Referrals are one of the best ways for businesses, especially new businesses, to get clients. It’s sooo nice to have your friends, connections, and past clients do your marketing for you by telling people about your business.
Yes, we business owners love referrals. But if you’ve been in business for more than a month, you’ve probably noticed that even referrals aren’t perfect.
You start to take referrals off the pedestal when you realize they still require work. Just because someone says “oh, my uncle needs copy/web design/dog sitting” doesn’t mean that’s money in your pocket.
In fact, I would say referrals (although I’ll never say no to a great referral) aren’t my favorite way to get clients. Like any client acquisition tool, there are some serious pros and cons.
Some great pros about referrals:
→ No marketing work on your part. Yay!
→ The person referring them to you is also singing your praises! An interactive testimonial.
→ They are more likely to trust you/have a bias toward you.
But the cons are also there:
→ You have no control over the messaging they’re given.
→ Your network aren’t your marketing department, they could miss essential details about your business.
→ It’s harder to say no to special requests or discounts when you know they’ll report back to the person who referred you to them.
→ They haven’t sought you out, so they might not be actively looking for a solution yet.
In marketing land, all these points are essential in making a sale or having a great experience with a client. Referrals can be a high-risk/high-reward way to get clients, and the risks are definitely substantial.
You’ve probably noticed: A sale isn’t over until it’s over.
The good news is that you can improve the odds of you landing a referral client (and having a great experience with them) by using your website properly.
Let’s take a look at some ways you can use your website to convert more referrals.
1. Provide a great client experience
First off, you want to make sure that the people who are referring clients to you (your current clients) are getting a great experience! The best way to get more referrals is to create genuine fans who need no prodding to sing your praises.
There are a lot of things on your back end, systems, processes, and client communication, that I can’t help you with.
But your website? You can bet you’re in the right place to optimize that thing for your client experience.
Here’s the bottom line: make sure your website answers all the questions your leads and referrals will have.
Timeline? Share it.
Process? Outline it.
Prices? Disclose it.
Think of it this way: when your referral leads land on your website, you need to surpass their expectations.
Maybe your network has encouraged them to reach out to you. Based on the standard for most industries, they might be expecting a simple contact form on a website, maybe your prices, maybe a bit about your business.
Now envision those low expectations, but instead you take them on a whole journey that involves storytelling, empathizing with their emotions, and inspiring them to take action. By the time they’re done reading your website, not only are they convinced they want to hire you, but they’re excited about working with you.
You’ve basically had an entire conversation with them already, which has taken up none of your precious time. Yet, they are still excited about working with you.
2. Optimize your intake form and contact page
Your contact page and intake form are vital parts of the sales process, whether it’s a referral or cold lead.
The sale isn’t done just because they’ve decided to reach out to you! When they land on your contact page, they still have questions.
So make sure your contact page has:
→ An on-brand header (get them excited!)
→ What they can expect after they inquire
→ When they will hear from you
→ If they need to prepare anything
→ A thorough inquiry form
→ Any other FAQs or resources that can help them
You’re going to want to save yourself some headaches by having an intake form that filters out amazing leads from less-than-amazing ones.
So for this reason, make sure your inquiry form asks them:
→ Their name and contact info
→ Why they’re reaching out
→ What services they’re interested in
→ If they’ve checked out your prices
→ Where they heard about you from
That last one is important because if they’re a referral, you’re gonna want to know that! Maybe they came from a great client, or maybe they came from your least favorite client that you accidentally gave a discount to for no reason. You’ll want to know if they expect a similar experience.
3. Answer their questions in your website copy
Ok, right now, imagine your best client has referred their friend to you. What questions would that lead have?
Now imagine your least favorite client has referred someone to you. What questions would they have about booking you?
Hopefully, you’ve been working with some amazing clients, but even the best clients might miss some details that you’ve found are vital to the sales process (considering how many people don’t even know what copywriting is, I’ve definitely found this to be the case.)
I’m not saying you should write your website copy to cater to all your worst leads (ew) but it’s worth considering the gap between how you communicate about your business vs how your clients will communicate about it.
Either way, your website should answer the questions your leads need to know in order to feel confident working with you.
Questions such as:
→ What are your values/style/approach to your work?
→ What’s the benefit of hiring you over your competitors?
→ What is your process like once they become a client?
→ What kind of results can they expect from working with you?
→ What’s the timeline/pricing/deliverables of your different services?
Even for referrals, it’s unlikely they’ll want to get on a discovery call without having a clear idea of these answers. So you can either rely on your contact to educate them, go back and forth via email, or trust that your website answers all the questions they have and more.
People don’t like to be blindsided on discovery calls, so give them all the information they need to make a decision in a friendly and not-overwhelming way.
4. Show additional testimonials or case studies
Now, we all know that word-of-mouth referrals are the most convincing marketing tools, but let’s not rely on our clients and connections to do all the heavy lifting for us.
Showing plenty of testimonials or case studies can help your referrals visualize the results they are going to get once they start working with you.
It’s all about *visualization* and *transformation* for your referral clients. Their friend telling them to hire you isn’t enough to close a sale every time. They need to get a lot out of this engagement, so show them that they will be the next in a long line of people who’ve been successful by working with you.
5. Give them expert-level tips in blog posts
Blogging is a great way to dig deeper into your work and really hammer home that you are an expert.
There are probably some things that your ideal clients are wondering about or looking for that might not fit in your website copy. You can use your blog to answer these questions.
For example, if you’re an interior designer, your website copy will be largely focused on your own skills, processes, and approach.
But your ideal clients may be wondering about paint colors, architects or contractors in the area that are trustworthy, or timeless design trends that fit their lifestyle.
Use your blog to answer those questions so they understand you’re the *real deal*, and they’re honestly going to get so much more out of working with you than just the design work you’ll do for them.
6. Direct them towards an email list
Finally, you probably know that just because someone is referred to you, doesn’t mean they are ready to inquire with you at that minute.
They might be busy with other tasks. They might not be entirely sure that your services are what they need.
Sometimes your referrals may be sent to you via email, social media, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.
Either way, try to get your referrals on your email list!
Your email list is the best way to nurture leads that aren’t ready to buy from you that minute.
Yes, social media is great, but you don’t always have control over what the algorithm chooses to show them. Email marketing has a much higher ROI and can be much more personal.
Get them on your list (either by a cold opt in or lead magnet) and you’ll be well on your way to being besties.
What your website to be perfectly optimized for turning referrals into paying clients?
I know it’s easier said than done to get your website a conversion machine, but I’ve got your back! Custom, conversational website copy has one of the highest ROIs in marketing, so check out your options below.
Check out my copywriting services: Need some conversational copy that is optimized to grow your business and connect with your people? Check out my services here.
Subscribe to my newsletter: Marketing tips, weekly inspiration, and copy direction, all in one not-so-formal newsletter. Subscribe to the wired & inspired newsletter here.
Book a discovery call: Not sure what’s right for your business right now? Let’s have a virtual coffee date.
Follow me on social media if you need more copywriting and marketing tips on your feed.
