---
title: How to Use Your Reviews to Launch a Successful Referral Marketing Program
description: Learn why customer referrals are one of the best ways to boost brand recognition, sales, and gain consumer trust. See how good reviews increase referrals.
---

[Shopper Approved Blog ](https://results.shopperapproved.com/blog)

# [How to Use Your Reviews to Launch a Successful Referral Marketing Program](https://results.shopperapproved.com/blog/how-to-use-your-reviews-to-launch-a-successful-referral-marketing-program)

 Written by [Aleksandra Velkova](https://results.shopperapproved.com/blog/author/aleksandra-velkova) | May 10, 2023 2:00:00 PM

One of the best ways to build your brand’s authority and credibility is to continuously collect reviews from your customers. [Reviews are a massive conversion driver](https://results.shopperapproved.com/blog/product-ratings-and-reviews-software-increases-conversions-and-seo), simply because of the way people shop online: they read reviews first and then decide whether to buy or not. 

A lot of positive reviews is a safe indicator that your brand is loved, and your customers are satisfied with your product, offer and general shopping experience.

That is a solid foundation for taking your acquisition efforts to the next level: offering a referral program to reward your business’s raving fans for spreading the word about your brand.

## How Referrals Boost Your Brand

You may be wondering why you should invest in a referral program, when you can simply rely on the excellent reviews you receive already.

Research shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends—so a combination of your excellent reviews and a referral incentive is a very powerful strategy you can deploy for your ecommerce business to ensure [cost-efficient customer acquisition](https://lootly.io/resources/why-repeat-customers-are-cheaper).

Moreover, people who are directly referred to your brand by a known friend or family member are 4x more likely to buy from you than from your competitor.

Why?

Because of the instant trust coming from the referral and supported by the reviews of other people like us. [Building trust online](https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-trust-signals/) is hard and time-consuming; so having someone we know and trust vouch for your brand is a major competitive advantage.

Finally, a referral program helps your retention efforts. Customers acquired through referrals have a 37% higher retention rate than people who are acquired through other channels. Also, referrers who get rewarded for their successful referrals further boost your repurchase rate, especially when you offer a double-sided incentive.

## 5 Proven Tactics for a Winning Referral Program

So, how do you use your reviews to deploy a winning referral program for your brand?

**Summary**

Your reviews are a gold mine of information that can help you create and run very targeted and successful marketing campaigns. Whether that is crafting ad copy, your website copy, product descriptions or ideas for your blog, you can never go wrong by turning to your reviews for inspiration and guidelines.

And if you have done the work to collect reviews showing the love your customers have for your product and the trust they have in your brand, use them to launch a referral program to reward your loyal customers, boost your acquisition efforts, and increase the repurchase rate in your store.

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[View full post](https://results.shopperapproved.com/blog/how-to-use-your-reviews-to-launch-a-successful-referral-marketing-program)

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