Increase Your Footfall With A Simple Customer Referral Loop [Part 5/5]

What’s even better than customer loyalty? Customer Advocacy, A.K.A. word-of-mouth. The best way to get new customers is through existing ones. In general, customer referral marketing creates customers with a higher lifetime value thanks to increased loyalty and overall spending.

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A successful customer referral scheme doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive though. Your loyal customers certainly are one reliable source for customer referrals. However, there are other sources you can use.

Let’s take our 5 step recipe to set up a simple customer referral campaign.

1) The Data

For this referral campaign, you need to access a list of those customers who have given you feedback or have left a review. Ideally positive feedback at that! Many online review systems will have a contact list stored that you can access.

If you don’t have access to that, then seek out your customers who exhibit loyalty with their visit or booking frequency. It goes without saying that if they visit and spend a lot, they can be considered loyal.

2) The Trigger Event

The trigger event in this case will be time-based. This means you have to segment your reviews by ‘customer who has left a positive review within the last … days.’

You can choose a timeframe that works best for you. However, customer memory and engagement will be higher with less time in between. You can also set this up as an immediate trigger and your campaign will be sent straight after someone has left a review. 

If you’re basing it on loyalty, then the trigger is ‘total number of visits is greater than [number]’.

You can easily turn this campaign into an automated one so that you don’t have to update it and send it manually.

3) The Messaging

The first part of your messaging should focus on acknowledging your customers’ feedback and/or experience they had at your venue.

The second part is all about giving them the opportunity to be rewarded when they bring back a friend and spread the word.

Make sure it’s easy for customers to understand how a referral works and what they need to do. And more importantly, what’s in it for them.

4) The Offer

For this campaign, you should include a special deal or time-limited offer that customers can claim at your venue.

Here’s what your email could look like:

Subject line: [Name], spread the word and bring a friend to get [offer]

We’re glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed your time at [venue]. Why not share your great experience with your family and friends?

The best bit, if you bring a friend you’ll get [offer]. What are you waiting for?

REFER NOW

5) The Outcome

The effect of this customer referral campaign is pretty straightforward. You’ll get new customers through your door, plus your existing customer will pay you another visit to claim the reward. 

To get the ball rolling, automate your review requests to gather more reviews for your campaign without the hassle of manually asking for them. Reach out to one of our team to find out how you can set this up in your venue.

Also, don’t forget to head to our blog to check out all articles of this 5 part series on personalised marketing as a means to drive customer loyalty faster and grow your business.