The Best Referral Programs out There to Inspire You

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The best Referral Programs out there to inspire you

As you know that referral programs are in vogue. Any company that seeks to increase its number of customers and retain their old customers is investing heavily on them. But now the scenario is such that, since lots of companies like E-Commerce brands or any service companies are using referral programs, the market is cluttered with numerous referral programs.

Not all these referral programs are successful. There are some best referral programs which are impeccably designed but the majority of them are poorly designed with no plan whatsoever. Invitereferrals make sure to do proper research on what sort of referral program would suit a particular company. We have reviewed numerous referral programs on the web. We have collected and curated a list of the most well designed and well-implemented referral programs out there. We are going to talk about a few of them and try to unlock why some referral programs do well and others don’t.

Here is a list of referral programs which in our view are the best out there:

1: Dropbox

Dropbox referral program is one of the most famous examples of an effective growth hack. This referral program had something for both, the referred and the advocate. Both were given free 500MB space on the cloud storage service. Dropbox understood the needs of the customers which was the need for more storage at no price. This referral program led to 60% increase in more signups within a fortnight. The referral program was simple and didn’t require any complicated steps.

2: Koodo Mobile

Koodo mobile is a telecommunications company. Although it was rated the highest in the customer satisfaction survey, it was still facing an increasing cost of incurring a new customer. It had 2 options, either chose the traditional form of digital marketing or go for the new thing in the market, Referral programs.

They came up with a “double-sided” referral program which offered $25 credit to both the referred and the advocate as talk time and internet. IT became a huge success. It reduced the cost of acquisition of a new customer by 167% and brought in 75,000 new customers within 2 years in that highly competitive market.

They did this by providing a seamless experience which included a simple sign-on and consistent bright branding all the way.

3: Airbnb

If you are not aware of the legendary referral program of Airbnb, then you should really update yourself with what is happening in the marketing world. Airbnb invests heavily in increasing the awareness of their referral programs. They came up with a 2-way incentive program for users. Once the recipient completes his or her first trip, then both the referred and the advocate are eligible for a $25 credit for their next usage. And if the recipient hosts somebody, then the referrer gets $75. This program is still successfully running.

4: Harry’s Shaving Company

Harry’s is not your average shaving brand. It is a multibillion-dollar subscription based shaving accessory company which operates through its e-commerce store and a barbershop in Manhattan.  Majority of the credit for their success is attributed to their simple referral program which was launched in the initial days and is still running.

They didn’t give credit or discounts to the advocate for referring, instead they focussed on giving free shaving accessories. The advocate got a free shaving cream if he referred 5 friends, a free razor if he referred 10 friends and so on. Whereas the referred got 10% off on their first purchase. With this program, they generated 100,000 leads within the first week.

5: Uber

Most of the referral example we have talked about so far have used the referral route through the desktop browser. Uber may be one of the first who used designed a referral program for its mobile application. This referral campaign nowadays is being copied by all the ride and cab-sharing app’s. For every referral you make, the advocate and the referred got $10 off on their next ride. The benefit of this campaign was the ease of usage and the urgency and quickness in which you can make use of the benefit you got by referring to somebody.

Invitereferrals specialize in providing customized referral program solutions that meets your need. We have carefully studied the best referral programs in the world and have even created some of them for our clients. Referral programs are now a very important program of any marketing strategy. It is important that you follow the best practices if you want to make your referral program a success. We can be your guides and collaborators on this journey.