To be successful, small businesses need to not only attract new customers but also encourage current customers to keep coming back.
Your independent community pharmacy has a unique opportunity to accomplish both of these goals by implementing a referral program.
Because your pharmacy offers the best possible customer experience, the relationships you establish with patients are built on trust.
And when patients trust your brand, they’re already more likely to refer friends and family members. Offering them an incentive to do so may just seal the deal.
Consider these five benefits of offering a referral program at your independent pharmacy.
1. Increase referrals
Many people won’t refer a business unless it benefits them in some way.
A referral program offers an incentive to patients who refer someone to your pharmacy, increasing the likelihood they’ll recommend your business to friends and family members.
For example, offer patients a 10 percent discount on their next over-the-counter purchase when a new patient they referred visits your pharmacy.
2. Create loyal patients
Referral programs provide patients with a greater incentive to keep coming back to your pharmacy.
When people are willing to refer friends and family to your business, they become a brand advocate—making them more loyal.
And, the new customers your patients refer are more likely to become loyal patients and generate higher profit margins, according to a study published in the American Marketing Association Journal of Marketing.
3. Generate brand awareness
Most people agree that word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to spread awareness about your brand. This is especially true for small, independently owned businesses like your community pharmacy.
But there are other ways a referral program can help inform people about your business.
For example, you can post about your referral program on social media and encourage your followers to share it. This way, your customers are marketing your referral program—and your business—for you.
Not only will your reach quickly increase, but your pharmacy will attract new patients and receive more referrals.
4. Build stronger relationships
Referral programs create customer engagement, since your customers are choosing to interact with your business and go out of their way to help you be successful.
That level of trust can only strengthen the relationship you have with your patients. The more your patients trust you, the more they will engage with your brand, and the stronger your relationship will become.
5. Market your business more effectively
Traditional marketing is always important, but it typically costs your pharmacy a lot of time and money. You have to identify potential customers and come up with a strategy for how to approach them.
But with a referral program, your current customers are identifying and persuading those potential customers for you.
And, potential patients are going to trust their friends and family members more than traditional advertising, so referrals are often more effective.
Offer a referral program at your pharmacy to attract new patients and increase patient loyalty.
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