Saturday, August 16, 2008

Increasing Referrals Is Easier Than You Think

By Vincent Newton


We live in a world of instant gratification. Everybody is concerned about their own needs. Therefore, website owners must take the necessary steps to make sure their viral marketing program generates free traffic.

Here's why your referral program may not be working...

Website owners must work extremely hard to convince their visitors to invite their friends. The average person hardly has enough time for him or herself.

Website owners have to offer incentives in order to convince their visitors to invite their contacts. We live a very selfish world, online retailers must be able to gift customers for inviting their friends

Offering cash incentives may seem like a could idea, but...

Sure, people like cash; and giving money for referrals is a no-brainer. But is it your best option? Many experts think not. Research has shown that there are a number of people who actually feel uncomfortable earning money on the "backs of their friends." Never mind the fact that the money isn't really coming out of their friend's pocket. The mere perception of getting paid for providing a friend's name is a turn-off.

Automatic Redirect To The Rescue

What if you could instantly reward customers who provide referrals with low-cost, high perceived-value Free Gifts?

And better yet, what if you could reward them instantly? No waiting, no fuss, no muss. Your customers provide you with referrals and you instantly reward them with something of value that doesn't hit you hard in your bank account.

And even better, what if you could do it automatically? How would you like to set up your referral program one time and never have to touch it again?

Well, I guess the only thing that could be better than all that would be if your referral program was so powerful that it actually made your visitors and customers want to empty out their entire address book and send you every name and email address in it!

All of the major social networking websites are doing the exact same thing. For instance, Facebook, has it's own viral marketing tool that allows members to instantly invite contacts from their address book.

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