Customer Referral Program: How to Create an Effective Landing Page

Over the last few decades, customer referral programs have become quite common in the digital landscape of most online stores. These programs were once considered a novelty, but they have slowly transitioned into an industry standard, becoming an indispensable tool for businesses aiming to leverage the power of satisfied customers advocating for their brands.

Nevertheless, having a customer referral program on your online store doesn’t necessarily mean that the program will be successful. To have a successful referral program, you need to provide clear and compelling incentives, implement a user-friendly process, and be transparent about it.

To achieve this, you need to create a custom landing page with tailored offers and captivating messaging that effectively communicates the benefits of your referral program. Your landing page should also include a few persuasive elements that will help your customers take the next step and sign up for your program, or share the referral link as a guest.

The importance of a customer referral program landing page

Think of your customer referral program landing page as a handshake that welcomes your customers into a world of incentives and rewards. This landing page will help you bridge the gap between a potential advocate’s interest and their commitment to spreading the word about your brand.

So, how can you achieve this?

Streamline the referral process

You need to keep your referral process as simple as possible. Why? Well, having a complex referral process can lead to several drawbacks:

• Reduced participation
• Confusion and frustration
• Negative user-exprerience
• Increased drop-off rates
• Missed opportunities

In summary, if a customer finds it challenging to generate unique referral links, they will leave your store and turn to a competitor.

Instead, your landing page needs to be designed to simplify this process, offer a clear roadmap, and a user-friendly interface that encourages participation. By streamlining the referral process, you are minimizing the friction points and allowing your customers to spread the word effortlessly.

Encourage conversions

Having a dedicated landing page for a referral program acts as a compelling marketing hub. It serves as a strategic platform designed to persuade your customers not only to enroll in your program but also to share their experiences with friends and family.

Fine-tune communication and design

Clear and concise communication is the lifeblood of a successful referral landing page. You need to effectively communicate the value proposition of your customer referral program, or else your potential customers will move away from your brand.

Instead, you need to create compelling content that builds trust and clarity and accentuate it with aesthetically pleasing elements. A visually appealing page will capture the attention of potential customers and reinforce the credibility of your brand. We will discuss this in more detail later in the article.

But before we get to that, let’s quickly go through how customer referral programs work.

How customer referral programs work

As mentioned earlier, participation in a referral program should be straightforward and done in a few simple steps.

Sign-up and account creation

Depending on the type of customer referral program, you may require your customers to become store members, or not. Programs that require customers to become store members often involve providing basic information such as name, email, date of birth, etc. Becoming a store member makes your customers program members, as well.

This is different from becoming a referral program member, as some referral plugins allow customers to join the program but not become store members. In this case, only their email is required so orders can be tracked and a unique referral link or code assigned. 

Unique referral link or code

Depending on the referral plugin you choose, your customer referral program may offer unique referral links and/or referral codes. These are assigned after a customer becomes a member of your program.

A unique referral link or code helps distinguish each advocate and enables the tracking of their referrals, providing detailed analytics of their referral flow.

Sharing across different platforms

Advocates should have the ability to share their referral link (or code) across various media platforms, and they need to do so effortlessly, in as few steps as possible.

These platforms should include emails and social media channels like Facebook, Messenger, X (former Twitter), etc. Naturally, advocates should be able to copy their referral link (or code) and share it with their friends and family at their discretion.

Here is an example of a classic referral flow.

How to create an effective customer referral program landing page?

A compelling landing page consists of several key elements. When combined, these elements create an inviting, informative, and action-oriented experience for your customers. Each section and component on the landing page should be created to inform your customers about your referral program and encourage them to participate in it. 

Here’s what you should consider when creating a landing page for your customer referral program.

Use attention-grabbing text

Your landing page should include an attention-grabbing headline as it serves as the first impression. The headline should be concise and communicate the primary benefits of your referral program.

Below your headline should be a short paragraph (subheadline) that provides additional information your customers may want to know. Here’s an example of what that may look like:

• Headline: Unlock rewards with [store: Refer & Earn!
• Subheadline: Join our referral program today and earn exclusive rewards for you and your friends.

Utilize compelling images or videos

You can leverage visuals to your advantage as they play an important role in engaging your customers and effectively conveying the program’s benefits. 

High-quality images, engaging infographics, or compelling videos that showcase the rewards or demonstrate the ease of using the referral program will undoubtedly resonate more effectively with your customers than plain text explanations of the program’s benefits.

For example, a step-by-step guide to using the program can significantly increase program engagement.

Add a clear call to action

Call-to-action buttons are the gateway to conversion. However, if they are not strategically positioned and lack visual distinctiveness, your program might encounter reduced customer engagement and lower conversion rates.

Whether for signing up, sharing, or claiming rewards, ensuring that CTAs are strategically located and visually distinct from other content is crucial for the program’s performance. Not only that, but this approach increases the likelihood of your customers engaging with your program.

Highlight rewards for advocates and friends

Your customer referral program should clearly outline the rewards and incentives advocates and their friends can earn. It’s important to emphasize the value proposition and benefits as that helps increase program participation.

One of the ways to achieve this is to create a detailed breakdown of the rewards, such as discounts, credits, or exclusive offers. This can illustrate the benefits of participation for both advocates and their friends, compelling your customers to actively engage in the program.

Provide unique referral links or codes 

One effective method to encourage sharing is to emphasize the advocate’s distinct referral link or code. This section should be the focal point of your landing page, enabling customers to effortlessly copy and share their unique referral link.

Moreover, enhancing referral conversions can be achieved by including concise instructions on how to share the unique links (or codes). This is where you can mix it up with a compelling video or a step-by-step guide to using the referral program.

Include easy-to-use social sharing buttons

Integrating social sharing buttons seamlessly into the landing page allows advocates to easily spread the word about your brand. These buttons should be prominent and user-friendly, enabling quick sharing across different social platforms.

For example, having clearly visible sharing buttons for popular platforms such as Facebook, X (former Twitter), WhatsApp or email helps brand advocates share their unique referral links (or codes) with a single click. 

Sharing should be a streamlined process that amplifies the ability of your program to maximize engagement and reach wider audiences. 

A good example of that is the WooCommerce Refer a Friend PREMIUM plugin. It provides a simple shortcode that you can place anywhere on your website and start creating a landing page for your referral program.

Few more things to consider…

To create an effective referral landing page, you need to have a structured approach that aligns with your brand objectives and ensures a seamless user experience. 

Define your objectives

Before you start creating a landing page for your referral program, make sure you define clear and measurable goals for your referral program. It could be anything from enhancing brand awareness and boosting sales to increasing customer acquisition.

For example, your goals can include the following:

• Increase customer referrals by 25% in the next quarter.
• Drive sales through referrals by offering exclusive or limited discounts.

Whatever your goals (or goals) may be, make sure you align them with the purpose of your landing page.

Choose the right tools

Since WooCommerce is tightly integrated with WordPress, you have a lot of options that can help you create an effective landing page for the referral program. Here’s what you need to have in mind when choosing the right tools for the job:

• It should have a lot of customizable templates
• It MUST be compatible with the features you need for your referral program

Whichever option you choose to go with, make sure it can live up to the full potential of your vision.

Create an appealing and user-friendly layout

We’ve mentioned this earlier, but your landing page needs to catch the attention of your customers and effectively communicate the essence of your referral program. 

Be sure to prioritize intuitive navigation on your landing page as this will significantly contribute to program expansion.

Optimize your program (regularly)

Just like any other project, your referral program needs to be tweaked and optimized regularly. This implies that the work on your landing page doesn’t end with it initial launch – that’s just the beginning.

To ensure your landing page operates efficiently and delivers the best results, you must embrace a philosophy of continuous improvement. This involves actively testing various elements and making data-driven adjustments to improve the effectiveness of your landing page.

Here’s what you can do to keep your customer referral program landing page optimized:

• Implement A/B testing – this process allows you to experiment with different variations of elements such as headlines, visuals, CTAs, etc., and helps you identify what resonates well with your audience.
• Implement robust analytics – almost all referral plugins come with some sort of analytics that is tied to the referral program. While this may help you optimize your program, try to find an analytics tool that helps you gather valuable data about user behavior on your referral program landing page – you can use tools such as Google Analytics or Hotjar.
• Make data-driven decisions – once you’ve done enough A/B testing and gathered enough analytics, make data-driven decisions. This means identifying weaknesses, strengths, patterns, and opportunities for improvement.
• Collect feedback – your customers can make or break your referral program. Be sure to actively seek feedback as that will help you pinpoint any potential pain points and areas for improvement.
• Optimize for SEO – search engine optimization is a very important component of a successful online presence. Optimizing the SEO on your referral landing page is not a nice to have, it’s a must. It is an essential strategy to improve search visibility and attract organic traffic.
• Stay informed – the digital landscape is always evolving and staying up to date with the latest novelties will help you remain competitive.

Conclusion

As you consider the creation of a landing page for your referral program, we would like to encourage you to thoughtfully implement these strategies. Keep in mind that your landing page is the gateway to your referral program and is just the beginning of your relationship with program members.

Your landing page should paint the narrative of your referral program’s value, with each element playing an important role in shaping that narrative and influencing customer behavior. By following our suggestions above and integrating them into your strategy, you are creating an effective landing page and establishing a strong connection between your brand and your customers.

Don’t forget to check out our list of Best WooCommerce Referral Plugins.