{"id":276259,"date":"2015-02-26T06:27:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T19:27:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/pro-education\/how-to-get-your-customers-to-refer-your-business\/"},"modified":"2015-02-26T06:27:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T19:27:56","slug":"how-to-get-your-customers-to-refer-your-business","status":"publish","type":"au-pro-education","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/pro-education\/how-to-get-your-customers-to-refer-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get your customers to refer your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Referrals<\/p>\n\n

There’s an\u00a080-20 rule in business that states\u00a080% of your\u00a0sales\u00a0come from 20% of your customers. If we think about this in terms of referrals and word of mouth, it’s much more cost effective to encourage referrals from existing loyal customers than to chase unqualified leads for new business.<\/p>\n

So, how can you encourage clients to spread the word about your business to family and friends? Here’s some ideas to help your wedding business make your existing clientele work harder for you through mutually beneficial\u00a0<\/em>referral programs:<\/p>\n

VIPs<\/h2>\n

If you have a VIP program, periodically offer members referral cards that double as gift vouchers\u00a0to forward onto friends. The amount you are\u00a0willing to invest will depend on the average cost of your products or services. Giving someone a $5 voucher for your vintage car hire business\u00a0when rates start at $500p\/hr\u00a0means the voucher probably won’t be perceived as great value and may\u00a0never make its way to a new customer. Conversely, you don’t want to commit to a potentially unsustainable amount that is likely to send you broke when all the referrals turn up on the same day to cash in their cards.<\/p>\n

Cross\u00a0promotions<\/h2>\n

Business is hard at the best of times, so team up with people who understand the struggles and are equally driven\u00a0to build clientele – other wedding businesses using cross promotions<\/a>. If you’re a wedding hair and makeup professional, the obvious partner would be a wedding photographer, but there’s nothing to stop you from joining forces with florists and other non-wedding-only services that clients are likely to use again after their big day.<\/p>\n

Again, depending on the price comparison between your business’ products or services, you can either offer a % off or set monetary discount for referral clients.<\/p>\n

Testimonials<\/h2>\n

Testimonials are powerful tools for both print and digital marketing, so send clients follow up emails inviting them to write one\u00a0for your business in exchange for\u00a0a free gift or discount on their next purchase. Regardless of whether readers\u00a0personally know the people\u00a0who’ve left reviews on your website or not, being able to see a real person who’s had a positive\u00a0experience with your business can significantly influence their purchasing decision. Where possible, have clients provide a photo with their testimonial for maximum impact.<\/p>\n

Email marketing<\/h2>\n

If you send out regular newsletters, ask your recipients to forward the email\u00a0to a friend who might also enjoy the content. Give them a discount incentive for\u00a0forwarding and ask them to CC you in as proof to\u00a0keep track of referrers. Also ensure that social sharing features are enabled on your newsletter content and website blog to make it easy for readers to spread your images and information\u00a0across their social networks.<\/p>\n

Giveaways<\/h2>\n

If you are a marriage celebrant or couture wedding designer, it’s unlikely your clients will benefit from receiving a discount on your services for future use – they’re only planning on\u00a0getting married once, after all. If your business fits this description, consider offering something generic in exchange for referrals, like movie tickets or vouchers for a romantic restaurant.<\/p>\n

Put customers in the spotlight<\/h2>\n

Offer clients a discount if they are\u00a0willing to feature in a real-world story about\u00a0your services. If you\u00a0are a wedding musician, band or DJ<\/a> for example, you might ask clients to supply an image of themselves\u00a0with\u00a0short story about their wedding playlist, how they chose their music and the story behind their first dance<\/a>\u00a0tune.\u00a0This can be done before the wedding and clients will share their story across social media for\u00a0family and friends to see. While not strictly a referral, an endorsement like this shows friends they have trusted you to take\u00a0part in\u00a0their big\u00a0day, and maybe they can too. Browse our Real Weddings<\/a>\u00a0page for inspiration on starting your own case study customer spotlight program.<\/p>\n

Get social<\/h2>\n

Encourage customers to check in on Facebook when they’re in-store to receive a special gift or discount. The same can be done by asking them to tag you in images on Instagram or Pinterest. Often\u00a0just the promise of a repost or share of customers’\u00a0content is enough to prompt them\u00a0to post without needing to offer a promotional incentive. You can also get clever with Facebook posts by asking followers to ‘tag a friend’, like with these\u00a0Mr & Mrs travel tags, which could ask\u00a0the question: “If you could\u00a0sneak\u00a0ONE friend into your luggage to take away on your honeymoon, who would it be? Tag them in the comments to let them know you would if you could!”<\/p>\n

\"Source:<\/a>
Source: Wedding Celebration<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The most important thing to remember with any referral program is that it needs to be fun, relevant, valuable and easy to understand. If you’re confusing\u00a0customers by\u00a0telling them they’ll receive a 20% discount for every purchase over $250 that their friend makes in the month of May on sales items only, you’ve lost them!<\/p>\n

And if a client surprises you with a referral before you’ve prompted them, make an effort to\u00a0surprise them back when they least expect it. Remember, nothing beats a personal touch in a world of increasing automation. Look after your clients and they’ll look after you – all you have to do is ask!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":268856,"template":"","au_pro_edu_tags":[],"class_list":["post-276259","au-pro-education","type-au-pro-education","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_pro_edu_categories-marketing-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education\/276259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-pro-education"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_pro_edu_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_pro_edu_tags?post=276259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}