In our “How To Harviist” series, we’ll be sharing advice and tutorials on how to create the most epic referral campaigns, from project preparation right through to the analysing the results.
According to a Google Image quote with Benjamin Franklin’s face superimposed in front of a sunset: “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail”, so in our first instalment, we’ll be covering the points you should consider before you even open our software.
What is the goal of the campaign?
Referral campaigns are not just a simple exercise in getting your customers to refer a friend – they can be used to reach a number of different goals. Decide if you would like to reactivate current customers, gain new customers, generate brand awareness, target a lookalike audience, encourage loyalty, etc.
Who would you like to target?
Our software offers the ability to target different customer segments, so first decide if you’d like to target your entire customer base, or just a segment. If it’s the latter, you’ll need to determine what segment/s you’d like to include. You can sort your customers by age-group, location, purchasing habits, VIPs, lifetime value, and more.
How long will the campaign run for?
Referral marketing can be used for both short-term and long-term campaigns. If you’re looking for fast uptake and reward then you can run a short-term campaign such as a week-long influencer challenge or a one-off discount code for referring a friend. Longer term campaigns include loyalty programs or a fixed referral reward scheme that is offered upon every purchase.
What type of campaign would you like to run?
Now it’s time to get creative. Think about who you want to uplift and where they hang out. Do you want this to be a social media campaign to get people talking about you, or do you want to keep this exclusive with a special offer email for your best customers only? Do you want to work with celebrity influencers, micro influencers, or customer ambassadors? Whatever you decide, make sure the type of campaign is relevant to the audience you want to target and will get them excited.
What incentives will you provide for the customer?
This is the best part, the rewards! Before you launch your campaign, you’ll need to choose the incentive that you will be offering. Just like the campaign type, make sure this is something that your target audience actually want and not just some dusty merch that’s been languishing in the stationary cupboard since 2014. You can offer discounts, early access, exclusive merch, cash, store credit, even pizza. It’s completely up to you!
How will you communicate the campaign to your customer?
Now that you’ve got your campaign structure down, you’ll need to establish exactly how the mechanics will work. Will this campaign need a landing page or can it be done exclusively via email? Would your customers prefer to be contacted via a messaging app or through social media? Will you need any offline marketing to compliment your online effort? How will these work together? And don’t forget the reward mechanics too – before the campaign launch, first figure out if it’s technically possible to easily credit your customers with the promised incentive.
Harviist referral campaigns come in all shapes and sizes and can be tailored to your branding and targeted to your segment of choice. But, in order to make the best use of referral marketing, it’s important to do the groundwork before you press that launch button. Once your campaign is airtight, you can go live and leave the rest to us.
Follow us for more ‘How To Harviist’ guides in the coming weeks.
Happy Harviisting!
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