Creating a Successful Customer Referral Program for SaaS Businesses | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack Icon

Creating a Successful Customer Referral Program for SaaS Businesses | CMAweekly Customer Marketing and Advocacy Slack

Shannon Howard
·
Hey Sarah! I have thoughts here. I’m at an event today, but remind me if I don’t respond by tomorrow?
Sarah Hein
·
I set a reminder for Monday to remind you. Thanks!
Mary Green
·
TY for posting Sarah, I'll go back and look for others today.
Jeff Campbell
·
Hi Sarah Hein
1.
Map out the behaviors you want to see from your ICP. Starting with the highest to lowest value. Maybe you incentivize one or multiple steps. Taxes do matter. In the US, people can receive a single item up to $50 in value, and up to $600 total (annually) before needing to claim taxes (please check, and look at different country requirements).
2.
That's harder, but we've seen clients screen and filter out non-professional email domains.
3.
Yes, scaling can be an issue, especially if you want to segment your ICP's. For automation, look for software that can listen to your described actions.
👍1
Shannon Howard
·
I'll start by saying that I think people underestimate the work that goes into a successful referral program and the logistics to operate one. And I don't know that it's always best for B2B because of the tax issues, some companies having policies against referring to a vendor, complexities of buying groups, etc. (usually the person who is influenced by an incentive doesn't have the decision making power). 🤷‍♀️ 1) When should we offer incentives? I would agree with you. Incentive should be based on deal closing. It's not uncommon to have payout be net 30 or net 90 post-sale. That way they get paid when you get paid. Otherwise, CPL is going to skyrocket, and unless those are real and closing at a higher rate, that's going to hurt your marketing metrics. 2) How do you prevent fraud? If you incentivize based only on close, you avoid this. Any time you incentivize lead gen, you run into a likelihood of low-quality leads that won't convert. 3) What is the best way to streamline and automate this process? You could build this into your CRM or use a referral platform that integrates with your CRM. Something other things to consider:
what happens if multiple people try to refer the same person? Who gets the credit?
How long does someone get to be the referrer of a lead? Is it forever? 90 days? 6 months? Depending on your buying cycle length, the longer it's been since the lead was referred, the less likely the referral is an influence on close.
How are you training referral partners on your product so they're setting the right expectations? Are you offering them any collateral to help promote your product?
Gabi Sayah
·
Sarah Hein just to add on the great answers above. I would recommend having a 2 step incentive:
1.
Qualified lead - decide on a stage that is considered qualified and have a small rewards for that (ie $100). It can be frustrating for customers if they only receive rewards for won deals and none of their referrals are closing
2.
Won opportunity - add a larger reward for a won opportunities (ie $400).
In total, your customer would receive $500 and would be incentivized to submit high quality leads.
👍1
💡1
Evan Huck
·
yea 2nd on the multi-stage reward - ie def pay for successful intro call as well - closed deal is too far/rare of a reward
💯1
Shelly Ryder
·
Great stuff! We have a multi-stage referral program now for our Influitive advocates, but want to expand to all customers. Also considering a range of payouts based on value of the closed won deal. Interesting to learn from Jeff Campbell that customers might be limited to receiving $600 in annual gift value to avoid having to claim on taxes.
👍1
Shelly Ryder
·
mason and Kaveri Mekerira ^^
Shelly Ryder
·
Shannon Howard or anyone else doing a referral program -- can the intake be as simple as a public facing landing/submission page that feeds the prospect & referring customer into a SFDC campaign? We would then track the opportunity through its various stages and award customer when a demo is given, and again when it goes to closed won. Is a referral platform needed?
Jeff Campbell
·
Shelly Ryder I believe there is a maximum of $50 value per item received before there are tax implications (and total of $600/year). The incentives our clients offer are typically below that $50 threshold. For higher valued incentives, we use raffle draws/auctions/sweepstakes to limit the number of winners. That reduces the number of folks affected by tax issues, and allows for easier tax form support.
👍1
Shannon Howard
·
Shelly Ryder You could! Does your company do employee referrals? You could look at that to get an idea of how to structure your page/what information to capture. You might need some Terms & Conditions from Legal attached to the page, but I'm all for the low lift approach.
Shannon Howard
·
Kayleigh Bateman mason ☝️ was reminded of this thread today
1
Shannon Howard
·
Katlin Hess some ideas here.
1
Mary Green
·
Sarah Hein how's the referral program coming along?