Run a Referral Program
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Invite customers to join the program.
- Describe the customer journey across the referral program lifecycle.
Start the Referral Program
Before the invitation reaches the customer, Lucy ensures the widget is deployed onto the Cloud Kicks experience site. Watch this video to understand how you can embed widgets on Experience Cloud sites and external websites.
She now sends the Invite Members email to the target customers. Because Cloud Kicks uses Marketing Cloud Engagement, Lucy can take advantage of its integration with Referral Marketing. As soon as the promotion is activated, Marketing Cloud Engagement creates a journey in Journey Builder that triggers the emails.
Now that the program is live, let’s look at how advocates engage with it.
Follow a Customer’s Journey
Sana Khan, a fresh graduate and novice tennis player, frequents Cloud Kicks stores and swears by its products. She’s on her way to practice when she receives an email about the new Cloud Kicks referral program. She decides to look up the details after practice but forgets. A few days later, Sana receives another email about the invitation.
She thinks about it for a minute and clicks the Join Now button in the email, which redirects her to the Refer a Friend widget in the Cloud Kicks experience site.
Because Sana is an existing customer she already has a contact record. So she sees the widget in the Advocate Not Registered state. She clicks Join and receives an email thanking her for enrolling in the program.
A few days pass before she starts referring her friends. A reminder email prompts her to initiate referrals.
At this point, the widget in the experience site changes to the Registered Advocate state. Sana enters her brother’s email address to invite him to sign up with the brand. She then invites some of her friends by sharing her referral link on social media.
In the meantime, her brother receives an email with Sana’s referral code. He too puts it off, so a few days later, a friendly reminder email nudges him. He clicks the referral link, which takes him to a sign-up page, and enters his details. Soon after, he receives a thank-you email with a $20 voucher from Cloud Kicks.
Sana’s brother buys a pair of sneakers using the voucher. Immediately after, Sana receives an email with a reward wrapped in it—a $20 voucher that she uses right away.
Similar to Sana, other advocates have been joining the program. Lucy now wants to track all the referrals coming in and their impact on the program.
Resources