Word-of-mouth has always been a powerful way to grow your business, but these days, it’s more critical than ever. Consumers increasingly rely on recommendations from friends and family to make purchase decisions, and referral marketing can generate massive returns for eCommerce brands.
In fact, a recent study found that 93% of people are willing to trust a brand recommended by a friend or family member, while only 38% are willing to trust an ad for that same brand.
That’s where the partnership between Extole and Attentive comes in. By combining Extole’s customer-led growth platform with Attentive’s SMS first platform, you can take your referral marketing efforts to the next level and supercharge your growth.
Here are just a few ways you can use Extole and Attentive together to drive customer acquisition, engage your customers, and drive repeat purchases.
For setup and configuration, please refer to Extole’s technical documentation.
Let subscribers do your marketing for you during seasonal promotions
Create campaigns in Attentive for seasonal promotions like National Best Friends Day, BFCM, Valentine’s Day, Friendsgiving, and more that encourage your subscribers to spread the word about special promotions with friends and family.
Simply create your campaign in Attentive and insert a trackable Extole promote link that takes subscribers to your referral program to share.
Maximize referrals: Trigger personalized offers via SMS during key moments of the customer journey
One effective way to drive new customer acquisition is to ask your existing subscribers for a referral when they are most happy and engaged with your brand. Here’s how you can use Attentive and Extole together to maximize referrals and engage customers.
Step 1 – Identify “moments of delight” in your customer journey: Determine the moments in your customer journey where your customers are happiest and most engaged with your brand. These moments may be post-purchase after a customer places an order, or after they leave a positive review.
Step 2 – Set up Journeys in Attentive: Use pre-built or custom journey triggers in Attentive to set up a referral promotion based on the moments of delight you’ve identified in Step 1. Then, simply draft your message and insert a unique trackable Extole promote link that will take subscribers to your referral program to share.
Tip
In your Journeys, make sure to highlight the benefits of referring a friend, such as a discount or bonus points and increase urgency with limited time offers.
Post-Purchase Journey – The best time to ask for a referral is that moment of delight immediately after a customer places their order. Include a referral promotion in your standard post-purchase journey.
Positive Review Created Journey – If you are capturing review submissions in Attentive, ask subscribers to refer their friends immediately after they leave a positive review on your website.
Advanced into Next Loyalty Tier Journey – If you have a loyalty program, celebrate your customers by sending them a referral offer when they advance into the next loyalty tier.
Customer Win-Back Journey – Engage subscribers who have not converted in at least 45 days and are most likely to convert with a referral offer.
Turn every subscriber into an advocate by making it easy for them to refer
Make it easy for customers to refer their friends by adding their personalized share link in your Attentive Journeys. Subscribers can simply forward the text with their personalized share link to friends and family to start sharing, all without having to leave their messaging app.
Use Extole-generated insights to engage subscribers with personalized offers
Identify Deal-Seekers: Create “promotional” or “deal-seeker” segments in Attentive when customers try to refer themselves for a discount. While these customers didn’t qualify for the referral offer, they will be motivated to buy if you offer them a discount to shop now.
Target VIP’s with Loyalty Exclusives: Create a VIP segment in Attentive of advocates who have driven 2+ successful referrals in the last 12 months. These are some of your most valuable and loyal customers, and by targeting them with exclusive offers in the future, you can retain them as loyal customers and champions for your brand.
Send Product Recommendations: Capture product preferences when customers share specific products with their friends in your Extole-powered programs. Use those preferences as a branch in your Attentive Journeys to promote new or recommended products in the same category.
Text referral coupon codes to drive conversions and increase sales
With Extole and Attentive, you can easily send referral coupon codes to advocates and their referred friends via text. By making it easy for advocates and their friends to redeem rewards, you can turn word-of-mouth recommendations into actual purchases and grow your business.
Tip
In your referral reward earned Journeys, create a branch for those who have earned their reward but haven’t converted yet and nudge them with a reminder to redeem now.
By combining Extole and Attentive, you can create powerful, personalized referral marketing campaigns that leverage the trust and social proof that come with word-of-mouth recommendations. Ready to get started? Contact your Client Success Manager to learn more about how you can use Extole and Attentive to build a successful referral marketing program.
