form of freebies or discounts on services or products!

By incorporating such apps onto your own site, you can still offer your referrals valuable rewards while adding another layer to your brand. Create your business using our tips and then start looking into ways to add some app logos to match.

Identifying your target market

The first step to successful referral marketing program benchmarks is defining your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your product or service? This could be done through direct advertisements, social media sites, community forums, etc.

By using these resources, you can gather information about your potential customer’s needs and what products they use for them. By doing this, you will know if what you have works for others or not!

You may also want to consider whether or not your services and products fit their lifestyle or not. If they do not, then it is probably better to look elsewhere for referrals.

Just because someone else has used your product does not mean that it is worth buying. You must determine if your product is necessary before investing in it.

Developing a marketing strategy

Another way to increase sales is through referral marketing program benchmarks or CRMs as they are commonly called. A software solution that allows you to create profiles for your business, personal, and affiliated accounts will help you achieve this.

By creating an account for yourself, you can then take advantage of all the features within the app free of charge! You can connect these accounts using social media, email, phone numbers, and more.

This helps you reach beyond your initial audience to attract new people who may be looking to start a business like yours or need your expertise in the field. By incorporating referrals into your advertising strategies, you’re not only helping them find what they want but also finding new ones for yourself.

Designing the referral marketing program benchmarks

When designing your referral marketing program benchmark, there are two main things to consider. The first is how you will get people to refer you. This includes creating content that encourages others to refer you, or offering reward referrals for doing so.

The second part of this is establishing what kind of referrals they can give you. Will it be through their company? Or can they take someone else’s product and make an endorsement for it?

You should also think about what types of referrals are valuable to you as a business and if those individuals would help promote your products or services. If they don’t, then why would you expect them to do so for you?

Another important thing to note is whether or not the person being referred can control the message that they share about you. For example, if someone who works at a grocery store recommends your weight loss service, they may feel pressured to use it themselves even though it may not work for them.

Tips On How To Promote Your Webinar

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A webinar is one of the most effective indirect marketing strategies you can use. A webinar is typically 30 minutes long, and it’s usually free or low-cost unless you are paying for the software used to create it. In this article, you will learn handful of tips on how to promote your webinar.

A webinar is an interactive online meeting where someone talks for a few minutes then other members of the audience respond via chat, phone, or both.

Participants want to listen to what you have to say and they want to connect with you so they ask questions and give feedback.

By adding these components, you increase engagement which creates buzz about your product/service and builds interest in your event.

You also get great exposure by sharing the video across social media sites and growing your email list.

Direct benefits include getting more people to join your event as attendees or supporters, increasing traffic to your site, and growth through referrals. Indirect benefits include improving your image and self-confidence, gaining momentum, and creating a community.

This article will go into detail about how to promote your next webinar using different mediums and strategies. You don’t need all of them but some are necessary to succeed.

Tell everyone interested to help promote your webinar

This does not mean you should spam people, but you do need to let as many people know about your webinar as possible.

You can use social media to spread the word, or you can create a website and advertise on it. You can also leave comments on relevant sites talking about your webinar.

By creating an interactive forum, with lots of engagement, you will promote yourself more effectively.

Running a webinar is a great way to get exposure for your business and brand. It’s easy to put together and requires no special equipment or software.

So, why don’t we all do it? I’ll give you two reasons: fear and lack of motivation.

Fear – most people are too scared to run a webinar because they don’t believe their audience will show up and/or they aren’t sure what to talk about.

Lack of motivation – some people just don’t feel like running a seminar. They would rather be sleeping or hanging out with friends than speaking to others.

Create a website or blog that is focused on marketing to promote your webinar

As mentioned earlier, creating a webinar-focused site or article series is a great way to get started promoting your event. But before you start sharing information about your business, what kind of product or service you have, and how to use it, you need to make sure your domain and hosting are working properly and flaunt a strong first impression.

Make sure your URL is straightforward to understand. You want people to easily recognize the content of the page as well as the top-level domain (TLD) like.com or.ca without having to click around to find out!

Your host should be reliable so that you do not run into any technical issues during the live stream. Make sure you have enough time to fix anything that may arise. On average, it takes one week to prepare for a webinar and another two weeks to promote it.

Tell your friends and family about the webinar

Let others know about your online seminar or webcast via social media, posting on Facebook, Twitter, and/or YouTube.

You can also add it to their lists if you have those. Some people may not use all of these outlets, but every person has different levels of engagement with them so they are unique ways to promote your event!

By using all of these strategies, you will spread the word more effectively and efficiently than just sending an email blast or talking to individuals directly.

People who live busy lives often don’t have time to do all of the promoting on their own, which is why some make money while other people doesn’t.

Post on social media sites to promote your webinar

One of the most effective ways to promote your webinar is by sharing it on different social media platforms. You can do this before or after the event, depending on when you want to start promoting it.

By starting early, you will have more people to share your link with. The more exposure you get for your link, the farther your webinar will go!

And don’t forget to include the hashtag #WebinarWeek to gain even more attention.

Social proof is very important in marketing so make sure to include plenty of pictures and comments to boost attendance.

Reminder: Don’t spam, spread fake accounts to advertise your webinar, that won’t help anyone but yourself.

Encourage those that want to join to register

A good way to promote your webinar is by creating an incentive for people to attend. This can be as simple as offering scholarships or rewards, or having attendees do something they are already planning to before the webinar.

If you’re hosting the event in person, offer drinks or snacks! If the event is hosted online, have some materials to share or direct benefits for attending.

Your event will not go live until everyone is registered so making sure there is enough time to invite people makes sense.

Tell your audience what the webinar content is

So, now that you have planned and organized your webinar, it’s time to tell everyone about it!

The first thing you need to do is tell your audience what the webinar content is. This will be the talk of the town – people will chat around the water cooler or while watching TV after work.

Usually, we are too shy to share our knowledge so this makes some feel uncomfortable. But for you as the pro-webinar speaker, this should be a good opportunity to promote yourself and what you can offer.

Your audience does not want to listen to a keynote speech they cannot relate to. They want to learn something new from you, so make sure to emphasize the importance of their attendance and what they get out of it.

Some points to consider when telling the audience the webinar content includes: What topic the webinar covers, how much information it contains, and why it matters to them. Make sure to also state whether there are giveaways during the event or if participants will receive anything at a later date.

Provide a link to the webinar

Now that you have created your webinar, it’s time to promote it! The best way to do this is by providing a direct link to the event using an online meeting tool like Zoom or Facebook.

By doing so, people will be able to join your event directly instead of having to go through another site to access it.

It also helps the audience members find out more about you and what you share on YouTube before they attend the event.

You can also add some “Zoom links” to your email signature to make it easy for people to connect with you. This increases your exposure and visibility for your webinar and yourself as an expert in the field.

Record the webinar and share it

The next step in promoting your webinar is recording it! Once you have gathered all of your attendees, they will need to be able to access the webinar so that it can be seen later.

You can either use one of the free streaming services or host the webinar yourself and include a link to it.

By using a free streaming service like Google Hangouts or Zoom, people who do not have access to your hosting site can watch the event. These apps also allow for chat, questions, and comments which are very helpful for engagement.

Hosting your webinar comes with its own set of rules and regulations. For example, you would need an internet connection and enough space to store the files. however, most website owners offer their users a plugin or app that allows others to add you as a contact or connect to you via video chat. This makes it much easier to promote your webinar.

Quora Marketing. How we do it

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Quora is a Q&A platform with over 200 million monthly users that can be used for business and personal branding. It’s a great resource for finding content ideas, networking with potential customers and clients, and getting your name out there. Quora marketing is a great resource for entrepreneurs.

You can also use Quora to drive traffic to your website or blog by answering questions related to your niche and including links to your content. And because Quora ranks high in Google search results, you could get a lot of free traffic from this source.

1. What is Quora and what can it be used for

Quora is a Q&A platform where users can ask and answer questions on a variety of topics. It can be used for researching topics, finding answers to questions, and networking with other people in your field. With a large and active community, Quora can also be a great source of information and inspiration. Whether you’re looking for career advice, the latest industry news, or just some interesting discussion topics, Quora has something for everyone. So if you’re ready to start exploring this powerful platform, sign up today!

2. How to use it for marketing

Quora can be a great resource for marketers looking to get insights into their target audience, find new leads, and learn more about their competition. By creating an account and answering questions relevant to your industry, you can connect with potential customers and build your brand’s reputation as an expert in your field. Additionally, you can use Quora’s advertising platform to target specific users with sponsored content. So if you’re looking to boost your marketing efforts, Quora is a great place to start. Just be sure to keep your focus on providing valuable, helpful information, and you’ll soon see great results!

3. Benefits of using Quora for marketing

There are many benefits to using Quora for marketing. First, Quora provides a great opportunity to connect with potential customers and build your brand’s reputation as an expert in your field. By answering questions relevant to your industry, you can provide valuable information and insights that will help people make informed decisions. Additionally, Quora’s advertising platform allows you to target specific users with sponsored content, which can be a great way to reach more people with your message.

Another benefit of using Quora for marketing is that it can help you learn more about your target audience. By reading the questions that people are asking and the answers that are being given, you can get a better understanding of what interests them and what concerns they have. This information can be valuable when creating marketing materials or developing new products or services.

Overall, Quora is a great platform for marketing that offers many benefits and opportunities for connecting with potential customers. If you’re looking to boost your marketing efforts, be sure to explore all that Quora has to offer!

4. Tips for using Quora for marketing

If you’re looking to get the most out of Quora for marketing, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

a. Be helpful and provide valuable insights. When answering questions on Quora, always be helpful and provide valuable insights that will help people make informed decisions. Don’t just promote your products or services; instead, focus on providing helpful information that people will appreciate.

b. Use keywords to target your audience. When creating sponsored content on Quora, use keywords that will help you target your audience more effectively. This will help you reach more people with your message and generate more leads.

c. Focus on quality over quantity. Don’t try to spam people with your content or answer every question that comes up. Instead, focus on providing quality answers that will be helpful to people in your target audience. This will help you build a better reputation and attract more followers.

d. Follow other experts in your field. Following other experts in your field can be a great way to learn more about the topics that interest you and find new sources of inspiration. By following other experts on Quora, you can gain access to their insights and knowledge, which can help you improve your marketing efforts.

5. How EarlyParrot is doing its Quora Marketing

Finding the right questions to answer and drafting a proper answer that is valuable to the Quora audience are the TWO most laborious tasks to handle with Quora marketing. Before we learned about Qapop, we used to spend hours scouting for questions that are getting views that ideally haven’t been answered yet.

With Qapop we are doing the following:

a. Discovering the best questions to answer. Which are the questions that are getting a good amount of views and have 0 or few answers

b. Use AI to draft an answer. Have you already answered a similar question? Did you write a blog post answering a question? Let AI elicit the main points out of previously written answers and fill in the blanks.

c. Track everything. From keywords to questions as they are asked. Tracking is key to knowing where you are and where you are heading.

I only have good things to say about Qapop. This is a review of a tool that we use at EarlyParrot. I highly recommend you guys check it out 🙂

How to Run an Affiliate Program in Your SaaS: Best Practices

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Affiliate marketing can be a powerful tool for SaaS companies looking to expand their reach and increase revenue. You can tap into new customer bases without the heavy lifting of traditional marketing efforts. In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for running a successful affiliate program in your SaaS business.

Best Practices for Running an Affiliate Program

1. Define Clear Objectives

Before launching an affiliate program, it’s essential to define clear objectives. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive more traffic, or boost sales? Having well-defined goals will guide your program’s structure and help you measure its success. It will also help you communicate more effectively with your affiliates.

Example: A SaaS company aims to increase monthly recurring revenue (MRR) by 20% through their affiliate program.

2. Choose the Right Affiliates

Not all affiliates are created equal. Look for partners who align with your brand values and target audience. Conduct due diligence to ensure that potential affiliates have a good reputation and can genuinely add value to your business. The right affiliates can act as brand ambassadors, so choose wisely.

Example: A project management SaaS company partners with influencers in the productivity and business sectors.

3. Offer Competitive Commissions

To attract top-tier affiliates, you need to offer competitive commissions. Research what similar SaaS companies are offering and aim to match or exceed those rates. Remember, higher commissions can motivate affiliates to put more effort into promoting your product.

Example: A fantasy sports platform offers a 30% recurring commission, which is higher than the industry average of 20%.

4. Provide Marketing Materials

Make it easy for your affiliates to promote your product by providing them with marketing materials. This can include banners, social media posts, email templates, product descriptions (you can use an AI product description generator for this) and more. The easier you make it for affiliates, the more likely they are to actively promote your SaaS.

Example: A CRM SaaS provides a media kit complete with pre-designed banners and email copy.

5. Implement Tracking Mechanisms

Accurate tracking is crucial for the success of any affiliate program. Use reliable tracking software to monitor clicks, conversions, and commissions. This ensures transparency and helps you gauge the effectiveness of your program.

Example: A customer portal SaaS company uses their built-in tracking feature that allows affiliates to monitor their performance in real-time.

6. Regular Communication

Maintain regular communication with your affiliates. Keep them updated on any changes to the program, new features of your product, or promotional events. Regular updates not only keep affiliates engaged but also help them align their marketing strategies with your business goals.

Example: A SaaS company sends out a monthly newsletter to affiliates, highlighting new features and upcoming promotions.

7. Performance Reviews

Periodically review the performance of your affiliates and the program as a whole. Use the data to identify high-performing affiliates and to spot areas for improvement. Performance reviews can also be an opportunity to revise commission structures or introduce new incentives.

Example: A SaaS company conducts quarterly performance reviews and offers bonuses to top-performing affiliates.

8. Legal Compliance

Ensure that your affiliate program complies with legal requirements, such as disclosure guidelines. Provide your affiliates with clear guidelines on how to disclose their relationship with your company to maintain transparency and trust.

Example: A SaaS company includes a section on legal compliance in their affiliate handbook.

9. Ongoing Training

Offer ongoing training to your affiliates to keep them up-to-date with your product and industry trends. This can be in the form of webinars, tutorials, or written guides. Well-informed affiliates are more effective at promoting your product.

Example: A SaaS company offers a series of webinars focused on best practices for promoting software products.

10. Reward Loyalty

Consider implementing a tiered commission structure or bonuses to reward high-performing and loyal affiliates. This not only incentivizes performance but also encourages long-term partnerships.

Example: A SaaS company offers yearly bonuses to affiliates who have been part of the program for more than two years.

11. Customer Support

Provide dedicated customer support to assist your affiliates with any issues or questions they may have. Quick and effective support can make a significant difference in the affiliate experience. Chatbots are also used for customer support. The customer interacts with a chatbot to resolves the user queries. We can choose a chatbot agency which provided good chatbot features. Also, when it comes to hiring your own staff for customer support, streamline the process by using recruitment software, ensuring that you bring in the best talent to provide top-notch service. Train and upskill them constantly to ensure stellar support that keeps up with the times.

Example: A SaaS company sets up a dedicated support channel exclusively for affiliates.

Conclusion

Running an affiliate program can be a highly effective way to grow your SaaS business. By following these best practices, you can build a program that benefits both your company and your affiliates. The key is to maintain a focus on quality, transparency, and ongoing improvement.

Fresh Referral Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

Business / Referral Marketing TipsLeave a Comment

If you’re looking for new and inventive ways to generate more referrals for your business, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss a few fresh referral marketing ideas that you can start using today! We will also provide tips on how to make the most of each strategy. So what are you waiting for? Start reading and put these ideas into action!

What Are The Benefits Of Referral Marketing?

Referral marketing is a business referral strategy that rewards individuals for introducing their friends, colleagues or customers to a business. Referred customers are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase and are more likely to refer friends and family. There are many benefits to referral marketing, including increased revenue, increased customer loyalty and increased brand awareness. Referral marketing can be used in businesses of all sizes and industries.

Referral marketing is one of the most effective ways to increase ROI for your business. It’s a process of rewarding customers for referring others to your business. There are many different referral marketing strategies you can use – today, we’ll cover some of them!

How To Implement A Referral Marketing Strategy In Your Business?

Reward your top referring agents with exclusive discounts, free products or other incentives.

Referral marketing is the process of earning business through referrals from happy customers. Referred customers are often rewarded for their involvement in the referral process by receiving a discount, free product or other incentive.

There are several ways to reward your top referring agents. One approach is to give them exclusive discounts on products or services. Another option is to provide them with free products or services in addition to their normal rewards program. You can also give them preferential treatment when it comes to scheduling and availability for training sessions or customer meetings.

Whatever approach you choose, be sure to communicate it clearly to your referral agents and make sure they understand the benefits they will receive for their involvement.

When it comes to referral marketing, there are a number of different ways to go about it. One way is to use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to promote rewards for referrals. This can be done in a number of ways, such as through direct messages or by posting a reward out on the social media platform itself. By doing this, you’ll encourage people who are referred by friends or family members to join your business and help you increase your ROI.

Set up referral programs that give participants rewards based on the number of referrals they generate.

There are many different referral marketing programs out there, but all of them have one common goal: to generate more business by encouraging people to refer their friends and colleagues.

The best referral marketing programs offer a variety of rewards, from free products or services to cash bonuses or exclusive deals.

Depending on the program, you may also be able to track referral activity and measure ROI (return on investment) in terms of increased sales or market share.

Whatever your program’s specific features, make sure that it offers incentive enough for people to refer their friends and colleagues. Otherwise, you’ll just end up with more referrals than you know what to do with!

Host a referral contest

Referral marketing is a great way to increase ROI for your business. By hosting a referral contest, you can incent your customers and employees to refer new business to you. You can also reward participants for referring new customers, which will encourage them to continue promoting your company. Consider incorporating different types of referral contests into your marketing strategy in order to find the most effective way to incentivize referrals.

Send targeted email marketing campaigns

Of course, referral marketing isn’t just about giving out rewards. It’s also about sending targeted email marketing campaigns to people who have been referred to you by a satisfied customer.

The best way to do this is to segment your list of referrals based on their interests and needs. That way, you can send them personalized emails that are more likely to convert into sales.

By sending targeted email marketing campaigns, you can increase the chances that people who are referred to you will actually become customers. Campaign tracking is essential in order to measure the impact of such campaigns.

When you send well-targeted emails, you can generate a lot of referrals quickly. By using email marketing to promote your referral program, you can attract new customers and motivate current customers to refer their friends and colleagues. For instance, if you are sending an email invite for your upcoming event or webinars, you can incent participants by offering them rewards for referring new customers.

One easy way to promote your referral program is to add a “Refer a Friend” link to your email signature. This will allow people who receive emails from you to easily refer their friends and colleagues to your business. Furthermore, it helps to create a sense of urgency and encourage people to take action.

It doesn’t take a lot of time to add a “Refer a Friend” link to your email signature, but it can be an effective way to promote your referral program and generate more referrals.

Create a blog

If you have a blog, make sure to include links to your referral program in the sidebar or footer. This will help people find out more about the program and refer their friends and colleagues. You can also promote your referral program on your blog using short, compelling ads.

Blogs can be useful for referral marketing in a number of ways. By including links to your referral program in the sidebar or footer, you can make it easy for people to find out more about the program. You can also use short, compelling ads to promote your referral program on your blog.

If you have a blog, make sure to take advantage of it by promoting your referral program.

By doing this, you can increase the visibility of your referral program and attract more referrals.

Offer free products or services

By giving away free products or services as part of your referral program, you’ll encourage people to refer their friends and colleagues. You can also offer incentives for referrals, such as discounts or cash bonuses.

Make sure that the products or services you offer are high quality and relevant to your target market. Otherwise, you’ll just be giving away free stuff that nobody wants.

By offering free products or services, you can encourage people to refer their friends and colleagues to your business. You can also offer incentives for referrals, such as discounts or cash bonuses.

Make sure that the products or services you offer are high quality and relevant to your target market in order to get the most out of your referral program.

Design a beautiful and engaging referral program landing page

When people see a beautiful and engaging referral program landing page, they’re more likely to want to participate. Include images, videos, or infographics on your landing page to make it more visually appealing. Make sure you always follow landing page design best practices to increase your chances of conversion.

Include a clear call-to-action on your landing page so that people know what they need to do in order to refer their friends.

Make sure your landing page is mobile-friendly so that people can refer their friends even when they’re on the go. Some landing page builders, for example Unbounce, have a mobile view of your new landing page where you can see how your new landing page will look when viewed on mobile. Priceless feature!

By designing a beautiful and engaging referral program landing page, you can increase the likelihood that people will want to participate in your program. Include images, videos, or infographics to make your landing page more visually appealing.

Include a clear call-to-action so that people know what they need to do in order to refer their friends.

Make sure your landing page is mobile-friendly so that people can refer their friends even when they’re on the go, too!

Develop relationships with other businesses in complementary industries and cross-promote each other’s services

By partnering with other businesses in complementary industries, you can reach a wider audience and generate more referrals. For example, if you’re a web designer, you could partner with a web hosting company.

You can cross-promote each other’s services by including links to each other’s businesses on your websites and social media accounts. You can also collaborate on blog posts, podcasts, or webinars.

Collaboration is a great way to build relationships with other businesses while also growing your referral network.

Do some research and find out who the influencers are in your industry

An influencer is somebody who has a large following on social media or is considered an expert in their field. Collaborating with an influencer can help your referral marketing programme be really successful.

You can find out who the influencers are in your industry by doing a quick Google search or using a tool like BuzzSumo or any of influencer marketing databases.. Once you’ve found some influencers, reach out to them and see if they’re interested in collaborating. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to offer them something in return, like a discount on your services.

Conclusion

Referral marketing is a great way to increase ROI for your business. It’s a process of rewarding customers for referring others to your business. There are many different referral marketing strategies you can use, and each has its own set of benefits. Choose the strategy that best suits your needs and start seeing results today!

How Great Customer Service Leads to Referrals: 8 Ultimate Ways

Business / Referral Marketing Tips1 Comment

Customer service is crucial to retaining your customers. But can customer service leads to referrals and hence grow your business?

You want to grow your business through referrals but are doing right to achieve that goal?

It’s often easier said than done. You might think that the only way to get referrals is to hope.

Wrong!

In fact, there are a few tricks for getting your customers to refer new clients.

Today, we’ll discuss 8 easy ways how spotless customer service leads to referrals, fueling growth, and growing your business from the bottom line.

Here we go!

#1 Make your customers feel like they’re the most important people in the world

When it comes to customer service, the little things mean a lot.

If you can make your customers feel special and important, they’re more likely to refer their friends.

Here are some simple ways to do this include:

greeting them by name,
remembering their preferences, and
going above and beyond to help them out.

If you can show that you genuinely care about your customers, they’ll be more likely to refer you.

TIP: Make sure you have customer service software in place for tracking customer data so that you can personalize the experience. For example, you can use tools like CloudTalk to facilitate your customer service, too.

#2 Be honest with them and always provide great customer service

At times, it might seem to be easier to lie about:

Issues;
Problems;
Robustness of your solution

All in all, think that you’ll avoid criticism.

However, telling the truth pays off.

Eventually, you’ll find that most of the time people will appreciate it! They often return for more purchases in the future and are much more likely to refer you.

For example, if a customer asks for an item that is out of stock, be honest with them about it! Most people will understand and appreciate your honesty.

Making things right when a mistake happens also goes a long way in winning over customers. Customers might have been upset at first however they can tell when you are being honest with them.

For instance, if there are problems with an order, address it as quickly as possible.

Make sure that your customers receive what they paid for.

If you cannot deliver, provide a full refund right away.

Alternatively, you can offer to credit their next purchase or give them something else of value.

#3 Provide excellent product knowledge to help customers make decisions

If you can help your customers find the right products for them, they’ll be more likely to recommend you to their friends.

Why?

Simply because people often refer others when they’re confident that those people will receive excellent service and get exactly what they need.

So product knowledge is crucial in this regard as it ensures that your customers are getting the best product for their needs.

When you’re able to provide good product knowledge, it also helps customers feel confident in their purchase.

In this case, they know that they can rely on you to give them accurate information and that they’re making the right decision. This often leads to referrals down the road.

TIP: Make sure your employees are well-trained in product knowledge so that they can help customers make the right decisions.

#4 Offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee or money back policy, no questions asked

Stand by your products and services, offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee or money back policy. This type of policy reassures customers that they’re making the right decision by choosing your company.

They know they can always get their money back if they’re not happy with what they receive. So it shows them that you’re quite confident in your products or services.

Remember that above all, they have the peace of mind they’ll be able to reach you if any problems arise.

TIP: Make sure the policy is clearly stated on all promotional material so customers know exactly what to expect!

#5 If you can’t find what they want, find it for them

If a customer asks for something that you don’t carry in your store, try to find it for them.

This shows that you’re willing to go the extra mile within your customer service to help out your customers and that you’re not just interested in making a sale.

It also builds trust between you and the customer, which often leads to referrals in the end.

TIP: Make sure your employees always go the extra mile for customers, even if it means spending time away from their friends and family. It’s worth it in the long run!

#6 Answer their questions quickly and thoroughly so they get an answer as quickly as possible

People rely on referrals from their friends and family.

Why?

The reason is that they know – those people will receive great service.

If you can answer questions quickly, without making customers wait for an answer or ask to speak to your manager, they’ll be more likely to recommend you!

This is especially important when it comes to online sales through platforms like Amazon where customers often rely on reviews to find out more about the product they’re considering.

In this case, people want to feel like their questions are being answered promptly and that you aren’t trying to make it difficult for them, even if things do go wrong.

TIP: Make sure your employees know how important their role is in this process so that customers got answers quickly!

#7 Send “Thank you” notes or emails after every purchase – even if it’s just a “thank you” email!

People love to feel appreciated and valued. Especially when they’re spending money with you.

So sending a thank-you note or email after every purchase is a great way to show your customers that the sale wasn’t just about making a quick buck – but it was also about building relationships.

TIP: Make sure all of your employees know how important this is so that they can send thank-you notes after every purchase!

#8 Ask for referrals from happy customers

People love to get discounts, especially when it comes from their friends!

So you can ask for referrals from happy customers by providing an incentive such as 10% off the next purchase when referred by someone else (or something similar).

If you’re looking for new leads, offering an incentive such as this is a great way to encourage them to share your product with someone they know.

TIP: Make sure all of your employees are aware of the referral process so that both parties feel confident in what’s going on. Use pulse surveys to check the levels of it.

Also, make sure you’re monitoring the process, including when referrals are made and who they were referred by so that everyone is getting credit for the sale!

Final words: What to remember?

If you want to connect with your customers and provide them with an experience that they will love, then one of the best ways is by providing great customer service.

Above all, great customer service leads to referrals for your business because people talk about their positive experiences all the time.

So whether it be through word-of-mouth or on social media, recommending good businesses becomes part of our culture today.

So hopefully, the above-mentioned tips will help you provide better customer service so you could reap those rewards down the line!

Good luck! 😉

Course Sales Funnel. Why every course creator needs one?

Business / EntrepreneurshipLeave a Comment

The course sales funnel is a series of intentionally created steps to guide your potential students towards your course, your brand, and ultimately making the decision to buy your course.

Most aspiring course creators decide to create a course because they have a passion or expertise they want to share with the world.

The sad truth is, after they spend months (sometimes even years) creating that course, they’re faced with the harsh reality of “build it and they will come” is NOT the way it works in the online world.

And if they’re going to get any return on their time and money investments, they need to spend every waking hour promoting their course.

However, there is a much easier and less stressful way to get in front of your potential students and build your tribe.

And that can happen before or while you’re creating your course.

How?

That’s where the course sales funnel come in!

Basically, the goal of a course sales funnel is to bring new leads into your world.

Let’s delve into more details.

So why you should have a course sales funnel before building your online course.

1. Avoid ‘Launching to crickets’ scenario

Imagine spending months, pouring your blood, sweat, and tears into creating an online course. You’ve spent a lot of time and money outlining, scripting, structuring, recording, editing, and building your online course.

And now it’s all finished and ready for launch.

There’s only one problem: there’s no one waiting to buy your course.

If you’re thinking Ads are here to save you, then I have bad news!

Ads are very expensive!

By the time it’s all said and done, you’ve lost more money on ads than you’ve been able to make.

You might be thinking “but I see ads for courses at the same price point as mine all the time”!

True!

What you might not know is that these courses are used as what’s called a “LOSS LEADER”.

Meaning, the course itself is not going to generate revenue for the business.

In fact, the business is most likely taking a hit.

But every lead that’s generated through the Ad, creates an opportunity to sell a high ticket offer. That’s where the business makes that money back, and then some.

But if I had to take a shot in the dark, my assumption is that as a newbie course creator you don’t have $1,000s of dollars set aside to blow away on Ads.

So you’d be able to make it back on your higher-end offer.

And if you’re thinking you can blast out your offer on social media (using social media automation tools to help you spread the word), or beg affiliates to partner & promote your course for you, you’re on the wrong way.

Why?

Simply because you’re going to work around the clock, run yourself ragged, only to be left frustrated & overwhelmed, with no real results at the end.

2. Build a list of targeted fans

Instead, you can take an easier, less painful route to get there.

For example, you can put in a little work upfront to build a list of targeted fans who are eager to buy your course, by setting up a course sales funnel.

The goal of a course sales funnel is to help you generate new leads – build an engaged tribe – who’s not just ready to buy your new course, but also your future courses and services.

3. Use small freebies to acquire leads to your course sales funnel

With a course sales funnel, you’re using a small freebie as a way to acquire new leads and get targeted buyers into your world.

Ultimately, you’re offering them something of value in exchange for their email address. Then you continue engaging with them by putting more valuable content in front of them.

And, when your course is ready, you have a huge list of fans to promote to.

You can also offer to validate online certificates afterward.

One of the best parts of having a course sales funnel in place is that it gets stronger with every new course or offer you put out there.

This helps to put your promotion and marketing on autopilot.

So you can focus your energy on coming up with other offers, products, and services.

In a nutshell, every course you launch should be built with at least one freebie offer at the beginning of it, that encourages new leads onto your email list.

So, not only you’ll have an existing list of targeted buyers to promote your course, but also new leads will be coming into your funnel (your sphere of influence) every single day.

What are the 3 best key course sales funnel elements?

A course sales funnel can be as simple or complex as you’d like it to be.

But in the spirit of keeping it very simple, let me walk you through the 3 main components you should include in every course sales funnel:

1. A Freebie Offer

A freebie is called a Lead Magnet.

To get people to join your course sales funnel you’re going to need an offer. The offer is what makes them want to pass to you their email address.

For example, among freebies can be an eBook, cheat sheet, or just a mini-course.

However, the format is not as important as making sure you’re showing up in front of your ideal buyer with the RIGHT solution.

And you’re doing that at the right time – which is when they need it MOST!

2. An Opt-in Landing Page

Normally referred to as a squeeze page or freebie landing page.

All the same thing!

Basically, this is a landing page, where you’ll be sending your leads to grab your freebie offer.

The goal behind this landing page is very simple – give them a compelling reason to give you their email address in exchange for getting your Lead Magnet (your freebie).

3. An Email Sequence

The whole goal of your funnel is to get new leads onto your email list.

So once this new lead joins your email list you’ll do two things:

Engage with them further to build a relationship;
Build trust so they’re ready and eager to buy your course when it’s ready.

You accomplish this with an automated email sequence. This is an automated sequence of emails that run as soon as a new lead joins your list.

Now, let’s dive deeper into each of these 3 key elements. This will prepare you to get new leads onto your email list.

How to set up your course sales funnel?

Step N1. Create Your Freebie

The perfect time to come up with this freebie is as soon as you have an idea for your online course and before you actually spend any time creating it.

All in all, this is one of the surefire ways to validate whether there is a market for your new course.

We all know creating online courses is time-intensive. It could potentially take 4-6 months.

Above all, the last thing you’d want is to spend all that time and energy on assuring there is no interest in your new course.

You can totally avoid this, if you first validate your course idea, by using a freebie around the topic of your course.

But how to come up with Freebies?

Overall, there are two ways to come up with the right freebie:

You could create a high level (10 foot view version) of your course.
- Touch on the pain points your online course solves
- High level strategy or walk through of your solution taught inside your online course
- And the outcome they’d get once they implement your promised solution
Another way to do this is by brainstorming around other things your target audience needs to have in place, to position them for success, when they take your course.

For example, let’s say you’re a website designer and you’re thinking about creating a course on “how to build your own business website”.

You could create a freebie on “how to write high performing web monitoring service”.

That’s something they’d need to know and have, to be positioned for the best outcome when they take your training & learn to set up their own website.

Now, if your course is already ready and launched, don’t sweat it! You can still reverse engineer this process and come up with a good freebie offer using the same 2 methods outlined above.

What are the best freebies ingredients?

In general, when you’re brainstorming around the topic of your freebie, you should make sure it meets these 3 criteria:

It’s related to your course topic – There should be a one-to-one correlation between the topic of your online course and the topic of your freebie
It’s actionable – keep in mind that your ideal buyer is NOT looking for information. Information is FREE, and only a Google or YouTube search away.

So don’t waste your time by trying to stuff information into this freebie. You’re going to accomplish nothing, except leaving a bad taste in your prospect’s mouths.

Instead you should make sure your freebie is actionable. Something they can take action on and get a small win.

When they get a small win, they associate you with that win.

And that’s exactly what you’re after. You want them to see that you’re the right person to help them solve their bigger problem or reach their bigger goal.
It’s bite-sized- Again, as we just talked about, the goal of this freebie is to help them take action and get a small win.

And ultimately associate you with that win.

That’s how you’re going to increase their desire for your paid online course.

If you make this freebie too massive to consume, such as a 100 page eBook or a 30 day challenge of some sort, you’re making it harder for them to consume it… preventing them from taking that action and getting the win that you’re after.

Step N2. Build an Opt-in Page

The goal of this page is to present your freebie offer and have your prospective students enter their email addresses.

That’s it!

Above all, to give up their most personal information (email address), we need to give them a compelling reason to do so.

If they can identify themselves and their situation with what you’re offering and clearly see you have the solution to their ongoing struggle (as it relates to your freebie topic), there is a good chance they’d take you up on your offer.

We can do that by making sure you’re communicating these 3 key points:

Who is this freebie offer for?

This is typically the headline or title of your freebie landing page. Use this opportunity to tell them about the outcome they’re going to get from your freebie offer.

Or tell them what pain point your freebie is going to remove.

By doing that, you’re making it easy for them to see your freebie offer is exactly what they’ve been looking for.

What does your freebie offer help them do?

What is the solution they’re going to get? Is it going to help them write a better landing page copy? Impress their dinner guests with their fancy Napkin folds? Or learn which heirloom tomato grows best in their climate?

The key here is to stay away from being ambiguous. Be clear and straight to the point.

How does your freebie offer help them?

Tell them how you’re going to help them get that outcome or remove that pain point?
Is this a template they fill out? A guide they follow?

Or a series of video tutorials…

I can’t stress enough: make sure the message and copy of this landing page is right to point.

Don’t try to get clever, especially with the headline.

And always remember this, clever means unclear!

Step N3. Create Your Email Sequence

As an online course creator, your email list will be one of your most valuable assets.

It’s going to be the differentiator between someone who once published a course, someone who’s a trusted brand with an engaged audience, and a variety of solutions (such as courses, services, programs, etc.) ready to help their tribe reach their goals & dreams.

While you’re creating your online course and building your audience, you also should nurture your new leads by consistently offering them value through a nurture email sequence.

Nurture Email Sequence Outline

Here’s a quick outline of a nurture email sequence you can create:

A welcome email: so they get those warm and fuzzy feelings and giving them the opportunity to get to know you better.
A mix of value-added emails. Topics like:
1. Small tips on how to solve a smaller problem related to the bigger problem your online course solves,
2. Or flip it and talk about reaching a smaller goal, as it relates to the bigger goal they’re trying to achieve
3. update on your new online course (this builds anticipation and excitement)
4. best-practice tips & tools around your industry that’s related to your online course topic

You should also have an entire Course Launch Email Sequence ready before you hit the publish button on your new Online Course.

This positions you for a stronger launch, lots of sales, and many great reviews and feedback.

In general, you’d want to have at least 9-13 emails in your launch sequence. This is not overkilling at all. Keep in mind that your new subscribers might not see or even open every single email.

When you’re writing these emails for your launch sequence, make sure each email has a good balance between nurturing and selling.

Also, the last thing you want to do is write a bunch of emails that are just pitching your Online Course and asking them to buy.

That’s a surefire way of having them ignore the rest of your emails.

If you don’t know how to go about this, I have an entire template you can grab below – walking you through each email. Just fill in the blank and you should have a high converting launch sequence ready to go in no time.

Why the Course Sales Funnel is the most solid Marketing Strategy to invest?

It’s true that creating a Course Sales Funnel takes time and energy.

But, I guarantee it’s time well spent.

And the bonus?

Following this strategy ensures the more courses you create, the more subscribers you add to your email list.

This means every launch gets easier!

And, as time goes on, you spend your time doing what you love, which helps your audience, instead of a hustling day in and day out trying to sell your offers.

If you want to have a thriving business, then a course sales funnel should be upfront and center in your marketing strategy.

Bio

This is a guest blog post written by Eli Natoli

Eli Natoli is the founder of Service First Marketing. She is the author of “Service First Framework: My not-so-secret secret to thriving as an entrepreneur”. Eli’s unique approach to strategic, service-first marketing has enrolled more than 120,000 students into her training programs.

Boosting Referral Conversions with a better User Onboarding process

Business / Referral Marketing TipsLeave a Comment

What makes you recommend your friends and family a product or service? First impressions or user onboarding is definitely the top reason!

When you like a product or service so much, you want your friends and family to benefit from them, and this is one of the most crucial reasons that make you recommend a product or service.

And, there may be a ton of reasons that you like a product or service.

From its price to its quality or the smiling face of the employee who helped you benefit from that product or service, you consider some criteria when recommending a product or service to other people.

And, an excellent user onboarding experience is definitely one reason that makes someone be satisfied with a product and recommend it to their friends and family.

63% of customers said that they think user onboarding is a crucial aspect of their buying decisions.

Another reason you recommend a product or service to your friends and family is that you are encouraged by a referral reward that you can get by recommending a product or service.

That is to say, referral marketing can be run both organically and through campaigns that encourage customers to recommend your product to their peers.

If you want your referral marketing strategy to grow organically, the best thing that you can do is to provide a quality product or service that provides value to your customers. Since the goal is to provide value to customers, you need to have an all-around onboarding process that helps customers find the value in your product.

In line with your efforts to run your referral marketing strategy successfully, you can use onboarding tools and referral marketing tools that can boost referral conversions.

Now let’s figure out what user onboarding is and how it can help you increase referral conversions.

What exactly is User Onboarding?

User onboarding is an ongoing process that starts with a user’s first interaction with your company and goes on by helping them find value in your product. User onboarding starts with attracting users to your product by clearly explaining how your product can solve their problem, then goes on with guiding first-time users to the value in the product and helping existing users keep finding the value.

Onboarding is often narrowed down to a product tour. And it is a huge mistake!

Yes, a product tour is a part of onboarding your customers. However, a satisfying user onboarding experience requires much more than product tours.

Here are some fundamental aspects of a successful user onboarding:

In the very first moment when a user finds out about your product, you should clearly and briefly explain to them what value they can expect from it.
Make it easy for users to sign-up. Do not ask for too much information. Only stick to what is necessary. You can always ask for further details down the road.

Short sign-up forms help you increase your conversion rates.

Send short and informative onboarding emails that are well designed with images or other visuals.
Provide an interactive product tour (product walkthrough) and make it optional for users to take it or not. (because some users may have already gone through the process).
Provide onboarding checklists and progress bars to help users better manage their time and know where they are on their journey.
Use in-app messaging and push notifications at the right moment to engage with your users.
Help users find answers to their questions through resource centers.
Finally, personalize each and every step for users. Personalization helps users better relate to the process and build a bond with your product.

When you take these into consideration when onboarding users, you will successfully increase acquisition and retention, therefore, your product adoption rates.

How can User Onboarding help boost conversion rates when doing referral marketing?

Let’s talk about two striking statistics:

55% of users said they had returned a product before because they didn’t know how to use it.

This is striking because it shows what may happen when you can’t get your users past through the most crucial part.

Another important statistic is that research by Nielsen shows that 83% of consumers suggested that they trust the recommendations from their family and friends when making their buying decisions.

Now, you should ask yourself whether you would recommend a product that you don’t know how to use to your friends and family or not.

I believe the answer is NO.

User onboarding helps you increase conversion rates when doing referral marketing because it is the ultimate way of convincing users that your product is the one that can provide value to them and solve their problems.

When you are able to help users find what they are looking for through a well-prepared onboarding flow, they will naturally recommend it to people around them.

User Onboarding practices you can apply today to boost referral conversions

As I said earlier in the article, you will lose many users right at the beginning if your sign-up process is complex. So it is truly a crucial part of onboarding because you wouldn’t want to lose users without even having them get started in your product.

Integrating Google Sign-Up provides excellent convenience to users.

Users don’t want to deal with too much work when signing up. In this regard, you should only be asking for necessary information rather than aggressively asking for every detail.

If someone’s going to refer your product to other people, it’s going to be at the end of their onboarding process, and best onboarding processes start with smooth signups

#2 Offer Freemium/ Free Trial

One of the oldest and most powerful desires we have is to try a product out and compare it with another. It is a crucial criterion that people take into consideration when making their buying decisions.

Referral conversions may come to a dead-end when users are not able to see the value of your product with their own eyes, even if the referral is coming to someone very close to them.

Freemiums can help you increase referral conversions by simply convincing users further about the value of your product.

#3 Identify who your new users are

If a user signed up from a referral, it’s a good practice to understand who they are, how they’re related to the person who referred them to the product, etc.

This can help you clearly identify your referral marketing campaigns’ audience and optimize your efforts accordingly.

After an easy sign-up process, you should get to know your users by asking the necessary questions so that you can provide them with a better experience.

Following these questions, you should constantly analyze product data and collect feedback. The more you know about your users individually, the better unique experiences you can provide them with.

#4 Personalize the user onboarding process to maximize engagement

Personalization makes it ten times better!

It helps you encourage users to take action.

When you educate yourself through product data and personalize your processes, your users will better relate to your product and find value in it.

Personalized welcome messages make your users feel at home. Using product data analysis, segmenting users, and examining user behavior, you will be able to create processes that each user uniquely relates to.

Here is a good example from ClickUp:

Personalization is a strong supplementary step for your referral campaign and plays an important role in increasing conversions.

#5 Remind the user about the referral campaign just a little after their Aha Moment

The Aha moment will be where your users find value in your product and think to themselves that their friends and family should know about it too.

This is why user onboarding should lead to an Aha, maybe even a wow moment that will amaze users with the value of your product. Making sure that they’re encouraged after the wow and Aha process will boost their chances of creating yet another virality campaign for you.

Conclusion

To put it in a nutshell, the best way to increase referral conversions is to provide value to users and help them find that value.

In line with this effort, you should educate yourself through product data and customer feedback and provide an excellent onboarding experience.

Following this primary drive (finding value) that makes people suggest a product to their friends and family, you should benefit from referral marketing tools, which makes it a lot easier for you to increase conversions.

BIO

This is a guest post written by our friends at UserGuiding

Top 7 Mistakes Online Course Creators Make

Business / Course CreatorsLeave a Comment

If you have a strong personal brand, and you’re an expert in your field, then creating an online course is one of the best ways to make money. After all, information is valuable — and there are tons of people out there vying to get to where you are today.

Starting a course turns the stuff in your head into cash in your bank account, and gets you paid for the value you’re capable of delivering instead of just your time.

Not to mention, starting a course is a great way to build your credibility, and it can help you have a positive impact on others. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

However, starting your own online course isn’t always all sunshine and rainbows. There are plenty of pitfalls that newer creators often fall into — and sometimes, these pitfalls turn their course journey into a failure.

In this article, I’m gonna show you what some of those pitfalls are — and how to avoid them.

The Top 7 Mistakes Online Course Creators Make

Making The Course Too Broad.

Suppose you offer an all-in-one course on digital marketing. You teach people to run email campaigns, design websites, run digital ads, build their social media accounts, and write killer copy.

Is anyone gonna think you’re an expert at every single one of those?

Most course creators go the other way: they have very “narrow” courses that zero in on one particular skill. That lets them focus on helping others do the thing they’re very best at, so people get the most value from them possible.

This also allows them to upsell more courses later if they so choose. And if they ever do an “overview course”, they hire outside experts to teach the stuff they’re not the best at.

Remember, as a course creator, you’re competing with all the other course creators out there — and if you’re not one of the best in the field to learn from, people will go somewhere else. So, especially when you’re just starting out, it’s best to stick to the things you know best.

Asking For Too Much Commitment.

People don’t want to spend tons of time on your course. They’re too busy to spend weeks learning from you.

All the time, I see course creators put tons of time and effort into creating a course that lasts forever. They think they need to put every little thing they’ve ever learned into the course, or it just won’t be worth it.

But the truth is, they’re wasting their time, because courses should be short. In most cases, you should be able to go through a course in just a day or so, if you’re motivated.

In fact, many courses actually market the fact that they’re short. For example, Daniel Throssell’s copywriting course sales page mentions several times that you can go through the entire course in just 1 hour.

Point is, you want to show your audience that you’re not gonna take up more time than you have to.

That’s not to say that “longer” courses don’t have their place — but you have to understand your audience. Are there people who are willing to spend weeks and weeks on a journey with you? If not, you should think about condensing your course, or at least creating a “short” version.

Adding Lots Of Useless Content.

This builds on my last point, because, one of the best ways to make your course shorter is to cut all the information that just isn’t all that helpful.

Focus on the most important 10% of the stuff you know. If you had 2 hours to turn someone into an expert, what would you teach them? Put that stuff in your course, and get rid of everything else.

What if you don’t do this? If you hide all the useful chunks of info that people are paying for in between huge mountains of useless info, or long monologues about something that just isn’t that important, people aren’t gonna notice the good stuff when it comes around. (Even worse, they’ll get bored and not finish the course — and then chances are, they’ll ask for a refund.)

Dividing Your Course Into Huge, Impenetrable “Modules” Rather Than Short Videos.

In today’s age, people want their information in bite-size chunks.

Think about the last thriller novel you read. How long were the chapters? Probably pretty short, if the book was published recently.

Or, think about the last exercise program you read about. Did it market itself as “you can get results using this program, but you have to work out for 3 hours a day?” Probably not — most workout programs brag about the gains you can get if you’re willing to invest just 15 minutes.

Chances are, most of the media you consume deliberately divides itself into small pieces. The best marketers know that people like things short and sweet — especially in the 21st Century.

When you’re creating an online course, the same principles apply. Keep your content short and sweet, and people will be much more willing to “binge” it.

Plus, this allows people to go through the course on their own schedule. If they only have time for 15 minutes a day, they’re not gonna like it if the content’s split into 60-minute chunks.

Finally, keeping your content short and sweet forces you to think about point 3: what do you really need to include in the course? If a video’s 10 minutes long, you can often cut it to 5 minutes by getting rid of a lot of the “fluff” that no one will ever use anyways.

Focusing On Design, Rather Than User Experience

Here’s a secret about your audience: they’d rather feel like they’re making smooth, steady progress through the course than feel the course is “pretty”.

After all, they’re investing a ton of money to learn from you, and they’re expecting to get a pretty serious return on that investment. So they’ll be pretty disappointed if the course doesn’t give them the information they need in a way that’s easy to digest. For that very purpose, it`s a good idea to translate an audio recording into a text file. This will give your students a chance to easily create notes from your materials and memorize them with ease.

Ease of use is king. Think of it this way: your students don’t want to do a ton of work. They want to take your course to feel like watching Netflix: they sit back, they’re entertained, they learn something, and they enjoy themselves.

Sure, you can include stuff like quizzes or exercises so the material sinks in. In fact, I’d recommend it. But don’t make them spend their precious mental energy just to figure out how to get to the next module.

Sure, making the course look pretty is important — but I’d rather take an ugly course that I can go through easily, than a pretty course where I get stuck.

And if you’re using a course platform (which you absolutely should), then you can tinker around with the display a little bit, if you want to. But try not to do it too much, or you might push the platform past its limits — you’ll be out of the zone where it does what it does well — and if that happens, your students will have a bad time.

Not Asking For Feedback.

You need to make the best course you can. Plain and simple.

And this goes double if you’re offering refunds. (And side note: as a course creator, you should offer refunds! Offering refunds shows people you’re confident and recognize the value of your course, and as a result, more people will buy your course.)

Preventing a refund is as good as making a sale. And the single best way to minimize refunds is to improve your course.

How do you improve your course? You can always go through it yourself to try to find problems, but the best way to identify your students’ problems is to just ask them.

If someone cancels, make them tell you why. If they have a great time, ask them to leave a review. And have a “leave a comment” button throughout the course, so people can tell you what’s wrong while it’s on the top of their mind.

If your course includes exclusive access to online communities, read what people are saying in those communities. And if there are other places where people might be talking about you (like in Facebook groups, for example), then check those out as well.

Then, see if you can find common themes. Improve the things that people don’t like, or are constantly complaining about.

Same thing if people like your course. Ask them to tell you why. That way, you’re hearing positive feedback, too, which keeps you feeling good about your course — if you only ask for negative feedback, it can go to your head.

If people like your course, you can also ask them for a referral. (And if you want to maximize the power of your referrals, the website you’re on right now, earlyparrot.com, is a great place to do it!)

You also have to know what feedback to ignore. If someone sends you an angry email telling you that your course sucked and that you should delete it and stop taking people’s money, you have to realize that they’re probably in the minority.

Similarly, a lot of people will give you feedback that applies only to them, and not to most of your users, and solving their problem will hurt everyone else’s user experience.

Some feedback is worth taking, and some isn’t. So get as much as you can, and then learn to distinguish between the two types.

Not Pricing Your Course Properly

How much does your course cost? This is crucial. You have to come up with the right number.

Here’s why: price your course too high, and no one will buy it.

But price your course too low, and no one will buy it either.

That’s because people see value in price. If something’s expensive, they’ll assume there’s a good reason why.

That means if you offer your course for $50, people will say to themselves, “well, that’s probably junk, so I’m not gonna waste my time on it.” But list the exact same course for $300, and they’ll say, “sign me up!”

That’s why it’s so important to find a happy medium. You have to find a price that shows your audience that you know what you’re doing, and that it’s worth their time and money to invest, without charging so much that you sound unreasonable.

What’s the “right price”? Often, it’s the highest price you can justify. You need to be able to say in your sales page, “this is how much it costs, and this is why.”

For some courses, that’s a few hundred bucks. For others, it’s a few thousand.

One idea: if the information in your course is gonna help your audience make money, then you can calculate the dollar figure someone might make by using what you taught them. Then you can price your course based on that.

The best price for your course also depends on how many signups you want. For example, if you’re giving your students lots of personalized attention, you probably want to keep the course small, so you can help the students you do have more.

Giving your course a higher price is a great way to keep out the time-wasters and gate keep your course to the people who will actually put the effort in.

Another helpful tip is to price based on how well your audience knows you.

You can make hundred-dollar “introductory” courses for people who have never taken a course from you before. And then once they like that one, you can upsell them on your big-money, personalized-attention-from-me offer.

BIO

David Crowther is the founder of NerveCentral and helps businesses transform their websites into powerful sales tools and turn more browsers into buyers.

My agency, NerveCentral, is currently offering a sales & marketing “StarterKit” for those looking for a proven, simple path to launching an online course sales funnel with the strategy & tech already taken care of.

To get started, simply shoot me an email at [email protected].

#ParrotInspires: Referral marketing & SEO – perfect match?

Business / Referral Marketing TipsLeave a Comment

There’re so many ways to get new leads for your page. Thanks to the digital revolution, many brands are launching and operating their businesses more easily than before. Some of the ways are easy to obtain, while others are more challenging. That’s why you should consider using referral marketing – it’s an easy way to build a relationship with your customers! Moreover, when you combine referral marketing efforts with SEO actions, you will have the opportunity to create strategies that are effective and support your objectives!

The matter of referral marketing and SEO

To better show you how can referral marketing and SEO work together, we need to tell more about these elements:

Referral marketing

Referral marketing helps you stand out from your competitors and the crowd significantly. We can say it’s an effective form of marketing as it uses referrals, recommendations, and positive word of mouth to help grow your business and company. It uses the networks and connections of your current customers. What’s more, it’s generally based on customer engagement. You should also be aware that word of mouth referrals are usually cheaper.

A referral marketing strategy involves getting someone you know and trust (a referral) to sell or promote your product to a specific group of customers who wish to buy from you.

Referral marketing can involve adding referral links to your website or encouraging customers for referrals. Your company can generate new leads with this strategy if it’s handled correctly. When a product or service is referred, it results in success in some fields.

What about SEO?

SEO aims to achieve the highest ranking of a website in natural (organic) search results for particular phrases and keywords. The first position on the search rankings will allow you to gain more visitors to your site, build brand recognition, and increase income from the sale of services and products. However, the benefits may become apparent only after a few weeks since it is a long-term undertaking.

Another SEO aim is to make sure that the website is visible and understandable to the search engine robots. Essentially it means, the architecture of the site as a whole, the structure of pages, the content, and keywords should be optimised in a way that allows for better search engine rankings.

We also can highlight two types of SEO:

White hat SEO – activities following the rules of search engines. The most common include:
- mutual connection i.e. links exchange,
- website optimisation, taking into account the users’ requirements,
- content optimisation by creating valuable content for website visitors.

Black hat SEO – are unethical activity and inconsistent with search engine codes. The most popular of them are:
- spamming message boards,
- creating content exclusively for search engine robots,
- repeating keywords or placing them in white font,
- abuse of pop-up windows.

Can they work together?

Referral marketing and SEO can work together and complement each other! But, you may wonder how, and we are in a hurry with the answer.

First of all, it’s great when you have a great experience with the people you’re working with, and they want to share their experiences with others. Applying these opinions to your webpage makes your content more trustworthy for engines. Then, they treat your website higher in natural search results. It’s a great option to use such a solution, as people give opinions about what’s at the forefront of their minds. They imitate things that they can see around quite often and share things that can hold much value in the market. People share beautiful stories with others too. All this can substantially positively impact your brand if you consider using this information on your web.

Benefits to combining RM & SEO

Thanks to connecting referral marketing to SEO, you can get various benefits like:

More potential clients will know about your company. Using this solution will increase your company’s recognition, and it’s a huge plus because if you failed to do so before, now you have a chance.
The popularity of your product will rise. Also, your products will benefit from this. Increased brand awareness means increased product awareness.
Your business can grow. The above two factors will make your business gain momentum and grow.
You can grab more employees. Increasing interest among potential employees means you can improve your workforce. You can get new hands to help you or make some changes to your squad that you’ve been thinking about for a long time.
You can make new contacts with contactors. Further cooperation means new opportunities, experiences and development. New contractors can provide them.
You can reach to competition’s clients. Maybe you will gain customers from the competition? Maybe new customers will find out about you? Or friends recommend your products to them? Everything is possible.
You can introduce new products more efficiently. If you want to introduce a new product, referral marketing and SEO will make things easier. Reliable opinions will drive customers and potential customers to trust your new products faster.
You can leave your competition behind. Are your competitors not taking advantage of referral marketing? Excellent! Do it with you and be the first among them.
You can use positive opinions to improve your brand image. If your company has had an image problem, the hope is, among other things, combined referral marketing and SEO. Improve your appearance, show the world positive opinions about your products, about the company, and track the events.
You can spread your business. All the factors outlined here will help you develop your business in many areas!

Summary – is it a perfect match?

Like you see, acquiring businesses through referrals may be even two times faster than other means. Referral marketing is cost-effective, impactful, and trusted. Additionally, the method relies on word-of-mouth referrals and can be used by any business. Getting referrals helps you turn satisfied customers into remarkable convincing customers. If they know people looking for such services, ask them to refer you to them as your services and products are available for all those satisfied consumers at a fair price.

When you consider referral marketing in SEO, you will be able to reach more and more people worldwide. As a result, you can increase your revenue and begin your journey to becoming a leading brand. So, what are you waiting for? Go for it!

Get Leads On AUTOPILOT through Word-of-Mouth

Diversification of products or services

Making the referral marketing program appealing

Offering a reward to boost your referral marketing program

Encourage referral marketing

Creating a website for your referral marketing programs

Identifying your target market

Developing a marketing strategy

Designing the referral marketing program benchmarks

Tell everyone interested to help promote your webinar

Create a website or blog that is focused on marketing to promote your webinar

Tell your friends and family about the webinar

Post on social media sites to promote your webinar

Encourage those that want to join to register

Tell your audience what the webinar content is

Provide a link to the webinar

Record the webinar and share it

1. What is Quora and what can it be used for

2. How to use it for marketing

3. Benefits of using Quora for marketing

4. Tips for using Quora for marketing

5. How EarlyParrot is doing its Quora Marketing

Best Practices for Running an Affiliate Program

1. Define Clear Objectives

2. Choose the Right Affiliates

3. Offer Competitive Commissions

4. Provide Marketing Materials

5. Implement Tracking Mechanisms

6. Regular Communication

7. Performance Reviews

8. Legal Compliance

9. Ongoing Training

10. Reward Loyalty

11. Customer Support

Conclusion

What Are The Benefits Of Referral Marketing?

How To Implement A Referral Marketing Strategy In Your Business?

Reward your top referring agents with exclusive discounts, free products or other incentives.

Use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to promote rewards for referrals.

Set up referral programs that give participants rewards based on the number of referrals they generate.

Host a referral contest

Send targeted email marketing campaigns

Add a “Refer a Friend” link to your email signature

Create a blog

Offer free products or services

Design a beautiful and engaging referral program landing page

Develop relationships with other businesses in complementary industries and cross-promote each other’s services

Do some research and find out who the influencers are in your industry

Conclusion

#1 Make your customers feel like they’re the most important people in the world

#2 Be honest with them and always provide great customer service

#3 Provide excellent product knowledge to help customers make decisions

#4 Offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee or money back policy, no questions asked

#5 If you can’t find what they want, find it for them

#6 Answer their questions quickly and thoroughly so they get an answer as quickly as possible

#7 Send “Thank you” notes or emails after every purchase – even if it’s just a “thank you” email!

#8 Ask for referrals from happy customers

Final words: What to remember?

So why you should have a course sales funnel before building your online course.

1. Avoid ‘Launching to crickets’ scenario

2. Build a list of targeted fans

3. Use small freebies to acquire leads to your course sales funnel

What are the 3 best key course sales funnel elements?

1. A Freebie Offer

2. An Opt-in Landing Page

3. An Email Sequence

How to set up your course sales funnel?

Step N1. Create Your Freebie

But how to come up with Freebies?

What are the best freebies ingredients?

Step N2. Build an Opt-in Page

Who is this freebie offer for?

What does your freebie offer help them do?

How does your freebie offer help them?

Step N3. Create Your Email Sequence

Nurture Email Sequence Outline

Why the Course Sales Funnel is the most solid Marketing Strategy to invest?

Bio

What exactly is User Onboarding?

How can User Onboarding help boost conversion rates when doing referral marketing?