Creating a Referral Program
Learn how to create Referral Program in your site and how does it work in detail.
Introduction
Customer referrals are an excellent way for a business to grow its customer base and acquire new high-value clients
A referral program is a marketing tactic that encourages your existing customers to share your brand / product with their friends, colleagues, and family members.
This article will help you to create and launch a referral program for your e-commerce store.
Please note that before proceeding, you must have installed and activated the WPLoyalty PRO plugin. It is important to note that the below discussed Referral Program requires the PRO version.
There are different ways to reward a customer. The following are the most common way to reward a customer.
Offer a reward your users want. This might be a discount on their next purchase, a gift card, or access to a special good or service.
Double the reward. Customer referral programs are even more effective when you make an offer both to the referrer and referee.
Let customers earn different types of rewards.
- Points - customers earn certain points for each action. Example: purchase, sign up.
- Coupons - An instant reward. You can issue direct coupons as rewards like one-time bonuses, achieving spending goals, etc. Example: $10 reward if you spend over $500 in an order. It can be a percentage or a fixed coupon
- Free Product - Customers can redeem their points to get a free product or you can also offer this as an instant reward for achieving certain goals
- Free shipping - Customers can redeem their points for a free shipping coupons or you can also offer this as an instant reward for achieving certain goals
In this article, we are going to see how to create and reward customers for referring their friends to your e-commerce store.
The following steps will walk you through creating a Referral Campaign in WPLoyalty.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard -> WPLoyalty -> Campaigns
- Click "Create New Campaign" button
- You will see a list of campaign types to choose from
For this tutorial, we are going to choose the "Referral".
Campaign options:
Title - Title for the campaign
Description - A description of your referral campaign.
Existing Customer
Choose the type of reward :
It is about providing a reward your existing customer for referring a new person to your store. The rewards can provide either in points or through a coupon reward.
Point Reward Type
- Fixed points: If you are choosing fixed points, you have to set the points to be earned by the campaign.
For example, 100 points will be selected to reward a Existing customer.
- Percentage based on subtotal: If you are choosing a percentage based on subtotal, enter the percentage of points to be earned based on the subtotal.
Coupon reward:
If you are choosing a coupon reward for existing customer, you have to create a reward in the reward section.
For example: you can create a Point Conversion Reward.
New customer:
A person who is new (i.e, buying your product for the first time) to your store is considered to be a new customer.
This is about providing a reward to your new customer for making their first order. The reward can be either in points or through a coupon reward.
Choose the type of reward:
You can choose the reward either in points or in the coupon reward.
Point Reward Type
- Fixed points: If you are choosing fixed points, you have to set the points to be earned by the campaign.
For example, 150 points will be selected to reward a customer.
- Percentage based on subtotal: If you are choosing a percentage based on subtotal, you set the points to calculate the percentage.
Coupon reward:
If you are choosing a coupon reward for NEW customer, you have to create a reward in the reward section.
For example: you can create a Point Conversion Reward.
Start Date (optional) - The campaign start date. Optional field.
End Date (optional) - If you want the campaign to end at a particular date, you can use this. This is also an optional field.
Save and proceed to create a reward.
Now that, we have created a campaign for the customer to earn points. We now have to create a reward. So that the customer can spend the points they earned i.e., redeem their points for a reward.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard -> WPLoyalty -> Rewards
- Create a Reward
- Choose the Reward type as "Points Conversion".
Title: Give a title for the reward
Description: Add a description of the reward. Example: Redeem 500 points for $5 dollars. This description will be used in the Customers Reward page
Conversion rate for redeeming points & For each $ discount : Enter the number of points and the value they get in your store. Example: 500 points for $5 dollars.
Display Name: Enter a display name when the reward is applied as a discount in the cart / checkout
Coupon Expiry: Set a validity for the reward. Example: 30 days. This means, when a customer redeems his points for a reward, the reward (which is issued in the form of a coupon) will expire in 30 days.
Save and activate.
Once customers earned their points, we should allow them to redeem their points. When they redeem, the points to amount conversion configured above will apply.
Example: Let's say John has 1000 points. He decides to redeem 500 points. According to the conversion value set, he can redeem 500 points for a $5 reward. This reward will be created as a coupon.
Now, it is time to let our customers know about their rewards.
Example:
Existing Customer:
By clicking " click here " your customer can redeem this reward from the below popup.
Now points will be used to redeem this reward.
Cart page after redeeming 500 Points for $5:
Checkout page:
Reward page of existing customer after redeeming 500 points via Point Conversion Reward:
New Customer:
Once the existing customer share the Referral URL to new customers via Social Share, new customers can copy the link and place an order using the Referral Link.
Cart page of New Customer while placing first order using Referral URL:
Note: If you are testing as a new customer using referral URL, then paste the referral URL in incognito tab, place order using new email address and you can test it.
The above discussed scenario requires PRO.
Video:
How to create a Referral Campaign with Points:
How to create a Referral Campaign with Coupons: