Back when I did a lot of consulting and training about face-to-face marketing I used to talk about how to be more referable. And one of the biggest factors was simply how easy it was to make it happen.

Last night for example, we had an amazing pizza at Pizza Punks in Newcastle. Later in the evening one of our friends wanted to recommend them to someone he met, but couldn't remember where they were to give directions.

Luckily I remembered. But it would have been rather easier if, for example, they'd have given us some kind of fun keepsake with our bill that had their address on that he could have to referred to.

It's the kind of thing that sounds small and a bit trivial and you find yourself thinking “surely anyone who really wants to refer me will remember me”.

And some people will.

But some who could have referred you won't because it's a bit difficult.

And that small number of referrals that either happen or don't happen because of how easy it is can make a big difference.

The same thing can apply online too.

I recently had someone email me to say they'd like to recommend my regular emails to others but didn't know how.

Initially I found myself thinking “come on, it's easy, just send them to my home page there's a signup form there”.

But of course, it's just like my friend not being able to remember the address of Punk Pizza. They probably assumed their address was obvious or that someone could look it up.

But if something is just a little bit difficult it often doesn't happen.

So I could have made myself much easier to refer by having some kind of “forward this email to a friend” system or just a link at the bottom where people could go to sign up.

And the few extra subscribers I'd get from that could well mount up over time. Especially as they're people who are recommended by a friend not people who randomly found me.

Have a look at how easy it is to refer you and what little barriers might get in the way. You'll probably find it's quite east to fix them.

– Ian