Benchmark Report. Referral Marketing: Sponsored By: 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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1 Benchmark Report Referral Marketing: Sponsored By: 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Introduction 19 Referral Marketing Challenges 4 Executive Summary 20 Barriers to Program Implementation 6 The State of Referral Marketing 22 Analyst Bottom Line 8 Acquiring New Customers 24 Acknowledgements 12 Methods of Acquiring New Customers 25 About RewardStream 14 Rewarding New Customers 26 About Demand Metric 17 Referral Program Performance 27 Appendix Survey Background

3 INTRODUCTION Any sales representative, demand generation manager or marketer will acknowledge that the very best source of highly qualified leads come from referrals. Having customers that become advocates by referring prospects is perhaps the highest form of praise for a vendor. Customers who refer prospects do so because they have confidence in the vendor and its solution. That customer also trusts that the vendor will take good care of the referred prospect and therefore not cause any reputational damage to the referrer. The act of referring represents that the big pieces of the value equation are in place and working for the customer who refers, and as such, a referral provides extraordinary validation for the vendor, and tremendous credibility with the prospect. Given the fact that referrals occupy the top of the qualified lead pyramid, it is a bit surprising that so many companies simply allow referrals to evolve and occur organically. This is probably the result of a perspective about referrals that they can only occur this way, that they re already occurring at the greatest possible frequency, or that they are simply a force of nature that defies management. So while every sales representative, demand generation manager or marketer longs for referrals the most effective method of acquiring new customers slightly over half of organizations in this study have a referral program in place. In a study sponsored by RewardStream, Demand Metric conducted a survey to find about the current state of referral marketing. The study s goal was to understand the interest in and success with referral marketing, gaining insights from which to derive best practices. 3

4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study s participants were primarily marketers in both B2B and B2C organizations. Participants represented a wide range of industry affiliations and are with companies whose total employment ranges from less than 25 to more than 15,000 employees. Responses were collected from those who reported having a referral marketing program and those that did not. For those that did report having a program, the study investigated its parameters and effectiveness. For those that reported not having a referral marketing program, the reasons why were investigated, along with future plans for implementing one. The analysis of this study s data provides these key findings about the current state of referral marketing: 88% of study participants agree or strongly agree that referral marketing is effective. 57% of participants have a program for referral marketing in place. Most of these programs were designed and are managed internally. Just 7% of companies doing referral marketing are using an automated referral platform from a vendor. Study participants rank referral marketing as the most effective means of acquiring new customers, followed by events, , digital advertising and social media, respectively. Over one-fourth of organizations with referral marketing programs in this study report acquiring 30% or more of their new customers through referral marketing. 4

5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Over three-fourths of companies doing referral marketing are using multiple types of incentives with their programs. 71% of study participants rate referral marketing as one of the lowest in terms of cost per new customer acquisition. This report details the results and insights from the analysis of the study data. For more detail on the survey participants, please refer to the Appendix. 5

6 THE STATE OF REFERRAL MARKETING Figure 1: 88% of participating organizations agree or strongly agree that referral marketing is effective for new customer acquisition. 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Perception of Referral Marketing Effectiveness 44% 44% 11% 0% 1% Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree How is referral marketing perceived as a method of acquiring new customers, and how prevalent are referral marketing programs? Figure 1 summarizes the results of this statement to which all study participants, regardless of whether they had a referral marketing program, were asked to indicate their level of agreement: I believe that referral marketing is an excellent method of acquiring new customers. With such strong agreement that referral marketing is an excellent new customer acquisition method, it seems logical to assume that a vast majority of organizations would therefore have some sort of referral marketing program in place. Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 6

7 THE STATE OF REFERRAL MARKETING Figure 2 shows this current state of referral marketing programs. Figure 2: Just over half of surveyed organizations have a referral marketing program. Program Percentage No Referral Marketing Program 43% Referral Marketing Program Exists At Some Level 57% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 Of the 57% of study participants that have a referral marketing program, almost all report that these programs were designed and are managed using internal resources. Even when looking at the 43% of study participants that currently have no referral marketing program, they still registered 81% agreement with the statement summarized in Figure 1: I believe that referral marketing is an excellent method of acquiring new customers. The study did explore the reasons why this group, whose members express such enthusiasm for referral marketing, don t have a program. These reasons are detailed later in this report. 7

8 ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS Figure 3: 78% of participating organizations rate new customer acquisition a success. 60% 40% Success Acquiring New Customers 55% Our study looked at two key success factors for referral marketing programs: how successful they are at helping acquire new customers, and how successful they are at rewarding existing customers. The latter outcome certainly has some influence on the former outcome. We begin our analysis of referral marketing effectiveness by looking at how successful the strategy is for acquiring new customers. 20% 0% 23% 15% 0% 7% Very unsuccessful Unsuccessful Neutral Successful Very successful Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 The study participants who reported having a referral marketing initiative were asked to rate the success of their programs at acquiring new customers. Figure 3 summarizes the result of this query. Referral Marketing is clearly a success when it comes to acquiring new customers, with over three-fourths indicating so in this study s survey, and just 7% rating the strategy Unsuccessful. 8

9 ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS Figure 4: Mixed B2B/B2C organizations report the highest overall success and failure of referral marketing in acquiring new customers. 9 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Success Acquiring Customers by Company Type B2B B2C Mixed 17% 17% 2% 12% 0% 0% 0% 7% 0% 56% 48% 76% 28% 25% 12% Very unsuccessful Unsuccessful Neutral Successful Very successful Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 With a baseline of success established and understood, our study then sought to look at success across other dimensions, such as type of company. Figure 4 displays this comparison. Many presume that referral marketing is primarily a strategy for B2C organizations, but B2B and mixed B2B/B2C organizations are having equal or better success with referral marketing. When viewing this study s data by organization type, all types of organizations report good success, with mixed B2B/B2C organizations reporting the highest overall success (88%) acquiring new customers. Curiously, these same organizations also report the highest level of failure, with 12% reporting their efforts Unsuccessful when it comes to acquiring new customers through referral marketing. There was no middle ground here, with none of these mixed type organizations selecting Neutral as a rating. This study did not collect further data to explore this outcome more fully, so the reasons why are matters of speculation.

10 ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS When looking at the success of acquiring new customers via referral marketing by company size, headcount was used to determine company size. Large companies report the most success acquiring new customers through referral programs, with none of them reporting that their efforts in this area are Unsuccessful. Figure 5 summarizes the comparison of new customer acquisition through referral marketing by company size. Figure 5: Large organizations report the highest success acquiring new customers through Referral Marketing. Company Size (Headcount) Successful Neutral Unsuccessful Small (100 or fewer employees) 83% 13% 4% Medium (101 to 1,000 employees) 74% 15% 11% Large (Over 1,000 employees) 87% 13% 0% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 10

11 ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS Figure 6: Over one-fourth of referral programs in this study are responsible for generating over 30% of their organizations new customers. 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% % of New Customers From Referral Programs 37% 35% 28% 10% or less 11 to 30% Over 30% When it comes to acquiring new customers, what percent of the news customers that organizations gain are attributable to referral marketing efforts? Figure 6 displays this information. As expected, this data from Figure 6 about the volume of new customers coming from referral programs relates to the data from Figure 3 about program success: Of the study subjects that are generating over 30% of their new customer through referral programs, 97% also report their programs are successful or very successful. While this relationship seems intuitive, it s always comforting to have the data confirm the supposition. Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 11

12 METHODS OF ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS Referral marketing is one of many methods that companies use to acquire new customers. What other methods are in use, and how do they compare in terms of effectiveness? The study survey asked all participants regardless of whether they had a referral marketing program to indicate which methods are in use and to rate their effectiveness. Figure 7 compares the top five methods in terms of usage and effectiveness. Figure 7: Referral programs rank fifth in terms of usage and first in terms of effectiveness. Method Usage Rank / % in Use Effectiveness Rank / % Effective Social media 1 st / 95% 5 th /50% 2 nd / 90% 3 rd / 62% Events 3 rd / 89% 2 nd / 63% Digital advertising 4 th / 84% 4 th / 56% Referral programs 5 th / 83% 1 st / 68% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 12

13 METHODS OF ACQUIRING NEW CUSTOMERS The ranking of the top five methods for acquiring new customers (Figure 7) makes it obvious that which is easy to miss without looking at the data this way: the top and bottom methods on this list should be reversed, based on effectiveness data. Social media, the most widely used method, ranks fifth in effectiveness, while referral programs, ranked first in effectiveness, is fifth in terms of usage. It seems intuitive that the usage ranking should match the effectiveness ranking. One possible explanation for why it doesn t is a lack of metrics around the performance of these methods. Further analysis of the methods data in Figure 7 yielded two correlations worth noting. Correlation means that two things occur together; it does not mean that one thing caused the other. In this case, referral marketing programs that are successful or very successful in acquiring new customers (Figure 3) are likely to also use digital advertising and events as methods to acquire new customers. The presence of these three new customer acquisition methods together referral marketing programs, digital advertising and events seems to have a symbiotic relationship when it comes to success at acquiring new customers. 13

14 REWARDING EXISTING CUSTOMERS Figure 8: 56% of study participants rate rewarding existing customers a success. 50% Success Rewarding Existing Customers 40% 30% 34% 40% If acquiring new customers is one side of the referral marketing coin, then rewarding existing customers is the other. How successful are the efforts of organizations with referral marketing programs in rewarding their existing customers for their referral activity? 20% Figure 8 summarizes their success. 10% 0% 16% 9% 1% Very unsuccessful Unsuccessful Neutral Successful Very successful Success in rewarding existing customers is 22% lower than success acquiring new customers (Figure 3). This imbalance has implications, as success with one correlates to success with the other. Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 14

15 REWARDING EXISTING CUSTOMERS Organizations cannot realize the full potential of new customer acquisition through referral programs unless they are having on par success rewarding existing customers. Figure 9 summarizes who is rewarded through referral programs. Figure 9: Referring party and both referred and referring party reward strategies are in equal use. Who is Rewarded Percentage Referring Party Only 47% Referred Party Only 6% Both Parties 47% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 For the reward strategies presented in Figure 9, there was no appreciable difference in which of the top two performed better at creating success in acquiring new customers. As expected the both parties reward strategy produced much greater success at rewarding existing customers, compared to rewarding only the referring party. While the study didn t provide the reasons for the difference, logic can. Existing customers are rewarded in both strategies, but since they are referring those with whom they have some relationship, it s natural to expect referrers to feel some satisfaction for referral activity. They receive acknowledgement from the vendor through the program, and they also receive the gratitude of the referred party for helping them address a need. For this reason, an important part of the referral process is closing the communication loop with the referring party to ensure they know of their involvement in helping the vendor acquire a new and satisfied customer.

16 REWARDING EXISTING CUSTOMERS Figure 10: Free merchandise and account credit are the top referral marketing program incentives. Referral Marketing Program Incentives What incentives are organizations with referral marketing programs using? Free gift(s)/merchandise Account credit Discount paper coupons Discount E-coupons Prepaid Visa/Mastercard gift card 67% 65% 57% 54% 53% Figure 10 summarizes the study s inquiry on this matter. Comments provided by survey participants to describe the Other incentives response option in Figure 10 include: Cash Charity contributions Free assessments 16 Other incentives 43% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 Mailed checks Free tickets to vendor networking events Just 22% of study participants are using a single type of incentive. Perhaps surprisingly, 38% are using five or more of the incentive types listed in Figure 10.

17 REFERRAL PROGRAM PERFORMANCE Figure 11: Referral marketing programs are producing customers with highly desirable attributes, leading with profitability. Customer Types Produced by Referral Programs Profitable customers 74% The results of this study have already proven the effectiveness of referral marketing programs in acquiring new customers and rewarding existing ones. Satisfied customers Loyal customers 69% 66% What are the characteristics of the new customers produced by referral marketing? The study asked participants to provide input across four important dimensions of customer relationships: profitability, loyalty, satisfaction and advocacy. Figure 11 shows the results of this analysis. Customers who become advocates 58% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Almost three-fourths of this study s participants agreed or strongly agreed that referral marketing programs produce profitable customers. While each of the attributed listed in Figure 11 are highly desirable, profitability heads the list for most organizations. Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 17

18 REFERRAL PROGRAM PERFORMANCE Figure 12: Over two-thirds of study participants report that referral marketing programs are the lowest or among the lowest in Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) compared to other programs. Relative CPA of Referral Marketing Programs Lowest CPA of all programs Among the lowest CPA of all programs CPA is equal to other programs Slightly higher CPA than other programs Highest CPA compared to other programs 39% 32% 19% 8% 2% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 For any customer acquisition strategy, there is a cost. Marketers are increasingly using Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) as a metric for comparing various acquisition methods. While this isn t the only metric a marketer should monitor, it is an important one for grasping if customer acquisition is occurring affordably. It is conceivable that the strategy that produces the most profitable customers is also the least affordable one. How does the CPA of referral marketing programs compare to other programs? Figure 12 illustrates the results of this comparison. An effective means of producing profitable customers, referral marketing programs also delivers them at a CPA that is among the lowest compared to other types of programs, a best of both worlds outcome. 18

19 REFERRAL MARKETING CHALLENGES Figure 13: Getting participation in referral programs is the greatest challenge. Referral Marketing Program Challenges Getting participation Creating program awareness Tracking verbal referrals Converting referrals to customers Measuring program results Analyzing program results Integration for tracking reward redemption Managing reward fulfillment Other challenges 83% 71% 71% 62% 61% 60% 57% 33% 21% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% The compelling business case for referral marketing programs that this study makes does not mean there are no challenges to having such a program. There are several challenges to having success with referral marketing programs, and they are described in Figure 13. The top two challenges getting participation and creating program awareness are most definitely related. Success with the latter would alleviate the former. Since most of the referral programs in this study were designed and managed with internal resources, three of these challenges measuring program results, analyzing program results and integration with back-office systems for tracking reward redemptions are probably unique to homegrown referral marketing programs. Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 19

20 BARRIERS TO PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION Figure 14: A lack of IT resources is the most common barrier to launching a referral program. Barriers to Launching a Referral Program Lack of IT resources Lack of budget Lack of marketing resources Inability to show ROI of referral marketing Lack of executive support Lack of confidence in referral marketing Lack of referral marketing expertise Other barriers 35% 32% 31% 28% 21% 17% 16% 8% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Referral Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=215 As Figure 2 revealed, 43% of participants in this study do not have a referral marketing program. Those participants were asked to provide the reasons why they don t, and they are summarized in Figure 14. With today s hosted referral marketing solutions, it seems unlikely that a lack of IT resources is the most common barrier to launching a referral marketing program. And yet, it occupies the top of this list. This barrier is probably more the result of a perception problem than an actual lack of IT resources. Ranked in the bottom half of the barriers list is Lack of executive support. Since most executives support referral marketing programs, it seems reasonable to expect that they would also have the authority to deal with the resource and budget constraints that occupy the top three spots of this barriers ranking. 20

21 BARRIERS TO PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION The truth about barriers is probably this: While they are real, they re not experienced by even a majority of participants in this study. This leads to the conclusion that the biggest reason more organizations don t implement referral marketing programs is because it just isn t a high enough priority. This study reveals that referral marketing is very important, but it doesn t seem very urgent to the companies that don t have one, even while they acknowledge the perceived benefits. 21

22 ANALYST BOTTOM LINE What marketers and sales people have long believed about referral business is true: it produces profitable, satisfied customers at a low cost per acquisition. It ranks at the top of the list of effective methods for acquiring new customers. And yet, only 20% of organizations in this study that don t already have a program in place have concrete plans to implement one by the end of The information in this study should provide the compelling evidence any organization needs to justify the business case for a referral marketing program. Given the performance this study reveals about referral marketing, companies that don t already have a program should make implementing one a priority. Companies with neglected programs should invest in rehabilitation efforts. As they do, they should follow these key principles: Keep your balance. Referral marketing programs are an excellent means of acquiring new customers, and they also reward existing ones. Keep in mind that these two goals are different sides of the same coin. Make sure your program accomplishes both at least equally well, and err on the side of rewarding existing customers, because if you do, you ll have success acquiring new ones. Don t be a one-trick incentives pony. More than three-fourths of the organizations in this study with referral programs use at least two types of incentives, and over one-third uses five or more. Plan to use more than one, and ideally, do some customer research to find out which types have the greatest appeal. 22

23 ANALYST BOTTOM LINE Market your program. Marketers often fail to apply their skills, abilities and creativity to their own programs. Treat your referral program like anything else you re promoting on behalf of the company. Develop a campaign to create awareness and generate participation. Don t expect that simply because a referral program exists, customers will find out about it and willingly join up. You have to sell them on the benefits, and fortunately, there are plenty. Play the executive card. For most organizations in this study, getting executive support for referral marketing doesn t seem to be an issue. Yet plenty of resource constraints are. Leverage that executive support to muster the IT support, budget and marketing resources needed to launch or revive your program. Having customers who become advocates is the pinnacle of the customer-vendor relationship. Despite how happy and satisfied your customers are, however, an organic, passive stance to referrals will never produce referrals from all customers who are willing. It s necessary to provide a catalyst for customer advocacy through a good referral marketing program. The good news is that they work well and produce profitable, satisfied customers at an enviable cost per acquisition. With the availability of hosted solutions, organizations that don t currently have a program are not far from a great one. With a reasonable investment, they can quickly become like the study participant who, when asked in this survey what could improve the success of their program, responded: Nothing, we are nailing it. 23

24 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Demand Metric is grateful to RewardStream for sponsoring this benchmarking study and for those participants that took the time to provide their input to it. Demand Metric acknowledges the advice and assistance of Dr. Tom Brown, Noble Foundation Chair in Marketing Strategy and Professor of Marketing in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University, in facilitating and providing counsel on the analysis of these survey results. 24

25 ABOUT REWARDSTREAM RewardStream is the foremost authority on referral marketing, combining an innovative blend of marketing insight and proprietary technology to design and manage referral programs for some of the world s most prestigious brands. The company was founded in 1999, operates in 39 counties globally and processes more than 20 million referrals. For more information, please visit 25

26 ABOUT DEMAND METRIC Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 50,000 marketing professionals and consultants in 75 countries. Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about their work with authority and conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence, boosting the respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed. To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: 26

27 APPENDIX SURVEY BACKGROUND This Demand Metric Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of October 4, 2014 through October 22, During this period, 302 responses were collected, 215 of which were complete enough for inclusion in the analysis. The data was analyzed using SPSS to ensure the statistical validity of the findings. The representativeness of these results depends on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey data is used for comparison or guidance. Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the data: # of Employees: 25 or fewer (38%) 26 to 100 (16%) 101 to 500 (19%) 501 to 1,000 (11%) Over 1,000 (16%) Type of Organization: Mostly or entirely B2B (55%) Mostly or entirely B2C (27%) Blend of B2B/B2C (18%) Primary Role of Respondent: President, CEO or Owner (19%) Marketing (56%) Sales (10%) Other (15%) # of Customers/Members/Subscribers Served: 1,000 or fewer (45%) 1,001 to 5,000 (18%) 5,001 to 50,000 (16%) More than 50,000 (21%) 27

28 Benchmark Report For more information, visit us at: Demand Metric Research Corporation 562 Wellington Street London, ON, Canada N6A 3R Demand Metric Research Corporation Demand All Rights Metric Reserved. Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.