With all the celebrity brand ambassadors vying for our attention using their shiny faces and pert booties, it can be easy to neglect our most powerful influencer: the customer. People are more likely to trust a recommendation if the person it’s coming from is not getting rewarded for it, so the secret to a successful influencer campaign lies in its authenticity. With that in mind, when it comes to building your marketing strategy, it pays to put referral campaigns high up the list.
Here Come The Numbers
Let’s take a look at the juicy figures behind customer referrals:
- 83% of customers trust the recommendations of friends and family.
- 71% of consumers are more likely to make purchases based on social media referrals.
- 28% of millennials say they won’t even try a product if their friends don’t recommend it.
- Up to 50% of purchases are influenced by word of mouth and personal recommendations.
- Referred customers have a 37% higher retention rate.
Without a structured referral marketing plan, businesses tend to cross their fingers and hope that their customers will talk about them. But word of mouth recommendations are notoriously hard to pin down. According to a Texas Tech university study, a massive 83% of customers are willing to recommend a product, but only 29% of them actually do, demonstrating that in order to refer, customers need smooth processes and nice incentives. Just willing them to do it doesn’t work.
Let’s Get Them Talking
With Harviist’s simple referral marketing software, you can turn your customer into a brand influencer in an instant. The dashboard plugs straight into your current campaign platform and will create campaigns designed specifically to mobilise your customers into sharing you with their network.
You can launch, track and analyse referral campaigns in a few clicks, then watch your brand grow with real-time results at a glance. There is no complicated integration so you have more time to focus on your product.
Referral marketing is an effective way to turn you customers conversations into quality leads without the huge costs. Customers tend to recommend only to the friends who are well-suited to the product, so you will save on targeting look-a-like audiences and avoid wasting budget on customers who are not in your product market.
But it’s not just about attracting new customers, offering referral campaigns creates loyalty within your existing customer base too. It’s a great way to build meaningful relationships with your audience and extend their lifetime value whilst avoiding the competitive shouting match that is digital marketing.
If you’d like to turn your customers into powerful influencers, get in touch at [email protected] to find out how we can help get them talking.