I spent the first two years of my eCommerce journey pouring money into Facebook ads. Some campaigns worked. Most didn’t. And even those who were fine had this unpleasant trait: the moment I stopped paying, the traffic stopped too.
Meanwhile, one of my top-performing “channels” wasn’t a channel at all. It was a blogger who had written a single review of my product three years earlier.
This post sent buyers month after month. She didn’t even try anymore. The item just sat there and worked while she slept.
That’s when recommendation marketing clicked for me. The people who already like what you sell can bring you customers you would never reach on your own.
But most companies never give them a reason or a way to do this.
Here’s how to change that!
Why your satisfied customers are an untapped goldmine
We all know that recommendations carry weight. If a friend tells you about a restaurant, you are much more likely to try it than if you had seen the same restaurant in an ad. That’s just human nature.
The statistics confirm it:
- 92% of consumers Trust recommendations from friends and family more than any other form of advertising (Nielsen)
- Referred customers have one 16% higher lifetime value And 37% higher retention rate (Wharton School of Business)
The special thing about it: This word of mouth already exists in most companies. Customers tell their friends. You mention products on Reddit. You answer, “What tools do you use?” Questions on Twitter.
So how can you benefit even more from the enthusiasm for your company? By creating a system. Something that tracks referrals, rewards the people who refer them, and makes the whole process so easy that people actually do it.
This is what a referral marketing strategy offers you. And here’s your plan on how to create one yourself:
Step 1: Find the right people to recommend you
Not everyone who likes your product will be a good referral partner. They are looking for people who sit at the intersection of three things:
You actually use what you sell. Someone who has been a customer for two years and knows your product inside and out will write about it differently than someone who signed up last week. Real experience shows.
You have access to your audience. This could be a blog, a YouTube channel, an email list, or just a strong network in your industry. Size matters less than relevance.
You are motivated. Some people love to share good finds. Others need a financial reason. Either is fine – you just need to know which one you’re working with.
Examples of great referral partners
Let’s say you run one Online course platform. Your ideal recommenders might look like this:
- The course creation blogger: She writes tutorials on setting up and launching online courses. Your readers are literally your target audience.
- The satisfied customer became a consultant: He used your platform to build his own course, now he’s helping other trainers do the same. Every customer is a potential referral.
- The YouTube Reviewer: It carries out complete software solutions for developers. A single video could generate traffic for years.
- The industry podcast host: He interviews people in your space every week. A mention on his show reaches thousands.
Think about where your potential customers are already, what they are reading, who they are listening to. These are the people you want to recommend.
Step 2: Get your incentives right
The quickest way to kill a referral program is to offer an incentive that no one cares about.
I’ve seen companies offer $5 gift cards for referrals that take hours to generate. It’s offensive, even if it’s not intended. The ratio of effort to reward must make sense.
Cash commissions
For serious affiliates (bloggers, YouTubers, consultants who consider referrals as part of their income), cash is king. A percentage of sales (typically 20-30%) tends to work better than flat fees, especially for higher priced products.
If your product costs $299 per year, a flat commission of $15 seems disappointing. But 25%? That’s $75 per sale, which adds up quickly if someone is sending consistent traffic.
Recurring commissions
This is where things get interesting for subscription companies. If your referrer receives a discount not only on the first sale but also on every renewal, they have an incentive to refer you customers who will remain loyal to you.
A one-time commission of $50 could get someone’s attention. But $50 now plus $50 next year plus $50 the year after that? This creates loyalty on both sides.
The graduated approach
I’ve seen one structure work really well: create affiliate partners at a base commission rate and then increase it as they prove themselves. For 10 sales, your rate increases from 20% to 25%. When you reach 50, you’re at 30%.
This rewards your best affiliates and gives new affiliates something to aspire to.
Step 3: Remove any potential barriers to sharing
Someone decides to recommend you. What happens next will determine whether they actually make it through.
If they have to email you to get a link, wait for a response, figure out how to use it, and hope it gets tracked properly, most people won’t mind. The process must be immediate and obvious.
Give them a dashboard
Your affiliates should be able to log in, see their stats, get a link and continue advertising. Everything in one place. Click, copy, done.
The dashboard should show them what matters to them: clicks, conversions, commissions earned, payment history. Real time, not “updated every 24 hours”.
Deploy ready-made assets
Not everyone is a designer. Providing your partners with sophisticated banners, social graphics, and even email templates that they can customize will eliminate the “I don’t know what to say” barrier.
I keep a library of creative assets organized by campaign in drift kings media. New product launch? Here are the banners. Seasonal sales? Here is the email copy. Partners grab what they need and leave.
Make the rules crystal clear
When are commissions paid? How long is the cookie duration? Are there any restrictions on how they can advertise?
Write an agreement that is clear and fair to all parties.
Step 4: Track what actually happens
Running a referral program without proper tracking is like running ads without analytics. You guess.
You need to know:
- Clicks: How many people click on these referral links?
- Conversions: How many clicks turned into actual sales?
- Performance by affiliate: Who is sending traffic? Who converts? Who doesn’t do anything at all?
- Commission amounts: What do you owe, to whom and when?
Real time matters
If a partner sends an email on Tuesday and doesn’t see the results until Thursday, it’s frustrating. You want to know straight away: Did it work? Should I send a follow-up? What resonates?
Real-time reporting keeps affiliates engaged and helps you spot trends as they arise.
Watch out for scams
This is the uncomfortable part that no one wants to talk about. Not every recommendation is legitimate.
Self-referrals (using your own link to get a discount), suspicious click patterns, conversions from unsafe sources – it all adds up.
Identifying a problem early will save you money and unpleasant conversations later.
Good fraud detection automatically detects unusual activity: sudden spikes in conversions, self-referral attempts, traffic from suspicious sources. They check, check if necessary and make a call before the money runs out.
Step 5: Pay people on time, every time
This is where many companies lose the trust of their partners.
Someone earns a commission in January. February passes. March passes. They send an email asking what happened. They strive to find out. You are annoyed. The relationship deteriorates.
Set a schedule and stick to it. Monthly is standard. Clearly announce the payout date (“Commissions are paid by the 15th of each month for the previous month’s sales”) and meet it every time.
Make withdrawals easy
PayPal works for most partners. It’s fast, widely used and doesn’t require collecting bank account details. If you can make withdrawals with one click (review list, approve, done), you’ll spend a lot less time managing them.
Be open about thresholds
If you don’t pay out until someone reaches $50 commission, tell them before they sign up. After making $40, it’s frustrating to find out you don’t have access to it yet.
Step 6: Treat partners like partners
The best referral programs feel like partnerships, not transactions.
Your partners talk about you, write about you, and put their reputations on the line by recommending you. This earns more than a monthly commission check.
Keep them updated
Introducing a new feature? Inform your partners first. Upcoming sale? Notify them in advance so they can prepare content. Changes to the commission structure? Communicate it before it happens, not after.
I send my partners a short monthly update: what’s new, what’s coming, who are the top performers and what promotions can they take advantage of? It takes an hour to write and keeps the entire program busy.
Give them exclusive offers
Let your partners offer something their target audience can’t get elsewhere. This could be:
- a discount code,
- a bonus resource,
- Early access to a new feature.
It makes your advertising more valuable and strengthens your relationship with your readers.
Connect with your email marketing
I integrate my affiliate list with my email platform (in my case ActiveCampaign, but Mailchimp, Kit and others also work). This allows me to segment by performance level, send targeted updates, and automate welcome sequences for new signups.
It’s better than maintaining a separate table.
Step 7: Double your performance
Affiliate performance follows a power law. A small number of referrers will make up most of your results. Treat them accordingly.
Identify them early
Review your reports monthly. Who sends regular traffic? Who converts well? Who has been quiet for six months?
Reward performance
Promote top affiliates to higher commission levels. Offer them exclusive offers. Reach out personally and ask what would help them advertise more effectively. Sometimes it’s as simple as faster answers to their questions.
Build real relationships
Your top five affiliates probably generate more revenue than your bottom fifty combined. Get to know them. Check in quarterly. Ask about their business. Find ways to collaborate that go beyond the standard affiliate relationship.
- Joint webinars,
- guest posts,
- Product feedback sessions
Make them feel invested in your success!
Final thoughts
Recommendation marketing works because it’s based on something real: people recommending things they actually like to other people who might need them.
Your job is to make that easy. Give people a reason to share, an easy way to do so, and fair compensation if it works.
The companies that do this well end up with a marketing channel that strengthens over time. The blogger who wrote about you last year? Traffic is still being sent. That partner who included you in their course recommendations? Every new student sees it.
It is not instantaneous and it is not passive. But it could be the most sustainable growth strategy you can develop.
Are you ready to create your own referral program?
drift kings media offers you everything covered in this post:
- the affiliate dashboard,
- real-time tracking,
- fraud detection,
- Payouts with one click,
- and email marketing integrations
All in a single WordPress plugin. No middleman fees and no third-party platform to manage. Only your program, on your website, under your control.
Become an drift kings media today!
Add a complete affiliate program to your WordPress site in minutes.
What experiences have you had with referral programs – as a business owner or as an affiliate? I’d love to hear what worked (or didn’t) in the comments.
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