Word of mouth is arguably one of the best ways to grow your startup business. After all, recommendations from friends and family can be a powerful motivator for people to buy your products. And with that, actively taking advantage of it through referral marketing is always a good idea.
But running that referral marketing requires a lot of work. And for your small business, this will be challenging. Thus, you will need help to make it succeed. Find out how Virtua Solutions can get you the boost you need and get people recommending you to others.
The Challenges Of Referral Marketing
To better grasp how outsourcing can help you make your referral marketing program succeed, you need to understand the challenges first. These challenges can slow down the rate your business can attract such referrals. They can also make it harder for you to convert these into actual sales.
Challenge no. 1: Not Knowing Who To Ask
While people might like your product, not everyone would be willing to talk to others and recommend it. Identifying those that do requires a lot of time. You have to study their behaviors to see how much interest they have in your product. You then need to assess how well they can convince others to jump on board your brand.
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But identifying them is just part of the problem. You still have to overcome barriers to convince them to participate. One of those barriers is that they are simply too busy. Here, you have to convince them to take a short break from their activities.
Challenge no. 2: Your Referral Program Is Hard To Use
Even if potential referrers are willing, they might find your program hard to use. Many things can lead to this. One of the most common detractors here is if they have to go through a complicated signup process. People become less enthusiastic if they can’t start with the program as soon as possible.
Image from Referral Hero.
It can be more problematic if your staff themselves don’t understand the program. That can make it harder for them to guide customers into making the right move. That lack of training can stem from you not having enough resources to facilitate the training.
Challenge no. 3: Capitalizing On The Referrals
As it turns out, getting referrals is just the first part of doing referral marketing. Converting these into actual customers is the second part. Here, the challenge lies in giving them the same experience that got their friends to recommend you in the first place.
One of the most important aspects here is providing personalization. When they first click the referral link, people expect to be welcomed with a custom experience that suits them. However, providing this personalization for multiple referrals can be challenging to execute.
What Outsourcing Can Bring Your Startup Business Referral Marketing
Beyond the usual benefits of outsourcing, such as lower costs, there are several key benefits that your referral marketing efforts can get from the move. These benefits let you get more out of the campaign and generate more conversions.
Greater Scalability For Your Startup Business
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As the number of referrals to you increase, you need to be ready to take them on right away. Here, scalability becomes crucial. Outsourcing gives you the ability to expand your referral marketing faster and get agents in position. You can then better reach out to these referrals and generate conversions.
Better Reporting And Analytics
Besides scalability, outsourcing lets you team up with experts. They can help you better understand the nuances of customer behavior. These experts can help you devise strategies that better catch the interest of referrals. The expanded team you get can also test these strategies more and refine them.
Faster Deployment Of Referral Program Components
Another area where outsourcing can help you greatly is developing your referral marketing tools. These include flexible rewards programs, multiple referral channels, and omnichannel functionality. What’s more, the provider can be the one managing these elements for you, allowing your team to focus more on conversions.
Outsourcing Referral Marketing The Right Way
Of course, to get the most out of these benefits, you need to outsource the right way. Here, the first thing you need is the right provider. Decide whether to go with an all-around provider or one that specializes in a particular aspect of the work. Both have different applications.
The general one would be best suited for larger referral programs. It will let you cover more ground. Meanwhile, more specialized providers would be better if you only need to fill only certain roles. You can either go with a single provider to handle these multiple tasks or get several ones to focus more on each task.
In Virtua Solutions’ case, we provide support for different aspects of your referral marketing effort. We start by supporting your referrers. Our agents will guide them so that they can quickly pass their recommendations to you and collect the associated rewards.
From there, our agents can then attend to the referrals. When they click on the referral link, we are ready to receive them and respond to their questions. Our team will also help you maintain resources like your information pages so that referrals can quickly check information regarding the program.
Expanding Your Startup Business Referral Program
We don’t just help you by directly engaging your referrals. Our team can also help you grow the program as you see fit. Through our monitoring service, you will know what potential products referrals are looking for. From there, we will help you devise referral mechanics that take advantage of these.
Image from Invite Referrals.
Our team can also help in the training of your employees. We facilitate both onboarding and regular training sessions. Your team will be equipped with the right knowledge to engage referrals and turn them into actual customers. Combined with our work with referral engagement, you have a bigger chance of a successful conversion.
Turn Your Startup Business Referral Marketing Into A Goldmine Of New Customers
Our help in boosting your startup business referral marketing isn’t just for the short term. When you sign up with us, we will help you develop a long-term strategy to make the program grow. Contact us today and let’s turn your referrals into a great source of more customers.