Referral Scheme

[shawnick]

Hi, I am looking at offering a referral scheme for people to refer customers to our web design agency. I want to know what people think to this approach for new business. Is it a good way of getting business or would going down an affiliate route be better.
Im thinking that 20% commision would be an ideal incentive. What do people think. Is this along the right lines.

One last thing. Any ideas on where i could advertise this. Obvously i will put a page up on our site and contact our existing customers but has anybody had any success with advertising something like this. Any thoughts welcome

 

[cmcridland]

In theory a referral scheme is a good idea but how would you track referrals? For example, if someone has a database of clients who may be interested in web design how could they send out an email to them and be confident that they'll be credited for the referral?

Also, web design is very competitive so something that makes your company stand out would encourage people to refer you.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Word of mouth advertising is of course the best form of advertising. However, if someone refers me to a company and I know that they are going to get rewarded for it then I think less of the company being referred to me.

People have seen me time and again refer companies, etc., on these forums and I do not receive any reward from referring them. I do it because I know and trust their businesses. Also, by referring someone to a business I know then that business is likely to think of me if they hear of someone needing our services. But it's not a "done deal", it's not a case of "I'll only refer people to you if you do the same for us."

So, my point is that you need to think carefully about offering a commission for referrals, you are basically "employing" salespeople rather than people happy to refer your business because you have provided an excellent service.

Have you considered joining your local BNI Chapter? Until recently we had a website designer in our Chapter. She left because we were giving her too much work and she didn't want to expand her business!

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Hi, I am looking at offering a referral scheme for people to refer customers to our web design agency. I want to know what people think to this approach for new business. Is it a good way of getting business or would going down an affiliate route be better.
Im thinking that 20% commision would be an ideal incentive. What do people think. Is this along the right lines.

One last thing. Any ideas on where i could advertise this. Obvously i will put a page up on our site and contact our existing customers but has anybody had any success with advertising something like this. Any thoughts welcome

For your industry, I think something like this should be aimed at existing clients to start with.

Also, you need to be careful about how you word it, so it's clear why you're doing it and why it makes sense for all involved.

Steve

 

[Tim R-T-C]

In theory a referral scheme is a good idea but how would you track referrals? For example, if someone has a database of clients who may be interested in web design how could they send out an email to them and be confident that they'll be credited for the referral?

You could offer a 5% discount (for example) to the end customer as well if they quote their referrer.

One thing that is important is to have some good T&Cs - specifically prohibiting 'spamming'. You don't want your company name plastered all over forums etc. by spammers since it will be very bad for the reputation.