How to set up a referral program for your BigCommerce store?
How Do Referral Programs Work?
Referral programs are “middle of funnel” marketing strategies that generate high conversion traffic through incentivization. Referral programs come in ready made apps that are easily installed to ecommerce stores as subscription services. Through these apps shoppers can automatically generate custom referral links which are shareable through any channel. When these links are activated both the recipient and the sharer are rewarded with some sort of discount. These apps are structured through some sort of administrative panel and work automatically to drive referral traffic. This administrative panel allows you to manage your program and to monitor its performance.
Referrals have Higher Shoppers Intent
Referrals are a very important part of any business strategy, but are especially important for new and small businesses. Referred customers are considered high intent shoppers because they are referred by acquaintances, have high perceived value and are discounted. Referrals are considered an extra source of traffic because they are not paid for through marketing. It is possible to achieve conversion rates as high as 30-50% through the combination of referrals and rewards. You can keep close tabs on how well your referral program is working with Lily’s analytics section.
“65% of new business opportunities come from referrals and recommendations. 82% of small businesses claim referrals as their main source of new business. 91% of people in the US would share exclusive offers and good deals with friends and family”
Lily is Full of Features
Lily is more than just a referral app; referrals are part of a more complete platform which includes Rewards, Loyalty Tiers, Email Notifications and an Analytics section. Rewards are a way to increase your conversions, referrals are a way to increase your traffic, and loyalty is a way to increase the lifetime value of your customers. These functions are highly synergetic and optimize your marketing strategy. Once a customer is inducted into your loyalty program you can keep in touch with them with automatic emails and keep tabs with an analytics section.
Lily is everything you need to build a highly impactful marketing strategy. Best of all Lily becomes more effective the larger your loyalty program grows. Lily could transform your ecommerce store and it's completely free to use.
Rewards & Referrals Combined
Referrals work perfectly with rewards, Lily can reward a broad variety of different actions match your marketing strategy. If your marketing strategy revolves around social media you can start rewarding Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers. If your business depends on email campaigns you can reward customer registration. You can make these as rewarding as you would like, placing a better benefit on more important functions. Plus, whenever a new customer is referred they are automatically inducted into your loyalty program. Starting from registration they are eligible to earn points and progress their tier milestone.
Automated Email Notifications
Lily’s custom email builder allows you to create several automated email campaigns and schedule them for maximum effectivity. You can notify customers in any way you want and even include rewards in your emails. Keep customers coming back with highly engaging promotional offers without any hassle.
Complete Analytics Sections
Lily’s analytics section helps you keep track of your program's performance and draw insight on your customers preferences. Make more informed decisions with a complete overview of what's going on with your referral program and never miss a beat.
Lily’s Keys to Success
Optimizing your Referral Program. Here are our recommendations:
- Build links to your Referral Page
- Promote your Referral Rewards
- Use Infographics, Banner and Images
- Increase/Decrease Rewards for Referrals
- Leverage Automated Emails for Referrals
- Maximize Loyalty Member Referrals
- Retain Referred Customers for Loyalty Program
