How to Get More Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Your clients are one of your most powerful marketing tools. Their happiness with your photography service is priceless. And what they say about it can have a huge influence on your success.

Indeed, research shows 9 out of 10 people trust what a customer thinks about a business more than they trust the business itself. And 95% say a review – good or bad – influences their purchasing decision.

These testimonials are the ultimate in social proof, building trust and credibility to inspire potential clients to get in touch and book a shoot. A simple but powerful way to spread the word that you’re great to work with and take brilliant photos.

Here we’ll explore how to generate and capitalise on the word-of-mouth referrals your business needs to grow and thrive.

1. Deliver Outstanding Client Experience

Clearly a no-brainer, but if you don’t deliver exceptional service, referrals won’t come rolling in.

Your aim should always be to exceed client expectations. Beyond boosting your own sense of job satisfaction, the rewards for your business are endless, including a healthy flow of recommendations.

Make the experience memorable by:

• understanding the client journey
• communicating with clarity and warmth
• personalising the process
• going the extra mile
• making it easy and fun
• delivering high-quality products
• following up after each session
• tapping into technology and tools

Dig deeper into these tips about how to create an exceptional client experience and inspire positive reviews.

2. Ask for Referrals and Testimonials

Whether asking for feedback feels comfortable or leaves you with sweaty palms, there’s no avoiding it. If you don’t ask, you might not get.

Some clients will be organised enough to share their thoughts without prompting. But for many, however impressed they are, they’ll need a proactive nudge.

An ideal time to do this is when they’re still actively involved in the shoot process, for example when you first send across their images. Their memory of the session will be fresh in their minds and, of course, they’ll be thrilled with the final photos.

That opportunity may present itself at a different time, such as when the client spontaneously expresses satisfaction with part of the process. You may even end up writing their comments down in the old-fashioned way during a face-to-face chat.

If gathering feedback via email, take your pick from a survey with specific questions or a simple invite to write a testimonial.

Both of these can be automated, using prepared scripts and phrases to ensure clarity, professionalism and consistency. Setting up an email template within your CRM system will further streamline the process, set up to be sent at the appropriate time.

Then, feedback in your inbox, you can bask in the glow of a job extremely well done and start to put those warm words to work.

3. Showcase Your Testimonials

Wonderful comments in hand, you can then share them with the world via your website, social channels and within your regular client communication. They bring with them that priceless commodity, social proof – the idea that consumers will adapt their behaviour according to what other people are doing and thinking.  

When potential clients visit your website, your existing happy customers should shine out from the screen. Pepper your site with carefully selected testimonials, accompanied by high-quality visuals to ramp up impact.

Consider adding a dedicated testimonial page to create an easily accessible feedback hub. Include as much variety as you can, publish them unedited to sound genuine (unless there’s a glaring typo, of course) and keep them as short and sweet as you can to convey their meaning. And, wherever feedback appears, ensure it’s regularly updated to stay fresh for returning visitors and please the SEO gods.

On your socials, showcase those testimonials that tick off a potential client pain point. Maybe you’re a pro at making people feel relaxed during a shoot? Or perhaps your standout photography style will reassure people their shots will be truly unique? Consider incorporating video and take your pick from the apps that can ramp up their visual impact.

Testimonials are also a valuable message to incorporate into communication with prospective clients, especially at the nurturing stage. Add one to the end of your automatic reply to a website enquiry and the recipient will start to get a flavour of what it’s like to work with you. Add a different one to the email template used to follow up a prosect who’s gone quiet and it could give them the confidence to reply.

Use your current clients’ kind words to convince your followers you can give them an expert, easy service. This is no time for modesty.

4. Nurture Referrer Relationships

When you get a new enquiry via an existing client, it’s crucial to thank them for their recommendation. Expressing your gratitude can only help to further solidify that relationship and increase the chances of them returning to you.

Beyond these basic manners, you can also incentivise the referral process to supercharge the power of word-of-mouth. Offering a discount or offer to current clients if they successfully refer a friend or colleague is a simple marketing tool. And that perk can also be extended to the new client as an extra temptation to book.

Ideas include a straightforward X% off a shoot or product purchase, a free digital image download or print, or even a donation to a relevant charity when they make a booking.

5. Track and Measure Referral Performance

To understand how these personal referrals are impacting your photography business’ growth, set aside time to measure their performance.

Monitor stats like how many referrals you’ve received, their conversion rate and the lifetime value of those clients who book. And remember a super-useful question to add to a survey is the classic ‘How did you hear about me/us?’.

Your CRM system comes to your aid again here as it can track and analyse all this data, generate reports and help you to make data-driven decisions.

You can also use this time to pick up on any feedback to fine-tune your future offering. There may be some small but powerful suggestions in there to make your photography business even more successful.

So nurture those client relationships, give them what they need to inspire dazzling feedback and use those words to spread the word about your fantastic photography business.