The more flexibility you have with a referral platform, the more you can tailor the customer experience to fit your brand. This is why Friendbuy now offers stackable account credit in addition to supporting coupon code-based discounts and third-party gift cards. Depending on the types of products you sell and the ways your customers shop, offering account credit for referral conversions could be exactly what you need to inspire increased sharing.
If you use Shopify Plus, install the custom app to enable the account credit feature. Friendbuy seamlessly integrates with your website and stores account credit for your advocates when a friend makes a referral purchase. When an advocate logs in to their account page, they can see how much account credit they have accumulated from successful conversions, which can be a strong motivator for sharing with even more friends.
On the front end, customers can redeem account credit on the checkout page, streamlining the process for making repeat purchases. The customer experience team can also make manual adjustments as needed in the back end of the platform.
Instead of receiving 10 single-use, non-stackable $10 coupons, and having to make 10 separate purchases with those coupon codes, account credit allows customers to save up for a product they really want. Some of the benefits you might get from incorporating account credit into your referral marketing strategy include:
You used to be limited to only discounts and third-party gift cards, but now you can reward advocates with account credit to help them build toward a larger purchase!
The account credit dashboard allows customers to log into their account on a retailer’s site and view how much credit they've earned. On the checkout page, they can easily redeem that credit.
Your customer service team can manually adjust credits for any customer issues that come up online, on the phone, or in the store. This is an easy way to surprise and delight your customers and encourage another purchase.
Underwear brand Thinx has a “Give $10, Get $10” referral incentive that allows advocates to stack and save. With prices in the range of $24 and up, one successful conversion is not enough to make another full purchase. However, when advocates refer multiple friends, they can accumulate store credit, often allowing them to make a purchase with an even higher dollar value than they would have done without the store credit.
“With the help of Friendbuy's new platform, our referral program has doubled in size! Now our customers are able to stack their credits, which means they can make even bigger purchases and are motivated to bring in even more new customers to Thinx Inc. This has widened our reach dramatically—highly recommend!” —Brendan Hastings, VP Engineering & Digital Product, Thinx Inc.
Keto treats brand ChocZero takes a similar approach with their referral program. With its “Give $10, Get $10” offer, advocates get $10 when friends make their first purchase of $20 or more. There’s no limit to the number of incentives an advocate can earn, allowing them to stack savings and sweets.
Stackable account credit is a great way to keep your advocates engaged and encourage them to keep sharing. It is an especially effective approach for subscription businesses and those that have a lot of repeat sales because the more account credit an advocate can generate, the more they will continue to shop at your store.
Of course, account credit isn’t the only incentive you can offer to your advocates and their friends. Friendbuy gives you total flexibility to create campaigns around incentives such as coupon codes, free products, gift cards, cash, and more. If you’d like to learn more about the strategies you can use to create a winning referral program, check out our free resource, Referral Marketing: The Essential Guide.