If you’re a photographer, you’re familiar with referrals. You already know they’re one of the best ways to get new customers familiar with your business.

Photographers that specialize in family portraits, weddings, and engagements have an advantage. Clients of photographers build up trust a lot faster because photography sessions are often one-on-one experiences.  When people are happy with your photos, they’ll share them on social media and frame them in their homes. They’ll happily share your name wherever they go.

But you can encourage them to refer even more of their friends and family, and make it easier to track that word of mouth, with an official referral program. Here’s how to get started.

What are photography referral programs?

Photography referral programs are initiatives that encourage current and past clients to recommend your business to their friends and family.

In these programs, you’ll offer incentives such as cash rewards, discounts, coupons, free services, or gift cards when your customers bring in new business.

To make sharing easier, you should give them a unique link or code to share with their network. This not only simplifies the referral process for them but also helps you keep track of how well your program is performing. You’ll know exactly who brought in each new client, and the total impact of the referrals people make.

And if you choose to use referral software, your program will be efficient and automated, meaning you won’t have to put in a lot of effort to set it up and manage it.

think darryl referral

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Benefits of photography referral programs

Photography referral programs offer a variety of advantages. Not only can they boost your sales, but they can also create compounding growth. Let’s explore some key benefits that referral marketing can bring to photography businesses.

Tap into social proof and trust: People tend to read reviews or ask friends directly before choosing a photographer. When someone learns about your business from a trusted friend, they usually feel confident in their decision to hire you for a session.

Enhance visibility: By providing incentives for clients who refer others, you encourage them to spread the word. This can lead to them sharing their experiences with friends and family, and posting on social media, which broadens your reach. Consequently, more people become aware of your brand in a positive way.

Save money on marketing: While ads and other marketing campaigns can be costly and don’t guarantee results, referral programs are generally low-cost and tend to yield better outcomes. You’re essentially investing in your current and past clients.

Market with low risk: With a referral program, you only give out rewards when a referred client schedules a session. So, you’ll only pay when you see results.

Foster customer loyalty: Thanks to the influence of social proof, friends who are referred are not only more likely to buy but are also 18% more likely to stay loyal and return for more photography sessions over the years.

Encourage viral growth: When one client refers a friend, that friend might also share your business with others. This word-of-mouth marketing can create a ripple effect, leading to significant growth for your business.

Make word of mouth easier to track: Normally, it’s hard to track and measure the impact of word-of-mouth sharing. But referral programs make this easy thanks to the trackable links.

Referral software for photographers [Free Tools]

These referral tools for photographers are a free and easy way to help you start your referral program.

Free Tools + Services:

Want a fully automated referral program for your photography business? Run your referral program with us at Referral Rock. Find out how we can build your program with you (and tailor it to your unique needs)

Our top ideas for photography referral programs

These photography referral program ideas will help your business snap up new leads and sales. Here’s what we recommend to launch a successful referral program:

Make sure your business is referable

Before you start a referral program, it’s essential to check that people have a reason to talk about you. As long as your photography business is professional, with an above-and-beyond client experience, people are going to want to refer you. The key is creating a culture that makes it easy for customers to refer you. But how to know if you’ve created that culture?

Are you getting five-star reviews, testimonials, compliments on social media, and newly referred business before you’ve even offered incentives? If so, you’re ready to start a referral program.

Pick the right rewards

Yes, your stellar photography is why people will think about sharing you with friends. But before they actually share, they’ll want to know what’s in it for them. That’s where choosing the reward comes in.

Whichever rewards you’re thinking about, we recommend giving incentives to both the referrer and the new client (known as a double-sided reward) once the friend has their photo session. This both encourages referrals and motivates referred friends to schedule sessions with you. Plus, people want to help their friends, not feel like they’re selling their friends out just to get a reward.

danelle joy photography referral

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But what rewards should you offer? Here are some of our favorite photography referral reward ideas.

Free or discounted photoshoots

It costs you nothing but time! In your customer’s eyes, it’s worth some money, though. Take advantage of resources like these that you can leverage and give your customers their next session for free if they bring you enough referrals! You can always offer a free, or discounted, mini-session instead if you aren’t willing to offer a full session for free.

If you have a lot of repeat clients, then discounted or free shoots will be very attractive to them. But if you focus on major events like weddings, you might opt for a different reward that’s unrelated to your business.

Gift cards

People might value a gift card more than your actual services. It’s not that you’re not an amazing photographer but, they might just not need some pictures at this stage in their life, even if one of their friends does.

Gift cards give people the flexibility to spend the reward on something they enjoy. And with Referral Rock and Tango’s gift card menu, you can let referrers pick the gift card they want, for more freedom of choice.

Personal gifts

Exclusive gifts get attention because they’re fun and create an experience that people can’t get elsewhere. An easy way for your photography business to deliver this experience is with a personalized gift – a blanket, coffee tumbler, or album featuring photos you’ve taken for them in the past.

Surprise gifts

You might also offer a mystery gift, or even a surprise gift basket with a few valued items. The air of mystery is another way to drive interest (and more referrals). The gifts itself might not be exclusive, but the surprise is often enough to make someone feel like a VIP. Of course, you’ll need to cycle through several gifts if people often refer repeatedly.

Contest rewards

What if you want to offer a big-ticket reward but can’t afford to give one to every referring client? Introduce a contest where the person who makes the most referrals in a year receives a bigger-ticket reward, or try a referral raffle, where every referral earns one entry into a random draw. Make sure that everyone who refers receives a smaller reward, though.

Ask for the referral

One of the best ways to get photography referrals is to ask directly. Sure, asking for the referral may seem daunting. But if you ask at the right time, when you know your clients are happiest, you’ll increase the odds that people will share.

We recommend asking during, or shortly after, the delivery of someone’s prints or digital photos. That’s when you’re top of mind, after all, and when people see your work. And in the case of weddings and other special events, that’s well after the adrenaline of the event is over, and when people don’t have as many things on their minds.

Get a stellar review, social comment, or in-person compliment? That’s also an awesome time to ask. Anniversaries of events you’ve shot are also great times. And if you’ve already seen someone make referrals outside of your program, ask if they’d like to refer more friends (and this time, get rewards for it).

But what to say? Here’s how to nail the ask if you’re asking for a referral via email.

Make sharing super-simple

To boost engagement in your referral program, ensure it’s easy for clients to access and share.

  • Outline the program in a few simple steps—three to four is ideal.
  • Highlight the benefits of sharing, including both rewards and intrinsic benefits.
  • Clearly state when and how people can earn rewards can be earned to eliminate any  confusion.
  • Keep your program page tidy. Avoid excessive text or distractions.
  • Get people to take the next step (share) with a motivating, easy-to-find call to action (CTA).

Additionally, aim to reduce the effort needed for clients to refer others.

  • Provide multiple sharing options that align with how clients typically communicate with friends, such as through email, social media, and text messages.
  • Create a referral link that clients can easily copy and share (referral software can generate these links seamlessly).
  • Draft a message for clients to send to their friends, so they don’t have to come up with their own wording. Make sure that message feels like it’s coming from a friend (avoid sounding salesy).

Referral Rock’s One Click Access links simplify the process even further. They let your clients start sharing immediately without filling out a form to sign up. Include these links in all the emails you send about the program.

Send out emails about your program

Once your program’s launched, it’s time to let your clients know about it. But don’t stop at the initial program announcement. After that, we recommend sending monthly to quarterly emails – to all current and past clients – dedicated to your referral program. This makes sure your program stays top of mind, and lets you introduce it to clients who weren’t around during the initial launch.

“Emails about your program” doesn’t just mean emails dedicated only to your program. You should also include a sentence about your program in other emails, like invoices and digital photo delivery emails. Plus, you can promote the program with a link in your email signature!

Use social media to your advantage

You can use social media in a number of ways. Use it to send out reminders about your referral program (quarterly’s always a good bet, but vary your wording so it doesn’t get stale). And of course, link right to your referral program so it’s easy to access.

While doing that, you also want to show appreciation for referrals. If any current photography clients get you referrals, show how thankful you are by posting about it on Facebook or Instagram. This helps create the type of ‘referral culture’ that will help people drive their friends to your business.

Here’s more on using Facebook with your referral program:

Another easy way to get new photography referrals is by letting it be known in your social media bios. Think of them like your email signature. Everyone comes across your bio, and it’s your chance to get a point across.

Promote your program in other ways

Besides email and social media, you’ll want to promote your program in any other touchpoints your customers encounter. Here are some promotion ideas we recommend:

  • On your website homepage
  • On your top and bottom website menus
  • On business cards (include a QR code for easy referral program access)
  • On photo mailings and flyers (include a QR code for easy referral program access)

Send out thank you cards

When you show gratitude for referrals, this acknowledges how your clients have helped your business and encourages them to continue referring others.

Whenever a referral results in a new client, go the extra mile to thank the person who made that referral. Send a personal, preferably handwritten, thank-you note to the referrer to show your appreciation.

Run your program with software

To effectively monitor the success of your referral program, tracking referrals is essential. You must set measurable client acquisition goals and continuously track your progress. This task is nearly impossible to accomplish manually.

That’s where Referral Rock referral software plays a vital role. It streamlines the program creation process and simplifies referral tracking and management. With Referral Rock, you can customize your referral experience, automate rewards and promotions, and measure your program’s success at a glance.  Plus, dedicated onboarding specialists build your program with you, and offer expert guidance at every step.

Wrapping up

A photography referral program allows you to utilize the trust and credibility of personal recommendations to bring in new clients. The advantages of starting a referral program include straightforward tracking of referrals, increased visibility for your services, cost efficiency, and minimal risk.

By creating a thoughtful referral program and adhering to best practices, you can tap into word of mouth to boost your business growth, and draw in new clients.