A buyer’s journey these days has changed drastically compared to what it was some years back. This is thanks mainly due to the advent of the internet and a change in consumer expectations. Any lead completes more than half of his buying journey before he has even reached the sales representative of your company for the first time. The marketing automation software can aid you in reaching your customers and helps improve the chances of selling to them. The customer journey doesn’t end there though. After the sales, the customer interacts with your business in several ways providing more opportunities to improve the customer experience by helping with things such as getting referrals. Automating the referral program is one of the best decisions you will take.
There are several referral programs available out there that offer simple integration points. Therefore the referrals should be a part of your process. Whether you add the referrals to the CRM, scheduling software, or mailing lists it will be beneficial. Automation permits you to save time and you can also free yourself up from having to do redundant processes. There are many ways of automating the referral program. Some companies use a complex system that needs a lot of integration while others may not need any at all. There are three crucial points related to automation that are worth exploring.
1. Promotion of referral program
If your happy customers are not aware of the program how will they know whether to participate in it or not? Due to this reason, it is significant that you promote the referral program you are offering. The promotion doesn’t require too much effort. You can mix the promotion strategy with automation to get great results. You can promote the referral program by using newsletters and confirmation emails by adding an email signature to them. The program promotion can be accomplished by adding information about it in the payment confirmation email after the person has made a buy. You can also use social media and member accounts with the website for promoting the referral program. If you don’t have enough time to manage your social accounts you can seek help from an SEO consultant that will do it for you.
2. Sync the program with your sales process
One of the significant reasons various businesses wish to automate the referral program is for being able to keep the leads in sync across different platforms. It helps due to many reasons such as the appropriate distribution of rewards depending on the right actions. It is important to be able to track the participants of your program while deciding on the referral system you are envisaging. There are some ways available for syncing the referrals or you can just link the referral program to the CRM. Keeping track of this information allows you to increase your customer base and makes it simpler to target specific customers. The referral program may also be connected to some of the apps you use frequently. This and with the help of a telegram spy app allows you to push information to and from the referral platform. Other systems will maintain everything in line. All this allows you to create a fully automated process saving time and effort. Furthermore, to finalize the sales process, you can use tools like the ClickFunnels PayPal app to offer various trusted and easy payment options for your customers. Simplifying the payment process makes buying from you hassle-free, and gives your customers a sense of trustworthiness in your brand.
3. Remind the participants
You may discover that your customers require to be reminded about the program every once in a while. It is normal for people to get busy and it means that the referral program goes to the back burner in their minds. When the customer has not been active for a period it will be in your interest to send reminders in the form of notifications or emails. It is another great method for automating and utilizing the workflow with the ESP. If a customer logs into your website after a month the action should pop up a reminder or send an email reminding them about the referral program. If you can highlight the best portions of the program in this message it might persuade them to refer someone immediately to receive the incentive. You may have other promotional strategies working for you but sending reminders will prove to be useful.
Conclusion
There are several referral program solutions available out there to help you in tracking and managing the referrals apart from helping with the award distribution. The key point here is that automation of the referral program begins with the use of a referral program. It not only makes things easier for you but also helps your customers refer you to others.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at BlueFashion. She has been steering the website's content and editorial direction since 2013. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra's expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
