Referral Program

It's generally accepted that word of mouth is the best, most effective form of advertising. Who wouldn't be more likely to try a product or service that a friend or colleague recommended? We have so many loyal customers, that we decided a program of providing rewards to our customers who recommend us to others who make purchases would be an excellent way to spend our marketing budget, so we created a referral program to do that.

The way the program works is very simple. On the My Account page, which can be accessed when logged in to an account, there is a Referred Friends section in the left hand menu. On that page, there are several ways to refer friends and earn discounts. The most direct method is the Invite a Friend button. This allows an e-mail address to be entered which will send a link that can be used to create an account on our website. Up to 5 e-mail addresses can be entered at a time and a subject and message can be included along with the link used to create an account. There is also a Broadcast Link that can be copied and pasted into an e-mail message, included in a newsletter, or even posted online in a blog or forum. Anyone who uses the link and creates an account will be connected to the referring account. There are even social sharing options for Twitter, Facebook and My Space that can be used the same way.

When a referred customer uses the link and creates an account, they will show up in on the Referred Friends page. When they make their first purchase, the customer who referred them will earn $10 for every $100 spent. The earned amount will show up in the Active Balance section so it can be tracked, so the more referred customers make purchases, the more the customer who referred them earns. The credits can be applied to any purchase over $10, and up to 20% of any purchase can be paid for with earned credits.

We think this is a great way to encourage our existing customers to refer new customers to us and reward them for the effort. The only limitations are that the referred customers must create a new account from the link provided in order for them to be properly connected to the referrers account, and they must be new customers. New accounts created from the same company or billing address will not be eligible to earn discounts in this program.