7 Reasons Why You Should Opt For Referral Marketing For Your eCommerce Website

From millennia it is has been a fact that words of mouth spread like fire. This eccentricity may have changed faces over time but surprisingly has never been a forgotten frenzy. In fact, it has become a very substantial part of digital marketing and is known as referral marketing. When the whole world is going for it, how can we let you lag behind hence we are discussing here, why you should opt for referral marketing for your eCommerce website.

What is referral marketing?

To know how important referral marketing is you should know what is it all about.

If you have ever visited a shopping website, you might have noticed that they offer you some sort of incentive for referring their site to your social network. The incentive will be for you and all those whom you refer to.

It is not specifically targeted towards selling the same product but to bring traffic to the website.
This is a marketing strategy used by most of the eCommerce sites these days. It is known as “Word of mouth marketing” or “Referral marketing.”
Doing so has many beneficial reasons and we are going to discuss them here.  


Why You Should Opt For Referral Marketing?


Refined Lead Quality





                                                       Source: referralcandy.com


The conversion rate is much higher. Word of mouth marketing is most effective in influencing a buyers’ decision.  according to a report of socialmediatoday.com, 78% of the B2B marketers have said that it generates lead of good or excellent quality, a good reason why you should opt for referral marketing for your websites.
Having a proper referral marketing program can generate qualitative leads for your site. Since your products will be recommended by the existing customers the leads generated through their reference will majorly be genuine. This process can get you potential customers quicker than any other marketing method.  



Get loyalty of customers

One more reason why you should opt for referral marketing is, not only do you get qualitative leads but you also get the loyalty of your present customers. By referring your products or services to others if they get anything complimentary, they will come for more and stay as your loyal customers. You won’t have to stress much on the retention part as it will be running on automation.  


Cuts the Cost Per Lead

Word of mouth marketing cuts the overall cost per lead as these leads are being generated by your existing customers themselves. They refer your site to friends and family and their network. This process is cheaper than generating leads through external sources who charge a whopping cost per lead. This is one more reason why you should opt for referral marketing.


Greater Volume of Lead

Different referral programs have a different working frame. But it is an undeniable fact that the number of leads generated than other marketing programs is comparatively more. Plus you just have to set it and that’s it while other marketing programs need some kind of inputs from time to time making it a good reason why you should opt for referral marketing for your websites.  

Effortless Marketing

The fourth best reason why you should opt for referral marketing is that it is an effortless way of marketing. Once you set a referral program you don’t have to check it out regularly, and as mentioned earlier you won’t have to give any kind of input to it like other referral programs.



People are Opting for it  For a Reason

There is a reason why word of mouth marketing has always been a caprice. As we told you earlier it may have changed faces but the core is still there and very well growing and raging in the eCommerce sector. As you know that every business is a serious matter, no-one will go for any marketing program just because it’s trending. Every businessman is going for referral marketing programs for a reason. They observe the results that are being produced after opting this program and hence they are going for it and this a strong point why you should opt for referral marketing.



Most effective in low budget marketing  





                                                              Source: marketingprofs.com    

The only things that push referral marketing to the second place are events and trade shows. The graph shows how effective word of mouth marketing is. Though cold calling, content marketing and email marketing are also some of the actively used marketing strategies and they are effective as well yet they can’t beat its popularity, this is also why you should opt for referral marketing.



How to Get The Most Out of Your Referral Program

Proper Research

Though referral programs can intensify the potential of word-of-mouth marketing. But you need to make some research in order to get yourself a suitable referral program. Before getting a referral program, you need to focus on these two questions.

1. Does your eCommerce business need a referral program
2. Which referral program will suit your business the best

To get the answer to the first question, you must look for two offices

1. The per month sales percentage of your online store.
2. Are you already getting enough organic word-of-mouth referrals?

Around 250 monthly transactions are considered ideal. Though not all the customers will do referrals because they might not be willing to or would have simply forgotten or there could be other reasons as well. 

Get a Tailored Referral Program for Yourself  

• Before getting a referral program, consult with the solution providers to know what best suits your site. Should you give cash rewards, discount coupons, reward points etc. There are various referral programs and randomly choosing can defy the whole purpose. You will have to get a clear vision about the type of incentive so that it goes with whatever you are selling and the price of your products or services.
         E.g if you are selling something long-lasting like furniture, kitchenware etc. a discount coupon will be of no use same goes for your Micro-Job website also. Instead, you can use a refer-and-earn program. Similarly, you can offer discount coupons for those items that are regularly used and replaced more often like groceries, personal care items etc. 
• Secondly, observe from where your site is acquiring more customers, is it email marketing, is it content marketing or some other marketing program. Categorize your channels and you can fit your referral program to work in coordination. This strategy especially works well for B2B eCommerce because they attract a large crowd through content marketing. Putting the referral program in the content and providing a CTA button, in addition, amplifies the conversion rate. If you find e-mail marketing or retargeting works well for you, you can use your referral program in your client mails. 
• Make research, see what does the referral programs of your competitors are lacking and take full advantage of their minus points.  Carry out a better version for your own business type. 
  

Now that you know why you should opt for referral marketing for your eCommerce website, don’t delay and get your very own referral program that will sky-rocket your sales. 

Cedcommerce Can Help

For a remarkable amount of time, CedCommerce has been offering the necessary technical solutions inclusive of marketplace building solutionss and hosting services specifically made for building one such platform. These extensions come with a multitude of features to aid in the development of a rich multi-vendor e-commerce marketplace. With our, “Refer a friend extension” you can track the customer conversion rate. Not only can you manage and customize the reward points for each of the customers even your customers can share referral codes and affiliate banner links through emails or any social networking sites.  

For building your own multi-vendor marketplace platform  and to see what our satisfied customers have to say about us do visit: CedCommerce

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