Referral marketing is a powerful way to promote your mobile app by encouraging your existing users to share it with their friends, family, and social networks. It can help you increase your app downloads, retention, engagement, and revenue by leveraging the trust and influence of your users.
But how can you create a successful referral marketing campaign for your mobile app? What are the best practices and strategies to make your app go viral and generate word-of-mouth buzz? In this article, we will answer these questions and provide you with some examples and tips to get started.
What is referral marketing?
Referral marketing is a type of marketing that relies on word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied customers to attract new customers. It is also known as word-of-mouth marketing or viral marketing.
Referral marketing works because people tend to trust the opinions and experiences of their peers more than any other source of information. According to a survey by Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. Moreover, referred customers tend to have higher lifetime value, loyalty, and retention than non-referred customers.
Referral marketing can take many forms, such as:
Offering incentives or rewards to users who invite their friends to download or use your app
Creating a referral program or scheme that allows users to earn points, credits, discounts, or freebies for every successful referral
Providing users with unique referral codes or links that they can share with their contacts via email, SMS, social media, or other channels
Encouraging users to rate, review, or share your app on app stores, blogs, forums, or other platforms
Creating viral content or campaigns that users can easily share with their networks, such as videos, memes, quizzes, contests, or challenges
Why is referral marketing effective for mobile apps?
Referral marketing is especially effective for mobile apps because:
Mobile apps are easy to share and download. Users can simply tap on a referral link or code and install your app in seconds.
Mobile apps are personal and social. Users can access your app anytime and anywhere and interact with their friends, family, or other users through your app.
Mobile apps are engaging and addictive. Users can spend hours on your app, enjoying its features, content, or games, and become loyal fans or advocates of your app.
Mobile apps are measurable and trackable. You can use analytics tools or platforms to monitor and optimize your referral marketing performance, such as the number of referrals, downloads, conversions, retention, revenue, and ROI.
How do you create a referral marketing campaign for your mobile app?
To create a successful referral marketing campaign for your mobile app, you need to follow these steps:
Define your goals and metrics. What do you want to achieve with your referral marketing campaign? How will you measure your success? For example, your goals could be to increase your app downloads, retention, engagement, or revenue. Your metrics could be the number of referrals, downloads, conversions, retention rate, engagement rate, revenue, or ROI.
Identify your target audience and segments. Who are your ideal users and referrers? What are their demographics, preferences, behaviors, and motivations? How can you segment them based on their characteristics, interests, or needs? For example, you could segment your users based on their age, gender, location, device, usage frequency, or purchase history.
Design your referral program or scheme. What are the benefits and incentives for your users and referrers? How will you communicate and deliver them? How will you make your referral program or scheme easy, fun, and rewarding for your users and referrers? For example, you could offer cash, credits, discounts, freebies, or gamification elements to your users and referrers. You could also use email, push notifications, in-app messages, or social media to inform and remind them about your referral program or scheme.
Create your referral content or campaign. What are the messages and visuals that you want to use to promote your referral program or scheme? How will you make your referral content or campaign appealing, relevant, and shareable for your users and referrers? How will you distribute and amplify your referral content or campaign across different channels and platforms? For example, you could create videos, memes, quizzes, contests, or challenges that showcase your app’s value proposition, features, or benefits. You could also use app stores, blogs, forums, or social media to spread and boost your referral content or campaign.
Test and optimize your referral marketing campaign. How will you test and optimize your referral marketing campaign to improve your results and ROI? How will you collect and analyze your data and feedback? How will you identify and solve your problems or challenges? For example, you could use A/B testing, surveys, or interviews to test and optimize your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms. You could also use analytics tools or platforms to track and measure your referral marketing performance and ROI.
Examples of referral marketing campaigns for mobile apps
Here are some examples of successful referral marketing campaigns for mobile apps:
Dropbox: Dropbox is a cloud storage and file-sharing service that offers users extra space for every successful referral. Users can invite their friends to join Dropbox via email, social media, or other channels and earn up to 16 GB of free space. Dropbox also rewards the referred friends with 500 MB of free space. Dropbox’s referral program helped the company grow from 100,000 to 4 million users in 15 months.
Uber: Uber is a ride-hailing and delivery service that offers users discounts or credits for every successful referral. Users can share their unique referral codes or links with their contacts via email, SMS, social media, or other channels and earn up to $20 in credits. Uber also gives the referred friends up to $20 off their first ride or order. Uber’s referral program helped the company expand to over 60 countries and 600 cities worldwide.
Airbnb: Airbnb is a travel and hospitality service that offers users cash or credits for every successful referral. Users can invite their friends to join Airbnb via email, social media, or other channels and earn up to $30 in credits. Airbnb also gives the referred friends up to $40 off their first booking or $15 off their first experience. Airbnb’s referral program helped the company grow from 50,000 to 10 million users in four years.
Tips for referral marketing campaigns for mobile apps
Here are some tips to help you create effective referral marketing campaigns for your mobile apps:
Know your users and referrers. Understand their needs, wants, and pain points, and tailor your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms accordingly.
Offer value and incentives. Provide your users and referrers with clear and compelling benefits and rewards for referring your app, and make them easy to claim and redeem.
Make it simple and fun. Make your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms easy to use and share, and add some fun and excitement to the process.
Be transparent and trustworthy. Be honest and clear about your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms, and avoid any misleading or spammy practices.
Encourage and remind. Encourage and remind your users and referrers to participate and share your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms, and show your appreciation and recognition.
Test and optimize. Test and optimize your referral program or scheme, content or campaign, and channels or platforms, and measure your results and ROI.
Conclusion
Referral marketing is a powerful way to leverage word-of-mouth and virality for your mobile app. By following the steps, examples, and tips in this article, you can create a successful referral marketing campaign for your mobile app and boost your app downloads, retention, engagement, and revenue.
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