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Top Referral Programs You Must Join!

One of the most cost-effective marketing strategies requires using your current clients to spread the word about your brand. The issue? It isn’t always an easy task. Your marketing strategy is the last thing on their minds, between their hectic work schedules and the never-ending list of social and family obligations.

So you have to put it on their minds and make the referral process as easy for them as possible, turning your valuable customer into your most prominent advocates for the brand.

You do this with incentives for killer referrals, such as free products and significant discounts. For everybody involved, this makes it a win-win situation. An incentive is not enough sometimes. With tact and strategy, an efficient rewards program is carried out.

A boy referring his friends to buy a product

However, instead of reinventing the wheel to develop your ideas for referral marketing, it makes sense to look at other brands with successful referral programs.

So we have brought an epic list of the best referral programs currently on the market to you.

Before we start, let’s know more about what a referral program is and why you should join one!

What is a Referral Program?

A referral program is a process in which clients are primed and rewarded for spreading the word about your product or service. A referral program standardizes the way you welcome and reward clients for sharing your brand with others. You can help ensure that your organization gets word of mouth by learning how to build a referral program.

For example, a beauty brand can run a referral program that rewards the current customer with $10 and offers a $10 discount on the first purchase of the referred customer. The referral program incentivizes clients to recommend the brand to their friends when marketed to its client base. Simple to understand, right?

Now that you know the basics of a referral program, you might be thinking about why you should join one. Read on to find out!

Why Should You Join a Referral Program? 

Have you ever thought of joining a referral program? Well, even if you haven’t, it’s time to consider it now! Here are some reasons for the importance of a referral program.

Everyone tends to trust information from friends and family:

Consumers from different markets are more likely to trust individuals who are in their circles. That is because you are less likely to be misled by the people you know and trust.

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To grab more accessible promotion opportunities:

One step toward your growth is to promote your referral program through social media. Social media users now learn about brands, products, and services; we’ve all been there!

A man referring a product on social media

People hear about the experiences of their friends and colleagues using products and services. Having a referral program will make it easy to share with friends and family.

Referrals remind customers why they prefer to purchase with your company:

When a client refers to a specific product or service to a friend, close colleague, or family member, they explain the reasons and also try to convince why the best option is to buy from your business.

Our close ones always want the best for us. So it enables clients to scout potential customers while giving them reasons why they should also be in the team.

Customers believe that they are an integral part of the company:

Would you like to give your customers more reasons to thank them? Customers working with the referral team feel like they are contributing to the success of the company.

Whether it’s a big influencer on YouTube or Instagram, a micro-influencer, or even the average user of social media, is linked to 200+ friends and family. (Imagine how much growth potential that means for you).

Referrals indicate that your company is faring well:

It always feels good to refer someone to a good organization that provides the right products and services than to one with low services and a bad reputation.

The fact that a customer can talk to someone about your business well and encourage them to become new customers demonstrates that your business is excellent and reputable.

Here is a list of some referral programs that you must join.

List of Top Referral Programs You Must Join!

You’ll want to see how other businesses incentivize their clients to help you build a successful referral program. This will help you get a more concrete idea of how your audience can create a referral program that works.

#1. elink

elink.io: Referral program

elink serves businesses, marketers, influencers, and educators to make content fast and save valuable time creating email newsletters and web content. elink has a referral program that requires no special skills. One can include his/her personal elink affiliate link to any website, blog, article, YouTube video, social media account, forum, email, or if you want to refer to friends.

elink.io offers a flat 25% commission on all sales produced from your referrals that convert to a paid plan within 90 days. The pleasantest part is that you don’t have to make any investment before starting. This referral program is an excellent example of how both parties profit from the referral program. It’s an attractive way to drive in new contacts for your business.

#2. Bit

Bit.ai: Referral program

Bit’s affiliate program pays you an industry-leading amount per paid subscription. Bit.ai provides a flat 25% commission on all sales generated from your referrals converted within 90 days to a paid plan. You’ll receive commissions on the first billing cycle for two-year and one-year plans.

For monthly plans, over the first year of billing cycles, you will receive recurring monthly commissions. There are no prior investments to be made to start with this referral program. Instead, they pay you for all the qualified sales. You can just refer to a few friends and start earning right away!

Read more: A Complete Guide to Influencer Marketing

#3. Google

Google: Referral program

One of the many businesses that have implemented a referral program is Google. The referral program concentrates on their G Suite programs aimed at professionals in the business. A referral program was created by Google to entice companies to recommend G Suite to other companies.

Such companies sign up to get their own referral link that they can send to prospective clients. The referral program immensely benefits the sender. Referrers receive cash to make use of Google’s G Suite program for new customers.

The amount depends on the type of program they have for companies through Google. Businesses may refer 100-200 individuals to Google G Suite for use. It’s a great program to encourage people to join G Suite with other businesses and has helped Google gain more subscribers.

#4. Uber

Uber is a sharing service that has incorporated a referral program into its app. The company developed a referral program to attract even more people to use their service since many people use Uber daily. They get their own personal referral code when users sign up for Uber.

The referee must create an account and use the code if a user gives someone their referral code. Both the referrer and referee get their next Uber trip-free once they use the code. This is a very efficient referral program because both parties benefit from it.

It’s an excellent way for new users to test out Uber and see how they like the experience. The free ride allows them to see if they would like to continue using Uber. They benefit from getting a free ride for the service they already enjoy, as for the referrer.

#5. Paypal

Paypal: Referral program

The refer-a-friend service from PayPal literally gave users (and their friends) free cash, encouraging users to get used to free use of their core product.

The refer-a-friend program by PayPal is one of the most lucrative examples of referral programs that helped them achieve 7 to 10 percent regular growth, catapulting more than 100 million members to their user base.

Paypal used to basically pay individuals to invite their mates. It turned out to produce better ROI for marketing than conventional channels of marketing.

They eliminated the Refer-A-Friend incentive once they reached a critical mass of early adopters, but they retained it for merchants. So once they met their target numbers, they lowered the Merchant bonus.

#6. Airbnb

Airbnb: Referral program

Airbnb is another excellent example of a referral program. Airbnb is a service where people can rent rooms, apartments, and houses when traveling across the globe.

Airbnb has developed a referral program to help renters and individuals who want to rent somewhere to stay. They encourage both hosts and users to use Airbnb by inviting their friends. They have the option of inviting them via email when someone refers a friend to Airbnb.

By sharing your link on social media, the referrers can also encourage their followers to check out Airbnb. By offering advantages for both the referrer and referee, Airbnb seals the deal.

If a friend is referred to Airbnb by someone, they get $40 in Airbnb credit. The benefit to the referrer is dependent on the actions of the referee. This makes Airbnb a great referral option, as referrers can earn money for their own travels.

#7. Harry’s

Harry's: Referral program

Harry’s is a newer company focused on shaving products that are shipped to the homes of clients. To help their company grow and become famous, they adopted a referral program before the launch of their brand.

It was intended to generate buzz and interest in Harry’s products through this referral program. It was their companies’ effort to boost their brand and garner a broad base of individuals interested in their products.

They developed an incremental awards system for Harry’s referral program. This system encourages people to refer more people to the system to receive a better reward.

These were excellent advantages that built up the hype for the launch of their brand. Furthermore, the referees received 10 percent off their first purchase. It was an excellent program that encouraged individuals to refer their friends to Harry’s.

#8. ReadyTalk

Ready Talk: Referral program

ReadyTalk, a conferencing service provider, thought of investing in the advocate marketing program to nurture their best clients after sending out several unsuccessful email referral campaigns. They gave rewards for little customer advocacy acts with this program and strengthened their relationship with the clients before asking for some referrals.

ReadyTalk received 183 referrals in the first ten weeks of the Advocate Marketing Program. Being intimate with top advocates and offering them something of value before requesting referrals will inspire them to continually submit high-quality referral leads.

#9. Greats

Greats: Referral program

GREATS feature their referral program on every page, including their about page, making it super easy to find and join. Greats is a brand based in Brooklyn that sells designer sneakers at an affordable rate.

They offer $10 off the next order to all their brand advocates and their friends. Why is their referral service running so well? It’s because they truly understand their clients, and they know they are trendy, tech-savvy millennials who are able to share deals in a matter of a few thumb-taps. So they made a referral program that works with that.

#10. FreeAgent

Freeagent: Referral program

FreeAgent is accounting software. Its affiliate program gives a ten percent discount to both new users and referring customers, which lasts as long as subscribers are actually paid by both parties.

The discounts are stackable, which implies that once ten peers have been referred by the client, they will use the software for free. They may then apply to join FreeAgent’s Evangelist program, allowing customers to earn a twenty percent share of subsequent referral subscriptions.

The concept of stealing with FreeAgent is that it can help prevent churn by making referral incentives last as long as each party is a customer. Providing stackable rewards for each referral will motivate your clients to consistently submit new contacts.

#11. Amazon

Amazon: Referral program

Photos are worth a thousand phrases. In its post referral program, Amazon includes header images, evoking a reminder of friendship’s significance.

The referral campaign’s content is well-written, which encourages the user to share Amazon Prime experiences with their friends through them. As one of the reasons for its enormous success, a strong call to action is a primary part of this referral program.

Conclusion

Referrals programs work because studies have shown that individuals consider product recommendations given by relatives and friends twice as likely. Various organizations, ranging from start-ups to well-established brands, have used this marketing strategy.

People are going to trust referrals more than other advertising sources. Compared to other forms of marketing, referrals are affordable and effective, and all that is required is a quality customer experience.

The most significant reason why you need a referral program is not that you need one, actually. But understanding the significance of using tools to help you automate so that you can concentrate on the right fields, maximize exposure and your brand, fine-tuning the focus areas to continue to grow.

Here’s the elink and bit’s referral program to take inspiration, if you wish to start your own referral program!

Further reads:

Effective Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Your Content

The 10 Best Digital Marketing Automation Tools

Marketing Strategies to Take Your Business to the Next Level

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