Overview: Buncha’s referral program, like most, leveraged the trust and influence of existing customers to attract new ones. By encouraging our existing customers to share Buncha with friends, family, and followers, we tapped into word-of-mouth marketing, which is often deemed more effective and authentic than traditional advertising. With our tiered referral program, as seen below, customers were incentivized to recommend our service in exchange for money off their next order. Knowing that referral programs lead to higher conversion rates - as new customers are more likely to trust recommendations from people they know - when a customer surpassed a referral milestone they would be elevated to the next tier which provided more earning potential. This form or marketing presented several key benefits - boosting brand awareness, driving new sign-ups, and leading to higher conversion rates, all while keeping our customer acquisition costs low.
I built out a three-tiered referral program in an effort to incentivize customers to refer the Buncha app to their friends. The tiered-system encouraged a larger number of referrals due to the fact that referees would receive larger discounts as they brought more people onto the Buncha app.
While the referral program was always front and center on a billboard on the Buncha app home screen, we also sent quarterly(ish) reminders to our customers via email. Some of the time the referral emails would be applicable to all, such as the one seen here, while other times the emails were sent to cohorts based on the tier the customers were in to customize the experience and push them to the next tier.
A referral program gives customers the power to connect with others in ways the business might not be able to on it's own. This instagram story is a prime example of our referral program being used by our customers to spread the word about Buncha and earn money towards their next order. When customers recommend a service to their friends, family, or followers, they already have an established trust that gives more credibility to their referral than outreach from a brand likely could.