As a business owner, you want to keep your customers happy. That’s because happy customers are also advocates for your business. One way you can leverage existing customers to grow your business is by choosing the best referral marketing tools.
What is Referral Marketing Software?
For all their benefits, referral programs involve several moving parts. You need to track every referral, figure out which customers got you the most number of leads and analyze the value of each referral. This is where a referral tracking software can make things easier for you.
Some of the best affiliate programs for small business automatically track every referral to the customer, issue instant rewards and provide data to help refine your referral program.
Why You Should Consider Referral Program Software for Your Business
The biggest advantage of using a software for the entire referral process is to make it seamless and less time consuming.
Let’s take a closer look at all the benefits of using an automated referral program tool.
Manage multiple referral program campaigns: Segmenting customers for any marketing push is an effective way to generate optimal value. This is true for word of mouth marketing as well. With a good software tool, you can create and manage mgultiple marketing campaigns to achieve desired results.
Track and engage throughout the journey: Most software tools come equipped with third party integrations such as CRM and email automation. This seamless integration can help you track the entire referral journey.
Detailed data analysis: No business wants to spend precious time on digging data and analyzing it to reach conclusions. Yet, data is valuable and it’s important to evaluate it to design an effective marketing program. Luckily, the software tools come with features to track referral program performance.
Easy to set up and run: Another benefit of software programs is simplicity. The platform is designed to make it easier for you to create your campaigns and manage everything.
How to Choose the Best Referral Marketing Program Software
With word of mouth marketing gaining traction, a number of software tools have emerged to help businesses make the most of their referral marketing strategy. While it’s great to have choices, it can also cause confusion.
Here are five things to look for in a referral marketing solution:
- Industry specific solutions: Every industry has its specific business needs. For example, an ecommerce business will approach referral marketing differently than say a financial service provider. It therefore makes sense to ensure the software tool can address your business’ specific needs and help you gain reliable referrals.
- User segmentation: The best way to ensure the success of your referral marketing campaigns is to segment the audience. The software tool you choose should be able to let you do this.
- Customer support: As a small business owner, you don’t have the resources or budget to do everything on your own. That’s why you should tie up with a partner who can promptly provide customer service.
- Omnichannel support: Before you purchase the program, make sure it is supported on the marketing channels that are part of your promotion strategy.
- Scalability: Depending on the success of your efforts, you may want to create more campaigns. To be able to do so, it’s important to check if the tool you’re going for has the capacity and scalability.
14 Best Referral Software Tools
Now that we have understood the importance of selecting the right referral tool, let’s now take a look at some of the options.
1.Referral Rock
Referral Rock is popular with eCommerce businesses. The referral software is designed to improve qualified leads and comes with a host of features such as targeted email campaigns, customizable designs and customer support.
Pricing: Referral Rock has a free trial. Its plans start at $200 per month.
2.Referral Candy
If you’re still figuring out how referral marketing works, Referral Candy is a great platform to try. It is easy to set up and comes with features that can help online stores boost sales. Some features that are worth mentioning include third party integrations with Magento, Shopify and more, engagement tracking, template pages and email support.
Pricing: Referral Candy comes with a free 30-day trial. Plans start at $49 a month.
3.Ambassador
Ambassador brings several features together to provide a one-stop-shop solution. You can use this referral software to run affiliate, influencer and partner programs. Some of its key features include multiple languages support, branded experience, multi-campaign capabilities and easy integration.
Pricing: Ambassador requires interested businesses to schedule a demo for pricing.
4.Invite Box
Invite Box is another easy to use referral software designed for businesses that want to get started quickly. They have three referral programs on offer. Some interesting features include analytics, social media integration and third party integrations.
Pricing: Invite Box has a free 2-week trial. Plans start at $29 a month.
5.Referral Factory
With more than 1,000 referral program templates, Referral Factory is designed to support all kinds of businesses. The templates make it easier for small businesses to design their own campaigns without needing a developer. Other features include flexible API, multiple integrations and a host of communication tools.
Pricing: Referral Factory has a free 15 day trial. Plans start at $75 a month.
6.Extole
Extole is best suited for large scale enterprises. It comes with a number of useful features designed to make running an affiliate program easy. Some of these features include language localization, comprehensive targeting features and detailed reporting. The best thing about Extole is that it has specific packages for retail, financial services and B2B businesses.
Pricing: Extole requires interested businesses to ask for a quote.
7.Friendbuy
If you are a growth marketer, you should consider Friendbuy. Designed to help marketers create campaigns, conduct A/B tests and track results, Friendbuy offers a strong referral platform. Another key feature is its robust algorithms for flexible reward and fraud detection.
Pricing: A 30-day free trial is available. Plans start at $99 a month.
8.Refersion
Refersion is best known for its tracking features. Other features include automation, affiliate management, content management and social sharing. It also has a strong third-party integration with WooCommerce and Shopify.
Pricing: It comes with a 14 day free trial. Plans start at $89 a month.
9.Genius Referrals
Genius Referrals focuses on customization. The referral marketing software allows marketers to customize their programs in just a few minutes. Some key features include third party integration with PayPal and MailChimp, tracking and support response within 24 hours.
Pricing: Free 30 day trial. Plans start at $49 a month.
10.Amplifinity
If you want to scale up your referring marketing programs to run multiples campaigns simultaneously, you should consider Amplifinity. It comes integrated with Salesforce, which helps automate the entire process. Another key feature is its data collection and analysis capabilities.
Pricing: It requires businesses to schedule a demo for a quote.
11.Mention Me
More than 300 brands are using Mention Me for referring program today. One of the biggest factors behind its success is the Name Sharing feature that lets users capture real-time conversations. Other features include A/B testing, comprehensive reporting dashboard and email support.
Pricing: Mention Me requires businesses to request a quote.
12.Post Affiliate Pro
Post Affiliate Pro provides a complete range of features all designed to run the entire referral program for you. It lets users build one or more campaigns all at the same time and track performance throughout the process. What’s also great about this referral program software is that it offers exceptional customer service.
Pricing: Free trial is available. Plans start at $97 a month.
13.SaaSquatch
As the name suggests, SaaSquatch is specifically designed for SaaS companies. It is a cloud-based referral program platform that comes with a number of useful features. Some of these include built-in analytical tools, comprehensive reporting and easy implementation.
Pricing: A 30 day free trial is available. Plans start at $1,750 a month.
14.Influitive
Influitive is another referral marketing software that comes with a range of engagement products. Other features include third party integration and a personalized feed.
Pricing: Plans start at $1,499 a month.
What is the best software for referral programs?
The best software for referral campaigns is Referral Candy. It has a free trial to get started and some of the best features to run successful referral marketing programs.
How do you start a referral program?
Starting your own referral program may sound like an exciting plan, but it requires preparation. Here are some steps that you need to follow to start your customer referral programs:
- Set your goals: This may seem straightforward, but setting your goals is an important step you shouldn’t skip.
- List referral sources: The next step is to create a list of loyal customers who can be the advocates for your business.
- Set a budget: How much should you spend on an affiliate program depends on the value of the referral.
- Go for a trial version first: If you are new to this, go for a trial version to explore customer referral program. Based on your experience, you can purchase a plan that suits your business.
Image: Depositphotos
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