‍So you have a Shopify store, and you’re looking to set up a referral program.

Guess what?

Setting up a referral program on Shopify using ReferralCandy is extremely easy.

There are 2 main ways you can do the setup, either:

1. Through the ReferralCandy website
2. Through the Shopify App Store

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Setting up your referral program via the ReferralCandy website

First, go through the ReferralCandy signup process:

1. Head to ReferralCandy.com and sign up for a free trial

2. When you click "Connect with Shopify", a Sign Up form will appear, prompting you to fill in your Shopify store address.

3. Fill in your store address, and click "Start Free Trial":

4. You'll be directed to your Shopify log-in page. Log into your store:

8. Double check your email. Type in your preferred password (and choose your store timezone and language). Hit "Continue To Payment":

9. You should then be directed to this page. Choose your preferred plan. 

10. You will be brought to the Shopify page to approve your ReferralCandy subscription after you’ve keyed in your payment details. 

ReferralCandy requires you to connect your credit card before starting. But, don't worry! You can cancel anytime before the 30-day free trial ends. ReferralCandy will not charge your credit card before the free trial is over, so you have nothing to worry about.

Once you've keyed in your billing details, you’ll be directed to the main dashboard on ReferralCandy!

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Setting up your referral program via the Shopify App Store

1. First login to your Shopify account and head to ReferralCandy's App Store Page:

2. Then, click on the "Add app" button and you’ll be redirected to the install app page on Shopify through your existing account:

3. Click on the “Install app” button and you will be redirected to ReferralCandy to signup for an account.

4. Check that your email is correct and key in the rest of your details and select your preferred plan on the next page.

5. You will be brought to the Shopify page to confirm your subscription and to key in your payment details.

6. Once approved, your ReferralCandy account is created and you can get started on your referral program.

Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉

You're finally ready to begin setting up your referral program and start getting those referrals (and revenue) to your Shopify store.

Of course, you'll still have to set the referral conditions, the rewards referral incentive, the referral emails and pages, and the referral widgets on your store.

Also, don't forget to promote your referral program to your existing customers to get greater reach and awareness—which helps bring more sales!

Good luck!

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You always hear that customer reviews are important for businesses, but this doesn’t necessarily mean anything unless you see the data proving its importance. So we’ve gathered the data.

A Canvas8 and Trustpilot study tells us that nine out of ten (90%) consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. 33% (that’s one-third) of US consumers look to product reviews to find out information about products, second only to a Google search. And 62% (almost two-thirds) of US shoppers state that online reviews are very helpful in making purchase decisions.

The fact of the matter is this: If a potential customer is looking at two products—yours versus a competitor’s—and you have no product reviews but your competitor has several, they’re going to go with your competitor.

This is because customer reviews have become an online word-of-mouth marketing staple. They act as an endorsement, even if it’s not from a close friend or family member.

Throughout this article, we’re going to discuss how brands can utilize the customer reviews they’re already getting to increase their word-of-mouth marketing and bring even more customers in through the door.

Why are reviews and testimonials important

Likes, shares, and rating stars are great, but they’re not always enough to trigger action from potential customers. Viewers want to know the good and the bad about your product. (And even if you say there’s no bad, there might be for some customers.)

Reviews and testimonials build trust in consumers—just like how referrals are dependent on trust between the advocate and whoever they’re referring the product to. Furthermore, customer reviews are a great form of social proof, proving to interested shoppers that your product is worth buying.

All in all, reviews and testimonials sell your products. A Bazaarvoice study found that just a single review can increase purchases by 10%. So if you want to build a successful business and convince your audience to buy your products with little to no marketing, you need to get more reviews.

5 ways to amplify word-of-mouth marketing with customer reviews

Organic word-of-mouth marketing occurs authentically when someone genuinely loves a product so much that they tell people they know about it. This is useful because 92% of consumers state they trust word-of-mouth recommendations over advertising.

Amplified word-of-mouth marketing is when a brand takes existing WOM content and reviews and turns them into a marketing campaign so that more potential customers see it.

So we want to talk more about how to amplify your word-of-mouth marketing content as a way to help customers feel better about buying your product—even if they’re doing so due to advertising.

Here are five ways to start amplifying your word-of-mouth marketing to reach even more of your audience.

Get your customers to talk about the pros and cons of your product

There’s nothing wrong with asking for reviews. But it’s better if you can offer guidance to your customer on how they can easily leave a review. 

Only 8-10% of consumers nearly always leave a review, with close to half of shoppers saying they sometimes leave reviews of a product. This means that the vast majority of your customers aren’t well-versed on the best way to review a product.

So if you offer some sort of guidance as you ask for the review, this can increase the number of reviews you end up getting altogether. One great way to do this is by having your customers lay out the pros and cons of your product in their review. It provides them with a format—but it provides you with a great marketing message to use to amplify said review.

Turn your review responses into an opportunity to showcase how much you care about your customers

Your customer expects you to respond when they leave a review or feedback on your products, especially if they’re having a negative experience. Using your responses to (a) turn around the issue, and (b) showcase the level of care you have for your customers is a great way to make people feel better about working with your business.

Let’s take a look at these Twitter responses from luxury suitcase company Away. Their social support team does a great job of responding to questions, concerns, and other mentions in a way that shows they genuinely care about their customers.

This level of customer service then earns the company accolades like the following:

Tweets—and responses—like these are the perfect content to then share on other social platforms. Away could take a screenshot of these conversations and use them to create an Instagram or Facebook graphic as a way to prove to potential customers the level of care they can expect from the company.

Create animated or video testimonials to share on social media

Show off your positive reviews by sharing them on your social media channels. You can do so with a basic graphic like the one we see below:

Or you can go a step further and create a video testimonial or animated graphic (gifs) that grabs attention and share even more information about your customers’ positive feedback.

Video testimonials can be recordings of real-life customers talking about their experiences, or you can simply use a written review and turn it into an animation. This is a creative way to amplify your customer reviews and help more people feel comfortable and excited about buying from your brand.

Incentivize customers to leave a review

If you’re going to be building up a word-of-mouth strategy that leverages customer reviews, you’re going to need a lot of customer reviews. So one of the first things you’re going to want to figure out is how to increase the number of reviews you’re getting.

And one great way to do this is by incentivizing your customers to leave a review after they make a purchase. Offer a 15% off discount code, put their name into a hat for a free product giveaway, or something else that will entice more customers to review your products. This way, you have even more content to work with in your amplification strategy.

Build a referral program

Building a referral program allows existing happy customers to receive compensation for referring others to your products. 

Referral programs can vary in how they work, but for the most part, you’ll provide a custom link to customers who apply for your program. They’ll then share that link with their friends and family, and if anyone makes a purchase, the original customer will receive a portion of their purchase.

You’ll be able to provide guidelines for your referrers, but one great way to get the most out of a referral link—both for the customer and for your brand—is to share a review online alongside their link, letting viewers know they’re getting a cut of the purchase.

This helps get the word out about your brand while still providing an incentive for your existing customers.

5 brands that leverage customer reviews to build their word-of-mouth marketing

Want to see more ways to leverage customer reviews and increase social proof and referrals to your business? We’ve put together five awesome, real-life examples to give you even more inspiration for how to use your customer reviews to bring in even more customers.

LAY LO

LAY LO is an ecommerce dog bed brand with several styles to choose from to keep your pups comfortable and fashionable. Their homepage is structured with a great flow, seamlessly moving customers down the page.

And one great piece of formatting they included has to do with their customer reviews.

As we scroll through their website, we come across this full-screen widget that shows us a slider full of happy pups and five-star reviews.

If you scroll one more full-screen down, you’ll see even more perks—including their 500+ 5-star reviews boast—along with a link to their referral program.

Not only does this show new website visitors that LAY LO’s products are well-loved, but it also includes a call-to-action for existing customers to invite their friends to make a purchase—with $20 off for both of them.

Almost every single page of your ecommerce website should include some allusion to your customer reviews. And if you’re able to create a seamless flow that also highlights your referral program, it’s all the better.

A Box of Stories

A Box of Stories is a mystery book box subscription where the company curates a box of four surprise books—some are a complete mystery while others are based on a specified genre.

On their homepage, they’ve also included a slider of reviews, although these aren’t exclusively five-star reviews. Of course, as a brand, you only want to showcase your top reviews, but being transparent about your four- and three-star reviews helps build even more trust.

With a button below to view even more reviews, A Box of Stories makes it easy for interested customers to see what even more people are saying—even the bad reviews.

Again, plaster reviews all over your ecommerce site. Make them as accessible as possible because seeing honest feedback from past customers is a proven way to get more people to make a purchase.

Edloe Finch

Edloe Finch is a boutique online furniture store that ensures their customers feel as confident as possible when making a purchase. They do this by providing as much customer feedback as they can on every single product page.

Let’s say you’re looking to buy a brown leather chair, but you want to see what it would actually look like in your room, rather than their professional product photos.

As you scroll down, you’re greeted with a compilation of user-generated photos that show off real-life customer photos that match the product page you’re on. So you’re able to see authentic photos of the piece of furniture in an actual person’s home.

This can help customers make sure the product looks like how it’s supposed to look and make sure it would match their existing decor.

Then, as users continue to scroll, they’re able to see reviews of a variety of Edloe Finch products, further proving that customers are satisfied with their purchases.

Ritual

Vitamin company Ritual amplifies their word-of-mouth marketing by strategically placing customer video testimonials right on their homepage. As a health-related company, they made sure that they’re not only including customers but medical experts as well to further help customers feel secure in their purchase.

Website visitors can scroll through the videos and watch the ones that are in the medical field or that work in a similar role/industry to see what the feedback is and if it could fit well in their own lives.

DayDesigner

DayDesigner is a yearly planner company that included a Reviews page right in the footer of their website. This page gathers all their website reviews into a single widget, making it easy for potential buyers to sort through and see what past customers have said.

However, one of the best features of their review widget is the ability for reviewers to “recommend” the product or not. And the widget collects those responses to provide viewers with a single statistic at the top of the page: “96% of reviewers would recommend these products to a friend.”

This is a great way to use data to prove how much your customers love your product. The only thing better would be to further amplify this number on social media or other parts of the website.

Start leveraging your customer reviews

Reviews create social proof by showing potential consumers the sentiments towards your brand and products. Word-of-mouth marketing—like referrals—reinforces this social proof, creating that extra layer of trust as potential consumers can see that many others also love this brand.

Work on getting more product reviews so you have even more reviews to amplify and even more ammo for bringing new customers in through the door.

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One of the most daunting parts of running a marketing agency can be the work to generate new clients. What if you’re not able to keep up with client acquisition? What if you’re not bringing in enough and the agency goes under?

All reasonable questions, but we’re here to quell those fears. Yes, customer acquisition is crucial for agencies—we’ll discuss this more in just a moment—but it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Throughout this article, we’re going to cover eight essential strategies to help get more clients for your marketing or ecommerce agency in 2022. Let’s dig in.

Why customer acquisition is crucial for agencies

According to HubSpot’s 2018 Agency Growth Research Report, 60% of agencies report that finding new clients is one of their biggest pain points.

And it’s hard. We’re not going to sugarcoat it. However, with a proper client acquisition strategy—and by employing several of the tactics we cover below—you can start to feel more comfortable about consistently bringing in new clients.

As a part of your client acquisition strategy, you also need to consider the best type of clients to bring in: project-based versus retainer.

Project-based clients come to you for a single project (like website design, marketing strategy creation, rebrand, etc.), whereas retainer clients sign a contract with you and pay you a set rate each month for consistent deliverables.

At first glance, it seems like retainer clients are the best type to get because they tend to remain with your agency longer. However, retainers could always be canceled or renegotiated.

So having a healthy top-of-the-funnel ensures that you always have new leads coming in the pipeline, ensuring you have a solid number of project-based clients and retainer clients at the same time, diversifying your client portfolio and helping keep your agency afloat.

Now let’s get into the important part: the eight best ways you can go about finding more agency clients and consistently closing sales.

8 ways to get more agency clients in 2022

Client generation is the backbone of any agency, so having processes in place that consistently bring new leads in through the door is key. Let’s go over a few of these different processes and ideas you might consider setting up to get more agency clients this year.

1. Building your online presence

It’s the universal rule: it’s easier to market anyone else’s company before your own. However, as an agency, you still need to create your own marketing strategy and stay active on social media. This helps to expand your online reach and brand awareness.

A few tactics to include within your agency marketing strategy are:

• Social media marketing: With an emphasis on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
• Content marketing: Use your website and blog to create SEO content that ranks and increases your reach
• Email marketing: Grow an email list of potential clients and nurture them through educational content

To ensure your agency’s marketing remains consistent, employ a dedicated marketing manager that focuses heavily on your own strategy. Having a consistent online presence helps potential clients know (a) you’re still in business and (b) you practice what you preach.

Plus, through a combined effort of social media, content, and email marketing, you should be able to generate a consistent flow of new leads.

2. Cold outreach

Cold outreach—whether via email, phone, or social media—is no one’s favorite. But it’s effective. In fact, according to LinkedIn’s 2020 State of Sales Report, 39% of sales professionals plan to leverage more cold outreach for their sales strategy.

Cold calling can be an effective way to reach out to local business owners, but the majority of your cold outreach will likely be through email and social media sites like LinkedIn. We’re going to discuss LinkedIn and its lead generation prowess in more depth shortly, but for now, we’ll focus exclusively on how to use it for cold outreach.

Your first step is to identify a list of people you want to reach out to. Research brands that appear like they could use your agency’s help, or put together a list of companies within a similar industry—bonus points if it’s an industry that your agency has proven results in.

Next, you’ll want to put your outreach email together. A good formula for a professional email is:

• Salutation
• Personalized introduction
• Your pitch/ask
• The evidence/results
• Sign-off

Here’s a great template from HubSpot that can help you put together a cold email or LinkedIn message that gets responses:

Subject: 10x [prospect's company's] traction in 10 minutes

Hello [Prospect Name],

I have an idea that I can explain in 10 minutes that can get [company] its next 100 best customers.

I recently used this idea to help our client [SaaS company/competitor] almost triple their monthly run rate.

[First name], let's schedule a quick 10-minute call so I can share the idea with you. When works best for you?

-[Name]

f you plan to conduct your outreach via email, you can use a site like RocketReach or Hunter to help you find contact information. Or you can do a quick LinkedIn search and send your outreach message alongside your connection request or right after they accept your request.

3. Lead magnets

A lead magnet is a piece of valuable, educational, or otherwise useful content that your agency creates and distributes in exchange for an email address. These are helpful for lead generation and building a pipeline of potential clients you can nurture through outreach and email marketing.

A few lead magnet ideas include:

• Ebooks
• White papers
• Checklists
• Cheatsheets
• Swipe files
• Reports

For example, with over 6000 apps in the Shopify app store, it can be difficult to evaluate and pick the best apps to power an online store’s tech stack. This ebook from Alloy Automation teaches readers how to choose the right tools to scale the business with valuable insights from major industry players.

You can also create content upgrades that are additions to your blog content as another way to generate more leads.

Include a signup form alongside your lead magnet with all the information you prefer to gather from leads, like their name, email address, and maybe even their phone number and company information.

Here’s an example from the LinkedIn State of Sales 2020 Report referenced earlier:

Gathering all of this information upfront helps you to qualify your leads before wasting any time reaching out to them. And it’s a great way to fill up your pipeline full of sales-ready leads.

4. Build links

Link-building is a great way to build up your website’s authority, making it easier for you to rank for difficult keywords and making it easier for companies to find your agency. And isn’t it always so much nicer when leads come to you rather than you having to reach out to them?

However, there are good link-building tactics and there are sketchy link-building tactics. Some of these tactics to avoid are paying for links (which includes offering discounts or free products in exchange for a link) and spamming backlinks in online forums like Quora and Reddit.

A few link-building tactics that we recommend help build links much more organically and help position your agency as a well-respected thought leader in the industry.

Try these:

• Use HARO (Help A Reporter Out) or Help a B2B Writer to get notifications when a writer or journalist is looking for quotes or experiences about a topic you have in-depth knowledge in. If the reporter chooses to include your quote, you can get a mention by name and a link back to your website.
• Reach out to marketing companies to guest post for their website. Most sites allow guest writers to include a link back to their website in their author bio.
• Create original data/research, like the reports linked earlier. Because you’ve found real data and numbers, many writers and content marketers will reference and link to your study/survey from their website’s blog.
• Put together a high-quality content marketing strategy. The more content you create—and the better that content is—the more likely it is that other content marketers will link to it as an additional resource for their readers.
• Stay active in online communities (i.e., LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, Slack communities) in your industry as many writers will go to those spaces to get insight and quotes for their articles, giving you yet another way to get a link back to your website.

5. Referrals

Your customers are your best advocates, so why not use that to your advantage? If you have a happy client, offer them some sort of incentive to refer you to anyone in their network who also needs an agency.

The incentive could be something like X% or $X off their next project or next month’s retainer. It could be a cash gift. Or it could be a physical gift, like an iPad or a TV.

Check out some examples of B2B referral programs to get an idea of how you can put yours together. Enlisting the help of past clients is a great way for new clients to feel good about working with you.

Moreover, recommendations can also come from your partners whom you have close partnerships with. It’s always a two-way street.

6. Online communities and directories

Another great way to get more agency clients is through online communities and agency directories. Online communities like Facebook groups and Slack communities can be a great place to interact with potential leads and offer up your services if anyone is looking for them.

For example, if you run a web design and development agency, joining and having an active presence in groups related to website creation, conversion rate optimization, lead generation, and even general marketing is a smart way to find new leads. 

Check-in on these communities daily to see if anyone has a question you can answer. You want to start simply by offering advice. If they ask for additional help, you now have the perfect opportunity to position your agency and its services as the solution.

In another vein, you can also check out online agency directories in an attempt to get your own agency listed. Some examples are:

• Klaviyo Agency Partner Directory
• Credo
• BrightLocal
• DesignRush

Getting listed in a directory can be a great way to get free leads. Be sure to fill out your entire profile so interested parties can see if your agency will be a good fit for them or not.

7. LinkedIn

We’ve talked about LinkedIn a bit when it comes to social media marketing and cold outreach. But LinkedIn, as a B2B social media platform, is a great tool in itself for expanding your network and finding new clients.

First, consider running LinkedIn ads to help put your agency in front of your target audience. LinkedIn’s ad targeting parameters are perfect for B2B companies looking to target founders and decision-makers.

Next, make sure to keep an active LinkedIn profile regardless of whether you use the platform for cold outreach or not. Consistent LinkedIn posts—and even articles—can help you show up in the feeds of connections who might be looking for an agency.

Here’s an example of an educational post you could emulate in your own LinkedIn strategy:

Repurpose blog content, share lessons learned, hype up current clients, and more. But make sure you stay consistent in your LinkedIn messaging to increase the chances that a potential client finds you.

8. Events

Last, but not least, event marketing is yet another fantastic way to get more agency clients. As an agency, you should always be on the lookout for networking events, trade shows, and conferences to attend.

Check out pricing for event sponsors to see if you can get your own booth. This is a great way to meet potential clients and provide upfront information about your services and how you can help other companies grow.

And as your agency grows, you can even start booking speaking engagements to further showcase your knowledge in your industry, the proven results you’ve gotten for your clients, and other expertise.

Get more agency clients today

Don’t make getting more agency clients more stressful and overwhelming than it needs to be. Create a strategy that helps ensure your team can continue to grow, replacing clients whenever a project or retainer has finished.

Plus, we have one more great tip for you: offer special services that your competitors don’t. For example, by becoming a ReferralCandy Agency Partner, you can provide an easy referral program set up for your clients—all with the help of a ReferralCandy representative.

Having these additional options helps sell your services over a competitor’s, so consider signing up today and adding referral program creation and management to your list of offerings.

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