Emails are an integral part of referral campaign promotion. You can use email to reach customers at different points along their journey, whether encouraging loyal customers to become advocates, congratulating advocates on a successful referral, or, in this case, reminding referred friends to use their referral link.
The best referral experiences create their own moments.
That’s perhaps an obvious proposition. When applied to the referral program’s overall structure, it means that your referral program design needs to account for non-linear customer journeys. Not every customer will take action right away; many need a few nudges before converting.
Here’s an example: Say you shared your favorite new fashion brand with a friend. You know she’ll love it and will appreciate the reward, to boot. You also know she’s easily distracted…. Your share message is likely to be glossed over while she’s speeding through email, Instagram, Bumble, and who knows what else. It happens all the time. You still love her, though!
Extole’s platform gives advocates (and the marketers supporting them) two useful approaches for making the most of this very common scenario. Both rely on an email we call the “Friend Reminder” email.
What is A Friend Reminder Email?
Let’s take a look at how you’d structure a friend reminder email:
From: Your advocate
To: Her friends
When: Sent after the initial referral link share – either on-demand or scheduled by the advocate
Purpose: To reinforce the initial share message and emphasize that the recommendation is meaningful and true
As the name suggests, this email lets advocates send a reminder email to their friends as a follow-up to their initial share. It’s a gentle nudge for people like my friend who love the latest styles, but are easily distracted–or may not have been in the mood to purchase when I first shared.
Extole’s platform gives marketers two ways to make friend reminders a natural part of the advocate experience:
- Automatic Reminder Opt-In: Advocates can opt-in to the reminder when they first share their referral link. A simple checkbox when advocates share by email – “send my friends a reminder email in X days” – is easy and popular. We make the time period configurable so that marketers can offer the option after a short interval or a long one. By making it configurable, you could also include it in an A/B testing strategy. No matter the interval, it’s smart to not send a reminder to friends who’ve already converted.
- Manual Email Trigger: Advocates can also trigger the friend reminder email in our advocate stats dashboard. Like the share experience itself, the stats dashboard is creative designed for your site that gives existing advocates information about the status of their shares and rewards. It’s usually embedded in your site’s “My Account” section and is a natural place to let advocates re-send their share messages.
While the main goal of this email is to increase conversions, it also increases advocacy by creating a thoughtful experience for customers who want to share your brand with their friends.
