By Geoff McDonald, CEO of Ambassador

Every once in a while, you get a reminder of why you do what you do.

This week, I read a client review on G2 that stopped me in my tracks. It simply said:

“They seem to have thought of everything, and made it easy to use. The best onboarding process I’ve experienced. They are thorough, organized, friendly, and they know their software inside and out.”

That’s the kind of feedback that doesn’t just validate the work—it energizes the mission. Because at Ambassador, our mission isn’t to build just another SaaS platform. It’s to create meaningful, scalable, human-centered engagement—powered by AI, but built for people.

Today, I want to take a moment to thank our clients, celebrate our team, and reflect on what it means when your company is recognized as a G2 leader—and more importantly, why it matters.

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What a High G2 Score Really Means

G2 isn’t just a rating system. It’s a reflection of how well you show up for your customers.

When clients consistently rank you highly, it’s not because of clever marketing or feature bloat. It’s because you’ve done the hard work:
✅ Built real value into your product
✅ Delivered consistently excellent support
✅ Helped your customers win—not just use software

For us, a high G2 score means we’re doing the right things: listening closely, responding quickly, innovating intentionally, and putting people first. It means that our clients trust us not only to deliver—but to care.

And in today’s crowded SaaS market, trust is the true differentiator.

But here’s what most companies miss:
G2 is a scoreboard for customer experience, not just product specs. It means our support team doesn’t leave people hanging. It means onboarding is proactive, not reactive. It means clients feel seen—and heard—at every step.

That’s what we’re most proud of. And that’s what we’ll continue to invest in.

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Everything Starts with Culture

The reason our clients feel supported and successful is because of our team—and our culture.

At Ambassador, our values aren’t just words on a wall. They’re how we operate every day:

• Clarity – We say what we mean and operate transparently, internally and externally.

• Be Intentional – We don’t ship fluff. Every feature, every message, every move is purposeful.

• Stay Close to the Client-Customer – We stay in the trenches with our customers. Their goals guide our roadmap.

• Invest in Each Other – We win as a team. We hold each other to high standards—and have each other’s backs.

• One Team – No silos. No egos. Just alignment, action, and impact.

Our newest value, Let’s Go, Let’s Get Shit Done (Lean and Mean), reflects the urgency, grit, and focus we bring to everything—from roadmap execution to client onboarding.

Culture isn’t just internal. It shows up in how we build. How we support. How we respond. And G2 proves it’s showing up the right way.

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Building What’s Next—With You in Mind

As we roll out even more features across AI, automation, and engagement—including Hiro and the upcoming Ambassador 3.0—we’re doing it with one guiding principle: client-first innovation.

That means:

• Faster onboarding

• Smarter, automated workflows

• Personalized, multi-channel communication

• Real-time feedback with actionable insights

• Seamless connections across referrals, loyalty, feedback, and email

We’re creating a platform that doesn’t just respond to customer behavior—it anticipates it. A platform that doesn’t just collect feedback—but understands it. A platform that helps brands scale their relationships—not just their reach.

And as we do that, we’re asking one question over and over again:
What would make this easier, faster, more human—for our clients?

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To Our Clients: Thank You

Your feedback, your trust, and your partnership shape everything we do. Thank you for the time you invest in us—and for allowing us to play a small part in your journey.

To our employees: you are why those G2 reviews sound the way they do. You show up with purpose, humility, and fire. You live the values. You make this real.

And to those just getting to know Ambassador: if you want a partner—not just a platform—who’s all-in on your success, let’s talk.

We’re building the future of customer engagement. With intelligence. With empathy. And most importantly—with you at the center of it.

With gratitude,
Geoff McDonald
CEO, Ambassador

The post A Letter to Our Clients, Team, and the Market: You’re the Reason We’re Here appeared first on Ambassador.

Ambassador’s Communication Co-Pilot is here—and it’s changing the way brands connect with customers. Now, you can build customized emails directly inside the Ambassador platform—empowering your team to launch smarter, faster, and more personalized communications without outside tools, delays, or dependencies. Whether you’re a small team, a mid-sized organization, or an enterprise brand, Communication Co-Pilot gives you everything you need to move faster, engage smarter, and grow stronger.

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Why We Built It

Today’s customer engagement teams are under more pressure than ever:

• Deliver more personalized messages.
• Launch more campaigns.
• Do it faster—with fewer resources.

Traditional email platforms weren’t built for this new world. So we built a better way. Communication Co-Pilot brings email engagement into the same ecosystem where you already manage referral, loyalty, incentives, and customer advocacy—allowing you to trigger communications based on real customer behaviors, all without leaving Ambassador. The result? Less friction, faster launches, and better engagement across the entire customer journey.

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“Communication Co-Pilot removes the usual roadblocks we see with traditional email tools. Now, our clients can build and launch emails that are deeply connected to real customer actions—without having to slow down or switch systems. It’s about giving teams the power to move faster, stay closer to their customers, and create impact immediately.” — Crystal McHenry, Client Enablement Product Manager, Ambassador

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How It Helps Teams of Every Size

🚀 Small Teams: Speed Without the Sprawl

For lean teams, moving quickly is survival. Communication Co-Pilot helps you:

• Create branded, personalized emails without needing outside design or dev resources.
• Trigger communications based on customer actions, milestones, or lifecycle stages.
• Launch engagement flows in minutes, not days.

Result: You keep momentum high—and your customers engaged—without overextending your team.

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🔄 Mid-Sized Teams: Control Without Complexity

As your customer base grows, so does the need for better coordination and segmentation. Communication Co-Pilot gives you:

• A centralized place to manage customer communications alongside referral and loyalty triggers.
• Personalization powered by your existing Ambassador data—no extra integrations needed.
• The ability to test, optimize, and scale without heavy IT or platform switching.

Result: You scale smarter, not harder.

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🏢 Enterprise Teams: Alignment at Scale

Enterprise organizations need more than just speed—they need cross-team alignment. Communication Co-Pilot provides:

• A unified platform where Marketing, CX, Product, and Success teams can collaborate.
• Consistent messaging across your referral, loyalty, and customer engagement strategies.
• Built-in reporting, A/B testing, and audience segmentation for faster optimization.

Result: You reduce friction between teams—and deliver a better, more cohesive customer experience at scale.

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Why It’s a Game Changer

With Communication Co-Pilot, you’re not just sending emails—you’re orchestrating smarter engagement across your entire customer journey.

• Move faster: No more waiting for outside tools, IT tickets, or ESP dependencies.
• Engage smarter: Personalize every message based on real customer data.
• Grow stronger: Align marketing, customer experience, and product engagement under one platform.

The companies that win the next era of customer loyalty won’t be the ones who move the slowest. They’ll be the ones who can listen, act, and engage—all from a single, agile platform. With Communication Co-Pilot, that future is now.

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Learn more about Communication Co-Pilot and how Ambassador is helping brands drive engagement at every stage of the customer journey. 👉 Visit our Communication Co-Pilot page to see it in action.    

The post Introducing Communication Co-Pilot: Email Engagements, Reimagined Inside Ambassador appeared first on Ambassador.

Finally, a Salesforce Managed Package That Works Where Your Teams Actually Do

At Ambassador, we understand that customer-led growth doesn’t start in your marketing department — it starts at the front lines of service and sales.

That’s why we’re proud to offer one of the only Salesforce Managed Packages built directly into Sales Cloud and Service Cloud, not just Marketing Cloud. Most of our competitors stop at campaigns and workflows. We go further — embedding advocacy, referrals, and retention mechanics where your revenue is actually created: with the teams who talk to customers every day.

👉 See the Ambassador Managed Package on AppExchange
👉 Learn more on our official Salesforce Managed Package page

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Why It Matters: Marketing Cloud ≠ Customer Connection

Most Salesforce-integrated referral and loyalty tools are built for marketers. But at companies where growth is driven by the quality of service, the power of your sales team, or the loyalty of your existing customers, Marketing Cloud alone doesn’t cut it.

With Ambassador’s Salesforce Managed Package, you can:

• Trigger referrals automatically based on Service Cloud interactions
• Embed reward and advocacy workflows into Sales Cloud pipelines
• Create loyalty logic from actual customer milestones, not just campaign opens
• Enable reps and support agents to enroll customers in programs without leaving Salesforce

This means faster program adoption, more authentic engagement, and growth that starts from real relationships — not banner ads or batch emails.

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🚀 What Makes Our Integration Unique

Most Salesforce integrations in this space stop at syncing contact lists or tracking marketing attribution. Ambassador goes further:

• Two-Way Sync – Automatically write referral, incentive, and loyalty data back into Salesforce objects for unified reporting across teams.
• Programmatic Triggers – Use Salesforce logic and events (like Case Closed, Opportunity Won, or CSAT Score) to trigger referral or reward flows.
• Custom Object Compatibility – Easily map Ambassador to your custom Salesforce objects, whether you’re tracking subscriptions, deployments, or NPS touchpoints.

This flexibility means your CRM structure doesn’t need to change to use Ambassador — Ambassador flexes to fit how you work.

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🧩 Use Cases We Power Best

• Service Cloud: Trigger referral or loyalty incentives after support tickets are resolved or milestones are hit.
• Sales Cloud: Let AEs, CSMs, or Partner Managers enroll contacts in referral or incentive programs directly from the Opportunity or Account page.
• Multi-cloud: Combine marketing triggers with real-time sales and support activity to orchestrate the perfect moment to ask for advocacy.

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📊 Prove It With Performance

Companies using Ambassador’s Salesforce Managed Package have seen:

• 2x increase in referral-driven pipeline from Sales Cloud integrations
• 30% higher reward redemption rates with Service Cloud triggers
• 90% decrease in program admin time due to automation and native setup

If you’re tired of disconnected tools and static campaigns, we’re here to help.

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Let’s Get You Started

If you’re ready to activate customer-led growth from inside your CRM, learn more here or visit us on AppExchange to install the Ambassador Managed Package.

We’re ready to help you move beyond static campaigns — and into real-time engagement with real results.

 

The post Ambassador’s SalesForce Managed Package (Detail) appeared first on Ambassador.

“Help us connect with each other” – let that sink in.

Broadly speaking, the algorithm change means that brands and professional pages (with more than 500,000 likes) will be “down ranked” in an effort to prioritize content and show users more of what their actual friends and family are sharing.

Mark Zuckerberg knows brands and ad agencies will find a way to stay top-of-mind, tip-of-tongue with consumers. What Zuckerberg knew 20 years ago and continues to bet on in the future is the empowerment of the individual. Allow as many individuals all over the world to establish – and maintain – meaningful connections with others, and everyone wins.

But if everyone wins, why are so many brands, agencies, and advertisers freaking out?

Because they haven’t figured it out yet. They would prefer to keep doing things the established, pay-to-play way.

The Fall of Pay-to-Play Social Media Endorsements and the Rise of Referral Marketing

While most brands’ organic posts are already only reaching less than 2% of their audience, major ad agencies are claiming the new Facebook algorithm will be “the nail in the coffin for organic posts” for brands.

The same could be said for celebrities who have millions of followers and are routinely paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote a product or service in a single post.

In the past, these pay-to-play strategies have been great for some of the biggest brands and social media influencers in the world. But with this new update to what users will see, brands will need to look past pay-to-post campaigns and start forming long-term relationships.

One’s Company, Two’s a Crowd, and Three’s a Party

The most meaningful relationship a brand can have with their potential consumer is not a two-man game. Savvy marketers understand that the most engaging brand content, and highest converting posts are not posted by the brand itself, in fact, they are posted by a customer (or real fan, but NOT Beyonce or Justin Timberlake) on behalf of the brand.

You’ve seen this before; heck, you might even be a member of a few programs.

It’s called referral marketing. From Hulu to SAP to Dollar Shave Club to Mizzen & Main, brands are seeing millions of “organic” impressions on Facebook every month, and all they do is ask their customers, fans, and followers to refer them to their networks. 

A Referral Strategy to Keep Your Brand in the Feed

It now takes three to tango in marketing – the brand, their real customers and fans, and their shared audience. By recruiting your customers and fans to represent your brand, you’ll gain access to their networks, increasing your marketing reach exponentially.

For your referral strategy to work, you need to have a few core building blocks in place:

A quality product that customers love: While referral marketing can generate dramatic results, it all starts with your product. If your customers are continually telling you how much they love it, they’ll probably be willing to do the same thing with their network. Engage and incentivize them correctly, and you’ll see big ROI.

A captive, engaged audience: If your relationship with customers is mostly transactional and your social following is disengaged, referral marketing might not be for you. On the other hand, if you’ve built up a captive audience of loyal customers, fans, and followers, referral marketing can be incredibly powerful.

A process to track, manage, and reward referrals: In order to move away from the traditional ad-hoc approach to referrals, you’ll need to implement processes that automate the repetitive nature of creating, tracking, and rewarding referral campaigns. This is the only way to make referrals a truly scalable source of revenue.

Beyond those building blocks, the key strategies that drive referral marketing growth aren’t rocket science. More importantly, referral marketing is an authentic way to engage with a larger network via social media and drive better quality consumers to your brand.

“I expect the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement will go down. But I also expect the time you do spend on Facebook will be more valuable.”
– Mark Zuckerberg

Marketers have been fighting the quality versus quantity battle for a few years now. And we know that quality trumps quantity in today’s digital customer acquisition landscape. Which is why it’s more important than ever to set your referral strategy and give your customers the tools they need to connect with their networks and bring you more conversions, with less effort, and at a much lower CPA.

Companies across industries are finally embracing this rhetoric and obsessing over usage rates, loyalty, NPS, and repeat purchases – not just over email sign ups and purchases.

The future success of every company depends on their ability to not just create products and services people buy, but to establish relationships with their customers. This strategy creates a tangible social bind between “tribes” of people and the brands they choose to invest in. If your customers choose to validate you amongst their friends and family, the compound benefits of word-of-mouth growth will enable brands to cement their place in the market for the foreseeable future. And, it’s a sure-fire way to keep your brand in the News Feed. 

The post A Referral Strategy Hack To Keep Your Brand In The Facebook News Feed appeared first on Ambassador.

This is why crafting personalized email templates for your referral program is a sure-fire way to increase engagement and drive growth. Once a new member joins your program, send a welcome message. When they make their first referral, shoot a note congratulating them. Once they earn a reward, send a note that it’s on the way.

With their right referral software, these types of email workflows can be automated and marketers have the control they need to update and optimize based on performance.

Integrating email marketing into your referral program is also a great way to nurture your customer base. In fact, according to Convince & Convert, customers that have been referred to a brand spend an average of 13% more per year than non-referred people. More so, referral programs cost up to 90% less than traditional forms of marketing.

And while most modern marketers understand the basics of email marketing – personalizing the copy, making the call-to-action stand out, segmenting your list, etc. – for those sending referral marketing emails, the nuances are a little different depending on the industry.

For example, an email referring an apparel line is bound to read differently than an email referring HR software. Before you sit down to craft your referral program email templates, consider the following: What’s in it for the referrer? What’s in it for the referee? Is the incentive enticing enough?

Email Marketing Referral Program Templates for Marketers

We’ll even help you get started with one of the most important emails in your referral program workflow: The Welcome Email.

Why is this one email so important?

Because it holds all the key information your program member needs. Think of it as the one email your users will star in their inbox and reference whenever they refer your brand.

We’ve reviewed hundreds of emails across industries and created the best “Welcome Email” templates for B2B, eCommerce, and Financial Services referral programs. You’ll notice they are simple and straight to the point. We’re providing just the framework, it’s up to you to add your brand’s authentic tone and style.

Let’s dive in:

B2B Referral Program Welcome Email Template

Rich Text Version

Subject Line: Thanks for joining our referral program!

Hi [Customer],

You’re officially approved to participate in [Company’s] Referral Program. You’re now eligible to earn [customized reward] simply by referring your clients and friends to our company.

Head over to [portal link] and use your email and the temporary password provided to get started. Your temporary password is: em@iltempl@te. You may change your password as soon as you log in to your account.

Share this special link: [unique share link] to start earning rewards right now!

Sincerely,

The Marketing Team

[Company]

eCommerce Referral Program Welcome Email Template

Rich Text Version

Subject Line: Refer & Earn [reward]

Hi [Customer],

Congratulations! You’re officially a [Company] Brand Ambassador. You deserve a reward for all of the love that you show to our brand. You can spread the love by sharing this link: [unique share link] with your friends. For every new [Company] customer you refer, you’ll earn [customized reward].

Set up your personal account at [portal link] to get started (and keep track of your rewards). Your temporary password is: em@iltempl@te. You may change your password as soon as you log in.

Sincerely,

The Marketing Team

[Company]

Financial Services Referral Program Welcome Email Template

Rich Text Version

Subject Line: Start Earning Right Now

Hi [Customer],

[Company] has selected you to become an ambassador and earn [customized reward] by referring your friends using this link: [unique share link].

Use your email and password to log in to [portal link] to start earning rewards now. Your temporary password is: em@iltempl@te. You may change your password as soon as you log in. Let’s get started!

Sincerely,

The Marketing Team

[Company]

Integrating Emails Into Your Referral Program

Setting up the perfect referral program depends on your business goals and expectations, but every introductory referral program email should contain a few standard elements – a shareable unique link, instructions on how to monitor their sharing behavior, and where see their rewards.

In order to make an impact with email marketing, you first have to get people to open your messages. This is accomplished through a powerful, compelling subject line. In fact, the average open rate across all industries is 20.81%, so it’s critical to target subject lines based on your audiences and personalize them as much as possible.

It’s also important to know where your audience is reading your emails. Not their exact location, but their preferred device. Consumers today aren’t just using email on their desktops anymore, they have easy access to their inbox located right in their pocket or purse. In fact, 46% of email messages are opened using mobile devices, so make sure yours are optimized to reach everyone.

Referral program emails are more than just another step in your email workflow, they’re setting the tone for the rest of your relationship with your loyal brand ambassador. Inject your brand culture and voice into these templates to craft emails for an unforgettable (and rewarding) customer journey.

Key Elements of an Effective Referral Email Template

Crafting an effective referral email template involves more than just asking your customers to share a link. The most successful referral emails are those that clearly communicate the benefits for both the referrer and the friend being referred. Start with a compelling subject line that grabs attention, and ensure the body of the email is concise yet informative. Highlight the incentives in a way that resonates with the recipient, and include a strong call-to-action (CTA) that is easy to follow. Personalization can also play a key role—using the customer’s name and referencing their previous positive experiences with your brand can significantly increase the likelihood of engagement.

Timing and Personalization: The Secret to High-Impact Referral Emails

Timing and personalization are critical when sending referral emails. The best time to request a referral is after a positive interaction, such as following a successful purchase or after receiving positive feedback. This timing leverages the customer’s satisfaction, making them more likely to share their experience with others. Moreover, personalized emails—tailored to the recipient’s behavior, preferences, and previous interactions with your brand—can dramatically increase open rates and conversions. By making the referral process as simple and rewarding as possible, you encourage customers to participate, turning them into active promoters of your brand.

Unlock growth with referrals—request your free Ambassador demo today and see the impact firsthand!

The post Referral Request Made Easy: 3 Email Templates You Can Use Today appeared first on Ambassador.

Most savvy marketers today are driven by data. And the numbers don’t lie: a referral strategy is the most valuable marketing channel and generates quality leads. In fact, having a referral program can help your brand keep up in an industry where word-of-mouth travels far and wide.

How far and wide?

Let’s start with why referral marketing is important

Well, according to a study released in partnership with Nielsen’s Harris Poll Online, 82% of people seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase, while 67% say they’re more likely to make a purchase when a friend or family member shares it online.

Those are some pretty impressive stats. Which is why we did some further digging into referral marketing in the eCommerce space and found even more staggering numbers.

Basically, if you were able to enroll 10,000 brand ambassadors in a referral program and 40% of those ambassadors shared their unique referral link, our research shows that you might be able to expect 46,000 site visits and more than $166,000 in new revenue.

All from a channel that — depending on the referral incentive you offer — has been proven to lower customer acquisition costs and improve customer retention. No matter if you’re using a custom build or a pre-built referral marketing software, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind.

10 ways to make your referral program more effective

Recognizing the impact of a referral program and actually creating your own success story are two very different things. In order for your strategy to be successful, you must take the time to holistically optimize.

Here are 10 referral program tips to turn your strategy into a powerful customer-generating machine.

Tip #1: Know What You’re Aiming For

Before you even begin your referral marketing program, it’s important to have a target to work toward. Otherwise, you won’t be able to measure your progress. Hammer down exactly what you’d like to accomplish with your program – for example, a 10% increase in sales over the next 6 weeks. That way you’ll have a clear picture of what you’re trying to accomplish and can determine if your plan is really achieving the results you’re after.

Tip #2: Timing is Everything

The ideal brand ambassador is one that is intimately familiar with your product or service, and this comes from experience. Asking for a referral during your first interaction with a customer probably won’t net you the results you’re looking for. Make sure you’re tapping into your clientele at the right time – once they’ve had a chance to get to know your brand and what you have to offer. Develop a relationship first, and the rest will fall into place.

Tip #3: Make it Worth Their While

If you want people to sing your praises, you have to make it worth their while to do so. Offer something of value to your advocates and, more importantly, show them that they are valued. Keep in mind that your customers might be motivated more by altruistic reasons than self-interested ones. The more your customers feel appreciated, the more likely they’ll be to spread the word about your brand to their own networks.

Tip #4: Have a Noticeable Presence

How can customers find your referral program? Where do they go to see their rewards? While more and more users are turning to their mobile phones and tablets for browsing, desktop still needs to be a major component of your overall referral program strategy.

Without getting your entire dev team involved, here are a few ideas on where to place your referral program on your website – so it is easily accessible to members of your program as well as new brand ambassadors looking to join and share:

– Navigation menu
– Footer
– Pop-up window
– Welcome bar
– Sidebar widgets 

Tip #5: Provide a Mobile-Friendly Experience

Mobile has fundamentally changed (and will continue to change) how, when, where, and why customers engage with and buy from your brand. This is why it’s crucial the mobile experience of your referral program should be tailored to the user’s specific platform and possess true cross-platform flexibility. This enables users to move smoothly and seamlessly between desktop and mobile devices.

Tip #6: Ensure Easy Email Sharing

While social media has flourished in the past few years, email marketing isn’t going anywhere. In fact, according to Salesforce, email marketing has an average ROI of 3,800%. For every dollar invested, the average return is $38.

This is great for budget-savvy marketers since your brand ambassadors are doing most of the emailing – investing more of their time, rather than your resources. Additionally, users are more likely to open a letter from a friend than branded emails.

Tip #7: Integrate with Popular Social Media Networks

For referral marketing success, your brand needs to be where your audience is – which is typically on social media.

For easy sharing of content, unique links, and promotional offers, integrating with popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is essential.

The easier the process (read: less clicks), the more your brand ambassadors will share.

Tip #8: Offer the Right Reward

Points programs, discounts, and branded swag may sound appealing, but there is one reward that always works when it comes to getting people to recommend your business to others.

What is it? Monetary incentives.

According to the study mentioned above, 88% of Americans stated they would like some sort of incentive (money, product or service, loyalty points, early access, swag) for sharing a product with their online networks. Additionally, 77% of Americans identify money as their reward of choice.

Tip #9: Arm Yourself for Success

While you can certainly manage a referral program on your own, the right referral software for your business will help take that program to a whole new level. It will allow you to track, manage, and optimize all your referrals from a single dashboard and perform ongoing analysis to more accurately measure and improve your progress.

Tip #10: Say ‘Thank You’

Lastly, although certainly not least, don’t forget to thank your ambassadors after every successful referral. It could be as simple as an email, or as elaborate as sending a gift – as long as it delivers the message that you appreciate their support and value them. This will, in turn, further nurture those important relationships and encourage future referrals.

At the end of the day, focusing on continued engagement is the best way to truly succeed with referral marketing.

We’ve said it before, the best referral programs evolve over time. Be flexible, offer different types of rewards to new and existing customers, segment, or turn to gamification – it’s all about finding the right formula for you.

A successful referral program can make your business more profitable, but it’s only as good as the work you put into it. When done right, having a referral program in place can be a real game changer.

The post How to Make Your Referral Program More Effective appeared first on Ambassador.

When planning a referral strategy, understanding how to maximize awareness of your program is crucial for success. The more people you can reach with your program, the more potential buyers you can add to your funnel. And that’s the end goal for most marketers, to increase your audience with a unique referral marketing strategy tailored for growth.

If you’re nodding along, keep reading! In this blog post, we’ll dive into how social media and referral marketing work together, proven tips to expand your referral program reach, and the right promotional strategy for your unique brand.

Social media and referral marketing: The perfect fit

Most companies today agree that social media is a prominent marketing tool. In fact, nearly 75% of brands believe social media is an effective part of their business. As marketers, we understand that social media can put you in touch with your target market. What many brands are still missing in their strategy is when social media is combined with referral marketing, organic engagement and brand awareness can be easier achieved.

In fact, according to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, two-thirds of Americans say they’re more likely to purchase a product after seeing it shared on social media or email.

So how can you help your brand ambassadors share your products and services with their networks? By combining the power of social media and referral marketing.

By intertwining these two highly engaged channels, companies can create meaningful relationships that extend beyond typical online outreach. So what does this look like in practice? For some brands, that means tweets from their ambassadors with unique share links or adding that link to their profiles.

Knowing the details of your customer’s online behavior can help best target where company resources should be directed. If you notice that followers love sharing pictures on Twitter, post regular photo updates with a call-to-action to sign up for the referral program.

Flexibility is key – however your ambassadors choose to share, make sure the experience is aligned with your brand. When asking your ambassadors to share, make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Have a pre-made message ready to go so they don’t have to spend time coming up with their own. And everyone loves pretty pictures, include attractive photos that make the post more appealing.

Here’s the thing: sharing on social media is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to promoting and publicizing your referral program. Integrating your referral program into all your marketing initiatives is what will really make all the difference.

5 Tips on how to maximize awareness of your referral program

The more your brand ambassador talk about your products and services online, the larger your reach becomes. Additionally, generating brand awareness through referral marketing is more likely than not to turn into brand preference, which ultimately leads to revenue. Here’s how to increase exposure for your referral program:

Tip #1: Use your email lists

Email marketing is ideal for keeping your customers engaged and aware of new company updates, so it makes sense that it’s also invaluable for getting people excited to promote your brand. If you just launched your referral program or have a special promotion running, you should engage with your database with program details on how to enroll, share, and earn rewards. Include a strong call-to-action that brings people directly to your landing page and make sure it’s laid out clearly and concisely.

If you have a strong email list, segment your customers into different lists based on what they’re most interested in to send targeted emails that increase bring more traffic to your landing page.

Remember that even your most engaged customers might not know you have a referral program. Hitting them with a strong email campaign is the perfect way to get them excited and mobilized.

Tip #2: Include a CTA Wherever You Can

Oftentimes, CTAs are the biggest missed opportunities for brands looking to promote their referral programs. For example, consumer brands and eCommerce companies can include a CTA to enroll in post-purchase confirmation emails. This is a moment of peak excitement for customers and, as a result, is the perfect time to ask for a referral. For B2B organizations, including a CTA in regularly scheduled content, such as an email newsletter or blog post, may be a better fit.

Tip #3: Prominently display your referral program on your website

For maximum exposure, your referral program should get some real estate on a homepage or landing page. Adding a link in a header, sidebar or even smack-dab in the middle of your page will lead customers to take action and sign-up.

Conversely, keeping the link hidden probably won’t get you many sign-ups. Again, people need to know you have a program so they can participate in it.

Tip #4: Encourage Employee Promotion

From customer service representatives to account managers, employees are your front line and are engaging with current brand ambassadors as well as potential new program members the most.

Ensure that employees are both aware of and promoting your program. It can be something as turnkey as including a link to enroll in your email signature or an internal contest to see who brings in the most new program members.

Tip #5: Don’t stop promoting

In the age of social media, attention spans have never been shorter. While you may have sent out an email or a tweet about your program, that might not be enough to keep people consistently engaged with your program. You don’t want to nag your brand ambassadors, but subtle reminders will help keep your referral program at the top of their minds. Maybe send an email out once a month with an update, or drop a link in a Facebook post/tweet.

The right referral marketing promotion strategy for your brand

It’s always a good idea to figure out what works best for your brand, your customers, and your prospects. But that doesn’t mean you have to reinvent the wheel. When determining the best way to promote your program, we recommend starting with the basics.

Begin identifying ways to layer the referral program into your existing marketing initiatives. Here are some questions to help with this process:

1. What channels do you currently dedicate the most time to? For instance, does your team spend more time on content for your blog or email marketing?

2. Out of the marketing channels you’re utilizing, which ones drive the most engagement? Is your audience more active on your social channels or your website?

3. Dive into your website analytics. What areas are high traffic or which pages have the longest time spent on them?

Our most successful clients ensure there is high visibility for their referral program. That means it is linked in their blog posts, promoted on their social channels, and easily accessible on their website navigation.

But this isn’t an all or none game – if you have limited resources to spend on your referral program, focus first on the areas where you have an engaged and attentive audience. And then branch out as you start to generate ROI.

Whatever the method, remember that effective promotion of your referral program is an ongoing process. If you want your program to be successful, you’ll have to remind people that it actually exists. Keep people engaged with your program and not only will you bring in new customers, but also more brand ambassadors to compound your referrals exponentially.

The post How to Maximize Awareness Of Your Referral Program appeared first on Ambassador.

In any economic climate, both B2B businesses and consumer brands can rely upon referral program software as a beacon of cost-efficient, high-value technology.

The organizations harnessing the power of word of mouth marketing across their social networks, through email and text, have a leg up on their competition. They have a strong, growing base of supporters who are ready to help to support their favorite brands.

There are an innumerable number of benefits to using an easy-to-use, yet powerful referral software platform, but let’s start with 5 reasons it makes sense to invest in technology right now:

1. Referral program software delivers high ROI

Throwing costly advertisements and offers at random customers doesn’t mean you’ll generate more sales. But factually speaking, a customer is four times more likely to make a purchase when referred by a close friend or colleague. And not only are peer-to-peer referrals more effective, but they also cost much less to generate, meaning your cost to acquire new customers is significantly less expensive than via traditional channels.

Referred customers have repeatedly shown to be the most loyal, high value clients. Building a steady flow of these customers will ensure a low-churn rate and more long-term customers; a one-two punch of revenue increasing success.

2. Referral marketing builds trust

Customer reviews are playing a much larger role in purchasing decisions than ever before. After all, without actually walking into a store and shaking hands with the owner, you’re heavily relying on what you see online to get a sense of the brand.

Now what if someone you trust recommends a product or service that you were researching anyways? You’re probably more likely to go with it. In fact, only 15% of customers trust company-to-buyer social media messages, while 92% trust opinions from friends and family.

We live in a social first world and putting a face to a brand is more and more important to customers. Building a customer referral program to incentivize your customers to go out and build that trust for you is invaluable, and just can’t be accomplished through more traditional advertising channels, where outreach is expensive and ROI is low.

3. Referral marketing is viral

The idea of a viral campaign is pretty well known. One of your friends sends you a video, you send it to 10 of your friends, and he sends it to 20, ad infinitum. Referrals follow the same trajectory, where one friend refers two more, those friends refer 5…you get the idea.

This means that referral programs bring with them a compounding increase in sales. With word-of-mouth marketing you’re not just targeting one customer. You’re targeting one customer and the entirety of their social networks. With an effective referral program you can have hundreds of brand ambassadors driving awareness and increasing revenue for your brand, rather than reaching only one customer through a traditional acquisition channel.

For the math geeks, there’s a cool way to calculate the virality of your campaign using a viral coefficient formula. See how this applies to referrals, and you’ll get an idea of how effective word of mouth marketing can be.

4. Referral program software makes it easy to measure and optimize results

Given the social nature of referral marketing online, it’s relatively easy to track the ROI of your referral program software, thereby allowing you to optimize your campaigns to further increase revenue. Having the right referral program software will provide you with the information you need to make your program more effective, which significantly improves ROI.  

5. Referral marketing doesn’t end online

Word-of-mouth programs have ripple effects that extend across all of your social networks, both online and off. If you’re talking to one friend, chances are your friend will talk to another. This goes back to the idea of viral campaigns, but with the right referral program in place you’ll be able to reach networks of customers that would be inaccessible without brand ambassadors promoting your brand offline.

Of course an online referral program is most successful when it’s tracked and optimized frequently. Having the right referral program software in place to help you to meet your goals is the difference between exponentially increasing your revenue and being left behind by your competitors that are benefitting from the most powerful and easy-to-use technology. That’s not a place you want to be.

The post Why Referral Program Software Makes Economic Sense Right Now appeared first on Ambassador.

There has been steady high growth and adoption in education technology, with global eLearning investments reaching US$18.66 billion in 2019 and the overall market for online education projected to reach $350 Billion by 2025.

And the dynamic shift to online learning isn’t the only change in the education industry. If you’ve attended college (or had to pay for it) sometime in the last three decades, you’re probably as frustrated as anyone about the skyrocketing price tag. According to one report, the cost of college has risen 538% since 1985.

It’s no shock that the online education and eLearning markets have exploded in recent years. Consider these numbers:

By 2022, the global eLearning market is projected to reach $243.8 billion

Over 6 million American students are studying partially or fully online

And, according to most expert projections, those numbers are only going to rise.

How is Referral Marketing Impacting the Education Industry?

As referral marketing experts, that’s a question we wanted to answer. So, we explored our data to see what we could uncover.

What did we find?

Not surprisingly, referral marketing is one of the highest performing channels in the eLearning industry. We were surprised, however, by just how quickly referrals created real, bottom-line value for the brands that use them effectively.

In fact, our data showed that in the first two months after an education or eLearning company launched its referral program, it generated (on average) these results:

What’s the takeaway from this data?

As we explain in our latest report, “Referral Marketing By the Numbers: Education and eLearning,” students and teachers who have a positive experience with an education or eLearning company are clearly eager to talk about it. And when they do, it tends to have a direct — and immediate — impact on brand awareness and bottom-line growth.

Referrals Aren’t Just Valuable in the Short-Term

While that’s good news for education and eLearning companies, the better news is that this impact isn’t short lived. Instead, our research showed an investment in referral marketing technology created sustained value over longer periods of time, as well.

How much value? Here’s a sneak peek from our report: 

To find out more about what that chart means and how it might translate to your business, check out the full report.

The post What’s the Impact of Referrals on the Online Education Industry? appeared first on Ambassador.

What is Referral Marketing?

Referral marketing is when a company rewards fans, customers, influencers, and affiliates – basically any defined contact — for referring their products/services. These brand ambassadors may also be incentivized with monetary or non-monetary rewards.

Many companies run their referral marketing programs manually, but are losing the ability to capitalize on the large opportunity of gaining new loyal customers. By automating the manual process of enrolling, tracking, managing and rewarding referrals, referral software enables companies to quickly scale their referral marketing efforts. Furthermore, leveraging referral software enables companies to increase engagement and acquire new customers.

Referral Marketing Software: Is Automation Necessary to Scale?

In most cases, in-house referral programs are built for the here-and-now. While this approach might offer the basic functionality to capitalize on referrals in the short-term, it can create development nightmares as your business — and your referral program — grows.

As with any high-value marketing channel, it’s important to consider the scalability, flexibility, and extensibility of your referral marketing program from the very start. The last thing you want is to find yourself in a position where it’s virtually impossible to bolt-on functionality that would help you optimize and scale referral revenue.

Sure, you might be able to build a basic referral program with basic tracking and reporting capabilities. But what happens when the referral program matures beyond entry-level functionality? If the in-house program isn’t designed around flexibility and extensibility, it can create very large barriers to scale.

Here are 3 challenges that can arise when brands choose manual processes rather than investing in referral software:

1. An inability to automate manual activities like enrollment workflows and referral commission payouts at scale. When your referral program is small, managing things manually isn’t a problem. When you have hundreds or thousands of customers and just as many approved referrals every month, automation is the difference between referral marketing success and failure.

2. Difficulty integrating with other critical systems like Salesforce, Marketo, Mailchimp, Magento, and Shopify. The process of developing direct integrations with big vendors like Salesforce and Magento requires a lot of time and technical aptitude. This is something your in-house development team might be able to tackle, but asking them to do it means asking them to prioritize it over other important initiatives. That said, if you don’t invest in those integrations, it will significantly hamper the value you — and your customers — can reap from a referral program.

3. Clunky browser-based mobile experiences that kill engagement and sharing. Because referral marketing isn’t most companies’ core competency, the vast majority of DIY referral programs have poor (or nonexistent) mobile experiences that feel bolted on. With mobile usage skyrocketing, these second-rate experiences can kill referral engagement. Mobile-first functionality can be added on after-the-fact, but doing so requires significant mobile aptitude and technology that’s flexible enough to incorporate it.

One of the biggest benefits of buying referral marketing software from an established vendor is that it virtually future-proofs your program.

Best-in-class referral marketing vendors build their solutions around flexibility, scalability, and extensibility, and their teams are constantly working on new features to make their customers more successful. This allows your business to easily implement new features and functionality on-demand, with relatively little back-end development.

The ROI of Referral Marketing B2B Programs

If there’s one question we hear more than any other from customers looking to start or scale a B2B referral program, it’s this: Do B2B referral programs actually work?

It’s a fair question. In many circles, referral marketing is still viewed as a consumer-focused strategy — one best left to brands with a viral product or a unique mission that customers can easily rally around. And while referral marketing absolutely works for those types of businesses, it’s a mistake to assume it’s not the right fit for B2B software companies. Especially since 78% of B2B marketers say that referral programs generate good or excellent leads.

So when we started studying our platform’s data, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our B2B customers were generating higher success metrics than any other vertical we track.

What’s even more shocking was the fact that those B2B companies’ average revenue was more than three times higher than eCommerce, despite lower ambassador enrollment and activity metrics.

Of course, because of B2B companies’ generally higher customer LTV, it’s difficult to make a definitive apples-to-apples comparison to eCommerce brands. That said, when we examined average ROI (total investment in Ambassador plus customer acquisition costs, divided by total revenue generated) and typical conversion metrics for our B2B customers, the argument in favor of B2B referral marketing grew stronger.

One final trend also stood out: Time. More specifically, B2B companies that play the long game — giving their referral program time to evolve and gain traction — see far greater results.

That isn’t terribly shocking given the length of a typical B2B sales cycle, but it confirms the value of patience and consistency in B2B referral programs. To illustrate this, we studied some of our longer-term B2B customers and charted their revenue growth over the first year.

As you’ll see in the graph above, growth is slow initially, but there’s a clear inflection point. Three months after implementation, revenue spikes dramatically. And three months after that, revenue grows by 5X!

The ROI of Referral Marketing eCommerce Programs

Now this isn’t to say referral marketing isn’t a powerful growth driver for eCommerce companies. In fact, for many eCommerce brands, referral marketing is a no-brainer. Studies have shown that referred shoppers cost less to acquire, buy more, and stay longer. And a survey conducted online by Nielsen’s Harris Poll found that 82% of Americans seek recommendations from friends and family when considering a purchase, while 67% say they’re more likely to make a purchase when a friend or family member shares it online.

That research is all well and good, but what does it really tell us about the success of referral marketing as a strategy? And what does referral marketing success actually look like?

To help answer those questions, we dove into our data again. The goal: Evaluate participation and conversion metrics generated by our most successful eCommerce customers, and extract insight that can help other retailers assess and optimize their referral programs. Here’s what we found:

Those numbers might not seem dramatic, but let’s perform a quick calculation. If you have 10,000 ambassadors and 40% of them share their link just once, it will generate 46,000 visits to your site. And if each visit is worth $3.62, that equates to $166,520 in revenue.

One common assumption with consumer-facing referral programs is that, over time, results will plateau. The theory is that ambassadors will grow weary of sharing (or they’ll run out of people to share with) and activity will flatline. Fortunately, our data paints a very different picture.

In fact, we noticed an interesting trend. While revenue spikes sharply in the first six months after launch, growth continues to rise steadily over the following 18 months — increasing, in fact, at a nearly 3x multiple between years one and two.

No matter the industry, there is one key takeover: Successful referral programs generate a natural network effect. 

Which is why referral software is a valuable investment for companies looking to truly scale this channel. Automation gives you the ability to reach your customers in various ways to refer your business via their preferred method of sharing. Emails, social media shares, and text messages with shareable links that are unique to each ambassador can be as easy as a click of a button.

As you acquire more referred customers, an abnormally high proportion of them will convert into new ambassadors. Those ambassadors will then draw in new customers, and the cycle will start all over again.

Leveraging Social Proof in Referral Programs

Social proof is a powerful psychological trigger that referral programs naturally harness. People are more likely to trust a recommendation from someone they know than an advertisement from a brand. This is why referral programs tend to outperform other marketing channels in terms of trust and effectiveness. By encouraging customers to share their positive experiences, businesses can amplify their reach and acquire new customers who are already inclined to make a purchase.

Additionally, offering incentives to both the referrer and the referee further strengthens the program’s appeal. These rewards can be tailored to suit the preferences of your target audience, whether it’s discounts, exclusive access, or cash bonuses. The key is to ensure that these incentives align with your brand values and customer expectations, driving engagement and maximizing the program’s success.

Unlock growth with referrals—request your free demo today and see the impact firsthand!

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