How Moving Businesses Can Generate More Referrals
When it comes to generating leads for your moving business, referrals are the gold standard. Customers want to know movers will show up on time, treat their belongings with care, and won’t run off with their money.
For long-established brands, referrals come naturally. For newer brands, however, convincing customers to refer your services can be challenging. So how can you turn satisfied customers into social proof and start growing your moving company’s reputation? Check out these tips from Justork Lifestyle.
Why you can’t rely on organic word-of-mouth marketing
Customers put a lot of stock into word-of-mouth referrals. When a recommendation comes from a trusted source — whether online or off — nine out of ten customers are more likely to choose your brand.
Traditional word-of-mouth marketing is organic. After an outstanding experience, customers tell a friend or leave an online review, and the universe takes it from there.
There’s one big problem with traditional word-of-mouth marketing: it’s slow. As a growing business, you don’t have time to wait around for your following to grow organically.
Referrals beat traditional word-of-mouth marketing
Referral programs are a proactive approach to word-of-mouth marketing. Referral programs generate the social proof that today’s customers want at a much faster pace than traditional methods. Here’s how to start generating referrals for your moving business:
Winning referral strategies for moving companies
1. Deliver exceptional customer service
Superior customer service is the backbone of any successful referral program. Customers want to feel respected, understood, and at ease leaving their belongings in your company’s hands. Maintain professionalism throughout the moving process with clear communication, a uniform appearance, and attention to customer service.
2. Cross-promote with local businesses
Partnering with real estate agents, office buildings, apartment complexes, storage facilities, and other complementary businesses for cross-promotion is a low-cost way to reach targeted moving leads. Ask local businesses if you can put business cards in their office and include a QR code with a special offer for your mutual audience. Vendors are another cross-promotion opportunity. Supply vendors with business cards as an easy way to recommend your moving services and do the same for their businesses.
3. Ask satisfied customers for reviews
Online reviews are an excellent form of social proof but it’s not enough to have one or two positive reviews. The more authentic reviews your business has, the more customers trust it. More reviews also increase your company’s visibility in online search results.
The trick to getting more customer reviews? Make it as easy and seamless as possible. After a positive experience, send an email thanking customers for their business and ask them to leave a review. An embedded link to a review site lets satisfied customers rate your business in just a few clicks. Take it a step further and send company swag like cool T-shirts, a baseball cap or a few pens.
4. Add a referral form to your website
A reviews page on your website is another strategy to simplify the review process and direct customers to your preferred websites for online reviews. In addition to reviews, add a form where customers can refer a friend.
5. Incentivize customer referrals
Referral programs work best when customers are rewarded for their efforts. The best rewards for infrequent purchases like moving services are cash, swag, or gift cards. Donations or discounts preferred by repeat corporate customers.
Two-sided incentives add to a referral program’s effectiveness but small businesses may find them cost-prohibitive. Discount add-ons like packing services or moving supplies to deliver value to new customers while increasing upsells.
Referrals can make a big impact on your moving company’s reach. The key to a successful referral program is giving customers a reason to get involved. Create win-win partnerships, reward referrals, and most importantly, make your customers feel valued. If you do this, you’ll build a referral program that keeps giving back.
In addition to referrals, it’s important to find ways to boost brand awareness. When you work with an agency like Justork Lifestyle, you have access to an array of marketing services like social media marketing, SEO, Google Ad services and more. Reach out today to see how we can help you grow your business!
