Are we asking too much?
Referrals have been a hot button issue around the office this week. Perhaps by chance, but more likely due to economic uncertainty, a number of printers I have spoken to over the past few days are looking for ways to get a referral or two out of their customers. Specifically, a few users of our CustomerPulse program are preparing to add an entire section to their survey devoted to collecting referrals from their happiest customers.
While I haven’t been able to promise an avalanche of leads, we are certainly going to try for some flurries. Here is how it will work:
- All of our CustomerPulse surveys have a “Would you recommend us to your colleagues and friends?” question. Anyone answering Very Likely to this question will now see an additional page once they hit submit.
- This page asks if the respondent knows anyone who could use help with their printing needs, and offers an incentive to submit a name
- If the respondent offers a referral, the next page will print a coupon for some sort of incentive, be it 5% off, or a gift card to Starbucks, etc.
To date, we have only tried such a question out in a very limited fashion. One customer has had a similar question on their CustomerPulse survey since late September. In about 75 survey responses since then, there have been no referrals offered. Other surveys under different programs have seen similar results.
However, the new referral program that we will begin testing in the next week is different in a couple of ways:
- We are only asking the happiest customers(ie those who are Very Likely to recommend) for referrals. Don’t underestimate the importance of this step. Could you imagine how frustrated you’d be if you just ripped into a company on a survey, and they asked you for a referral?
- We are offering a incentive for giving said referral
Over the next few months I look forward to seeing how this pans out. I know an incentive can bolster a response rate. Just last week we launched a survey to two subsets of a list, with the only difference being the promise of a $5 gift card to Starbucks for filling out the survey. The response rate without the incentive was 6%, while with the incentive was 10%. Not too shabby of a jump. Time will tell if the same holds true for a referral. I will periodically share how this works out over the next few months. I encourage you to check back regularly, as well as share your own experiences in the comments below.
Tags: Printing