How do ecommerce businesses build their customer base without breaking the bank on advertising? One proven way is to turn loyal customers into brand ambassadors. By telling friends, family, and colleagues about your business, your existing clients can become your most valuable tool for new customer acquisition.
As a business owner, you can turbocharge the word-of-mouth referral process by creating a rewards program for customers who bring in new business. If you offer free items and special discounts to people who spread the word about your company, it ups the incentive for your customers to recruit others.
The best way to embark on your own referral program is to leverage referral tracking software, which helps your sales team manage the referral rewards process. Here’s a guide to referral tracking software, including picks for ecommerce and software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies that want to turn their customer base into a veritable referral factory.
What is referral tracking software?
Referral tracking software is a tool businesses use to manage, automate, and measure customer referral programs. Instead of manually tracking who referred whom—and who earned what reward—it keeps everything organized behind the scenes so businesses can manage and optimize their customer referral programs. Also known as referral marketing software or referral program software, it lets businesses keep track of which referral partners recruited which new customers.
Referral tracking software also helps distribute rewards to those who did the referring. For instance, you could set up a referral marketing program where existing customers get a $50 store credit if they refer a friend who makes a purchase of $100 or more. The best referral program software for your business will be able to seamlessly connect the referring customer with the recruit and distribute the reward.
Functions of referral software
The best referral marketing software can automate the entire referral process, covering tasks that would be tedious for human marketers to manage. Here are some of the ways that referral program software makes life easier for business owners:
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Generating referral codes. Many referral marketing solutions generate codes unique to individual customers. When new customers enter these referral codes, the referral system credits the correct person for recruiting them.
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Issuing rewards. Referral tracking software can automatically issue the rewards that a company promises to its customers in its referral marketing campaigns.
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Designing reward tiers. Your referral marketing platform can design multitiered campaigns where the best referral sources receive better rewards. For example, someone could get a better prize for their tenth referral than they’ve gotten for the previous nine.
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Providing detailed analytics. Software-based referral tools go beyond logistical management to provide detailed data about the entire process. This may include identifying top referrers, tracking conversion rates, and highlighting areas for optimization. This detailed reporting can help you maximize revenue and customer lifetime value (CLV).
Referral tracking vs. affiliate tracking
Referral tracking software shares some qualities with affiliate program software; however, referral and affiliate programs aren’t the same.
An affiliate program typically involves paying commissions to external partners for promoting products or services. Think of a social media influencer promoting a brand via a custom URL. For every purchase made via that URL, the influencer gets a commission as a marketing affiliate.
Customer referral campaigns, by contrast, incentivize existing customers to refer new customers to the business via word-of-mouth marketing. These referring customers get a reward, such as store credit or a discount code, for each of their referred customers.
4 referral tracking software options
Leveraging top-notch software can help you implement your referral program ideas with ease. The best referral software can run several different referral programs at once. It will also automate most processes, freeing up your sales and support teams to focus on other endeavors. Here are four strong options to consider for your own referral tracking program:
ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy is a Shopify-friendly referral platform that supports multiple integrations, including with Klaviyo and Google Analytics. In just a few clicks, ReferralCandy lets you run automated, branded campaigns with an array of extensions and APIs. Its FlexiTiers tool lets you create custom reward options for your customers. It also features an email marketing platform to facilitate referral marketing, so users can generate eye-catching referral emails to send to others in their network.
Pricing: ReferralCandy subscriptions start at $59 per month plus a 3.5% commission fee. There are discounts for annual memberships.
Referral Rock
Referral Rock is all about automated reward fulfillment. You can customize the platform’s referral program templates to create a user-friendly design featuring your brand name and logo. Referral Rock offers an embedded marketing tool that can appear in your emails, checkout pages, and within an ecommerce app. The tool enables “one-click sharing moments” that make it easy for existing customers to promote your brand to friends. The platform also emphasizes its customer support team, pairing each customer with a dedicated program advisor.
Pricing: Referral Rock pricing starts at $175 per month, which includes 10 user accounts.
Friendbuy
Friendbuy offers both referral software and customer loyalty software. It gives you nearly complete control of your referral marketing; you choose your own fonts, colors, imagery, and widget design. Its features include A/B testing, automated referral emails, and powerful APIs that can help you engage with website visitors at any point in their sales journey. Friendbuy cleanly integrates with your existing systems, including Shopify, Salesforce, Klaviyo, and Iterable.
Pricing:Contact Friendbuy to get a pricing quote.
InviteReferrals
InviteReferrals makes it easy to recruit more customers regardless of your preferred marketing channel. It integrates seamlessly with Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, and Magento, among other platforms. Key features include full automation, support for multiple referral campaigns, fraud prevention, analytics, reporting, and Java-based integration with other tools.
Pricing: You can demo InviteReferrals with a 15-day free trial. Paid plans start at $249 per month.
Referral tracking software FAQ
How do I keep track of referrals?
The best way to keep track of referrals is to use referral tracking software. Such software lets you create referral rewards programs, distribute referral marketing messages, and reward existing customers who recruit new clients for your company. As more referrals come in, the new customers’ information is stored in your software’s database.
What are some of the best software options to manage referrals?
Some of the best referral management software options include Referral Rock, ReferralCandy, and Friendbuy. They offer robust functionality for creating referral programs, and they can help you save money when compared to traditional pay-per-click advertising.
How do I track offline referrals?
It’s wise to track offline referrals by manually entering the name of the referrer and the referred client in your referral software database. That way, your offline referral information can be stored alongside information about people who discovered your business via online marketing. This approach can be particularly helpful for local businesses that may reach their target audience by word of mouth.
