Referral marketing isn’t a new concept. Chances are you’ve come across referral marketing promotions for years. Have you ever received credit card company asking you to invite your friends and then you both receive extra points? Or have you bought a product that an influencer you follow on your instagram has recommended?
Referral marketing is a low-cost customer acquisition strategy because it empowers your top brand advocates to become your top sales associates. Back in the day, customers would write who referred them on a form in a brick and mortar store. Today, referrals are done with unique urls that track engagement. Companies track the url so you both receive a promotion on your next purchase or another reward.
And how is this done?
With connected data, of course. As your tech stack evolves with data and ai capabilities, make sure your referral marketing strategy is doing so as well. Here are five must-haves as you build out your marketing plans.
1. You need to connect referral marketing to your crm data
referral marketing relies on having a connected data strategy that america phone number list gives you a complete view of your customers. Customer relationship management (crm) data is key to creating targeted referral promotions.
You need to know each advocate’s history with your brand before reaching out to them. Think about it: if someone has an issue with your product and is working with your customer support with an open service ticket, that’s valuable information to consider before asking them for a brand recommendation.
Connecting referral marketing with your crm will help you deliver understand your products personalized and predictive referral programs. Plus, that connected program will bring valuable zero- and first-party data back into your crm from customers sharing with you directly.
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2. Identify the right brand advocates for your goals
your referral programs need to reach the right audience to have the best results. You don’t want to waste your efforts and money reaching out to customers who won’t spread the word.
You already have the information within your platform that could help indicate who might be an advocate based on actions such as purchase history, loyalty information, marketing and sales interactions. Find opportunities to activate this data in your referral strategy.
As you set up your referral programs, look for software that uses email leads database ai to surface insights and helps you make sense of your data to help you build strategic targeting parameters. This will set up your programs with the best chance for results.