10 Customer Referral Program Ideas

Customer referral program ideas continue to evolve as business is done in different manners than it was when our parents were young.  This is definitely a positive change for business owners in today’s digital age. With an endless list of new ideas and channels to bring referrals in from, it can simply be a matter of finding the right program for your business. Sometimes it can be of huge benefit to combine several program ideas into one custom-tailored strategy for your company.

10 Creative Customer Referral Program Ideas

Coming up with your own customer referral program ideas is part of the creativity required to grow your business and brand. This is an area where the most creative ideas shine.

1. Give away a display type of item with your business’s name or website URL clearly visible. Display items include calendars, picture frames and other similar items that are easily viewed by others in proximity to them.

2. Offer rebates on your highest priced products or services. Encourage the understanding of how volume discounts at the top-end are being passed down as savings to the consumer.

3. Create your own event from a more obscure holiday. Be prepared to not receive wide-reaching results in your first year of celebration, but repeated celebrations and planned events will begin to grow a pool of its own referrals.

4. Offer a free service relevant to your business occasionally. A car wash should offer a free wax, a child care center can offer a free week for every 20 paid. Get creative and find a way to benefit your consumers without taking too much from your own bottom line.

5. Have gift cards created with your business or company name and URL on them and hand them out at conferences or events. Networking with other businesses can often lead to more customer referral program ideas.

6. Go green. Create recyclable grocer bags or gift boxes that sport your brand logo to show you are environmentally friendly. As these items are reused or passed on, they are still passively advertising for you.

7. Have a commonly used item packaged with your brand logo on them. Whether you choose soap, sunscreen or even a car air freshener, giving these out to your preferred customers can help bring in referrals. Be sure to give your preferred customers more than one so they can pass them around to their friends as well.

8. Offer discounted products or services that consumers can use on their next visit. Create a coupon or receipt that is double-printed so that one copy can be given to a friend or family member to try at the discounted rate.

9. Celebrate a customer appreciation day where current customers receive benefits on the spot in the form of gifts or entertainments and prospective customers can receive discounts for making their first purchases, thereby becoming a current customer for next year’s appreciation event.

10. Award consumers for sending you referrals, for catching typos or errors on your website, or anything that initiates improvement within your business.

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