Let’s get this straight, the more value you give, the more value you’re going to get. The rewards you’re willing to provide is one of the things that can make or break you. 💝
The type of prize is crucial. Is it monetary? Is it something related to your company? Or something just to get their attention?
⛔ The worst choice you can make is reward people with something that doesn’t have anything to do with your brand identity - directly or indirectly.
🙌 Usually when we want to be successful with our rewards we give something related to our company that’s going to boost our brand awareness and help us engage more with our users. Still, "related to the company" doesn't only mean giving free months of service.
If you want your customers to actively participate (let alone remember you), you need to give them something memorable, delivering your campaign in a decidedly distinctive way.
The point of a referral program is not to bribe people into talking about something they don’t care about. That being said, giving an iPhone for 50 successful referrals, when you have a shoe retail business, will not get you far.
💸 You also need to think of your CAC (aka Customer Acquisition Costs), in order to create the right rewards per project. Getting new referrals is important but keeping your existing customers is as wise as it is cost effective.
With average customer acquisition costs ranging from $7 to $315, depending on the industry, working to maintain your existing pool of customers is costly.
So, having all these in mind, here are some suggestions for your rewards:
Free products 🆓
This is an obvious choice. You give free stuff to people for referring their friends. There’s not much to say about it, as Harry’s has already shown how to do it right.
Discounts 🎟️
This is the most popular option among eCommerce and marketplace businesses that choose to run a referral program. The best practice to follow is to offer win-win rewards, like "give 10 get 10" - this way both the referrer and the invitee have something to gain.
Company Swag 👕
People love stickers, cool T-shirts and colorful socks. Oh, they also love to feel like they are part of a movement. One of the best ways to reward them for being your ambassadors, is to make them feel like they are part of your team; a team needs a uniform.
Internal currency 💎
This concept of rewarding revolves around the idea of giving your users a little extra in exchange for referring you to their friends. This is exactly the system that Dropbox used in its referral program.
Even just titles that will lead to something special 👑
For example, take the concept of an ambassador, the key points and ideas for making ambassadors feel unique are to:
Give them access to a private community—for example a Facebook group, or Discord (lots of gamification features, etc.).
Give them early access to new products or features before anyone else gets them.
Give them access to exclusive offers (discounts only for them).
Host exclusive events only for them.
Publicly show your appreciation and love for them (e.g. Twitter shout-out).
You can even invite them to meet in person.
Read more on our e-book about it
Don’t forget that you could even change the rewards you give from time to time and see how your audience responds to them.
The invitee reward 👥
The participants could do well in referring, but there could be an issue on the invitee’s side (new user who is being referred).
This could be easily solved if part of the campaign is to directly give a reward to new invitees who enter the campaign. You could include this in the Referral email they will receive and it’s important to set a time frame for redeeming this reward. ⏳
🚀 Don't forget to consult our comprehensive referral marketing guide for battle-tested tips and tricks that will maximize your campaign's success regardless of template!
Let us know what you think! 💜