The importance of a referral program for your health & wellness business

Referral programs are a proven low-cost way to recruit valuable new students. Referrals tend to buy more in products and services and have a higher lifetime value. According to Referral Candy, referrals also tend to be happier, more loyal students because they’ve self-selected your services using reliable criteria-the recommendation of a friend.

Before you launch a program, ask yourself these three questions:

• Do you want to reward just the student or the student and the person they’ve referred?

• What will you reward referrals with?

• Consider compelling offers such as gift cards, discounted classes, branded gear or a free week.How will you measure the success of your program?

If you have studio management software, you can easily do this by creating a referral lead source.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’re ready to launch. This program will only be successful if people know about it. Consider getting the word out by:

Adding a note about the program in your monthly newsletter.Announcing the program on your Facebook page and website. Distributing business cards that your students can give to their friends, family or colleagues. (I love ABC Yoga. Join me for a free class with this card!)

Have each of your teachers mention it at the beginning of class.When a current student refers a new member, make a big deal out of presenting the reward to the person, ideally in front of a packed class. You could also thank the person publicly and welcome the new student in a Facebook post.

Another way to get referrals is through Sweat Angels. Every time a student checks into your school on Facebook, your studio will make a donation to the featured charity of the month. This is a perfect incentive to get students excited about checking in. Since each student has an average 100 friends on Facebook, just 10 students checking in a day will expose your studio to 1,000 potential new students.