5 Ways to Reduce Friction and Get More Customer Referrals

Friction comes up a lot in our lives: in relationships, work, and politics—it’s pretty common, and oftentimes unavoidable. But in the case of managing a successful referral marketing program, friction can mean the difference between having loyal customers versus having brand ambassadors. Thus, reducing the amount of friction that your customers encounter should be a top priority.

In an earlier post, we defined friction as “psychological concerns stimulated by a given element in the sales process.” But in this case, we’re talking about converting a new sale into a powerful brand ambassador.

So how can you guarantee a frictionless process for your customers? Here are the five best practices to implement now:

1. Create Clear, Optimized Calls to Action (CTAs)

The value of customer referrals is no doubt clear to your brand, but it may not be so obvious for newly engaged customers. So when you’re prompting visitors to sign up for your referral program, the text should be short, relevant, and actionable. If your landing page copy doesn’t hold a visitor’s attention and quickly convey the value of your offer, it can seriously hurt your ambassador conversion rate.

And when we say actionable, we mean just that: Give your customers something to do! Include phrases like, “Register Now!” or “Sign Up Here” to make sure customers get the picture immediately. There shouldn’t be any confusion on the part of your customers as to why they should sign up.

2. Shorten Your Referral Conversion Forms

A complicated conversion form is the quickest way to lose potential brand ambassadors right when they’re ready to sign up. Your referral program may offer the greatest reward structure in history; but when faced with a 15-field form to complete, your customer will probably think, Is this really worth my time?

Keep things relevant. You don’t need to know your customers’ favorite foods to get them signed up, so why create the extra step? Nailing the perfect balance of quantity versus quality in terms of fields on your conversion form can be tricky. But taking the time to test and optimize your form will pay dividends in new signups and new sales.

3. Create a Specific Referral Landing Page

Don’t distract customers from your referral program with other offers or information. A customer that arrives at your referral landing page is there for one reason: to convert into a brand ambassador. Remove any other CTAs, offers, or navigations from the landing page to be sure that a customer is focused on signing up for your referral program and nothing else.

4. Keep Conversion Forms above the Fold

“Above the fold” means making sure that potential brand ambassadors don’t have to scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up. Your form should be as easy to find as it is to fill out.

5. Keep It Simple!

A surefire way to bring on more brand ambassadors is by making sure that your copy about the referral program is easy to understand and your conversion form is simple to complete. If you can’t understand how to sign up through the landing page, then you can be sure your customers can’t either. When in doubt—test, test, and test again!

What are some ways you reduce friction in your referral conversion process?