Posted by Jim Erhardt on October 2, 2006 at 5:57 AM
As you know, we have had a member referral program in place for quite some time. The original program gave a $5 discount on membership renewal to any current member who referred a new one. The difficulty we ran into was keeping track of the referrals and then applying them at the time of renewal. More recently, we changed it to a $5 payment via PayPal, which was somewhat better as the referral fee was taken care of immediately and there was no need to keep track of them all. The downside to this method is that not all members sign up through PayPal, and if they don't have a PayPal account, they usually never claim the $5.
Our new referral program not only solves these problems, but almost doubles the value of the referral; when a current NPN member refers a new member, we immediately add 3 months to the referring member's existing NPN membership. We also send an email thanking them for the referral and providing the new expiration date of their membership. There is no limit on this program and each current member can make as many referrals as they want. So by referring new members on a regular basis, you may never have to pay for your membership renewal again!
On the NPN Membership page and Membership Application form (.pdf), there are fields to fill in the referring member's name so they recieve credit. The new program takes effect immediately.
Finally, we will be printing NPN Referral Cards that our current members can carry with them and hand out to prospective new members. The card will have a space for the member to fill in their name, and will be available 20 per request via a SASE. We hope to have the cards available in about 3 weeks and will post an announcment when we receive them from the printer.
What about those members who are already lifers and they refer a new member?
Posted by Jim Erhardt on October 2, 2006 at 2:28 PM
What about those members who are already lifers and they refer a new member?
Youssef, in those cases we can provide a $9.75 credit for use in the Gift Shoppe OR a pay a $9.75 referral fee via PayPal.
Posted by Jim Goldstein on October 5, 2006 at 12:50 PM
A great addition to the site would be to have a form to invite friends with. The "text" field for the body of the message could have a prewritten message with a link for the prospective new member to click on... that can also be customized. Perhaps the link could also contain the referrers member ID.
Posted by Curtis Knight on October 9, 2006 at 7:01 PM
I'm mostly psyched about the cards being available. I am not a great people person (NO! You don't say! ) so when folks come up to look at my long white lens and start asking me questions about my photography, the cards will make it much easier for me to work NPN into the conversation and lead more members over here.
One question: Do you mind if we also write our own web page URL on the back of the card?
Posted by Jim Erhardt on October 13, 2006 at 7:20 AM
One question: Do you mind if we also write our own web page URL on the back of the card?
That would be fine! The cards are in the works and should be available by the end of the month.
Discussion
5 repliesOur new referral program not only solves these problems, but almost doubles the value of the referral; when a current NPN member refers a new member, we immediately add 3 months to the referring member's existing NPN membership. We also send an email thanking them for the referral and providing the new expiration date of their membership. There is no limit on this program and each current member can make as many referrals as they want. So by referring new members on a regular basis, you may never have to pay for your membership renewal again!
On the NPN Membership page and Membership Application form (.pdf), there are fields to fill in the referring member's name so they recieve credit. The new program takes effect immediately.
Finally, we will be printing NPN Referral Cards that our current members can carry with them and hand out to prospective new members. The card will have a space for the member to fill in their name, and will be available 20 per request via a SASE. We hope to have the cards available in about 3 weeks and will post an announcment when we receive them from the printer.
Thanks to all for your support of NPN!
What about those members who are already lifers and they refer a new member?
Youssef, in those cases we can provide a $9.75 credit for use in the Gift Shoppe OR a pay a $9.75 referral fee via PayPal.
One question: Do you mind if we also write our own web page URL on the back of the card?
That would be fine! The cards are in the works and should be available by the end of the month.