The best referral program ideas can drastically improve the performance of your referral programs, so much so that they can be the difference between success and failure.

To ensure your business stays on the winning side, we've put this article together to help you out.

Included in this post are 11 easy-to-follow ideas on how to run a successful referral program. For each idea, we will explain why it works, how to implement it, and how to measure success.

Let's get into it.

(Note: The below ideas can give inspiration for your referral program campaigns. If you don’t have your referral program set up yet, you can use referral program software such as ReferralCandy to do that.)

11+ best referral program ideas that will get you more referrals

Let's go straight into the referral program ideas!

1. Have the basics figured out

The first of the referral marketing ideas is to have the basics figured out.

Make sure that:

1. Your product is high-quality, it offers great value for the price, and is visually appealing.
2. You set up referral incentives that people would actually like. While a 10% discount may seem like a good idea, it amounts to next to nothing when your products cost less than $20.
3. You keep an eye on your referral rates. If you've created (what you think) is a great incentive, yet nobody is taking you up on your offer, then you'll want to rethink your referral program.
4. Find a way to tell everyone about your referral program in a way that actually works. Having a cute little pop-up may not be enough, and neither will your half-assed email about it.

These basics serve as a foundation for the next ideas!

Why it works: Without the basics in good shape, the other ideas may struggle to succeed.‍

How to do it: Make sure your product is high-quality, you have referral incentives customers actually like, you follow statistics, and you use the right outreach methods.

How to measure its success: ‍Follow the overall performance of your referral program. If the metrics are down, there may be a chance your basics are lacking.

Campaign duration: All year round

2. Set up a referral incentive for customers

So, which referral incentives work best?

Here at ReferralCandy, we generally recommend using two-sided incentives.

Rather than simply rewarding your newly referred customers as a one-sided incentive, we've found it's best also to reward your loyal referring customers, just as a two-sided incentive would. That way, not only will your new customers feel great about their decision to do business with your brand, but your loyal existing customers will surely feel appreciated as well.

Here is what we recommend in more detail:

• If your advocates are likely to make repeat purchases, give discounts to encourage them.
• If your product costs more than $100, a flat discount is usually more enticing ($500 off a $2,000 laptop)
• If your product costs less than $100, a percentage discount is usually better ($10 off a $50 t-shirt is better phrased as 20% off)
• If your advocates are unlikely to make repeat purchases, give cash.
• If you're doing preorders, consider giving cash discounts on the advocates' existing preorders.
• Remember to focus on your customers' interests and motivations.

Why it works: Effective referral incentives ensure that customers are motivated to recommend your referral program to their friends.‍

How to do it: Test out the different variations we outlined above. This will help you decide what incentive works best for your specific situation.

How to measure its success: ‍From your referral program software, follow the conversion rate. How many customers register for your referral program based on the number of emails you send? If the conversion rate is low, your referral incentive may be lacking.

Campaign duration: All year round

Learn more: How To Set Up Your Referral Program's Incentives (With 12+ Examples!)

3. Take advantage of email marketing

Email marketing is one of your business's most powerful marketing strategies. For every $1 spent on email marketing, businesses receive, on average, an ROI of between $36 and $40.

That sounds like a pretty handy little earner, am I right?

Simply by sending your customers a friendly reminder about your products and services, upcoming sales, or social media campaign, you're tapping into a stupid-easy way to keep them engaged with your brand.

And perhaps best of all, it encourages customers to engage in your refer-a-friend and referral programs.

So, how can you improve your emails? There are broadly 6 things that you need to be mindful of.

1. Focus on the subject line
2. Keep the email simple
3. Make your call-to-action impossible to ignore
4. Emphasize the motivation for purchase
5. Highlight the benefit to Friend AND Advocate
6. Include any additional conditions for the referral

Why it works‍: Email marketing has been proven to be a high ROI activity, no matter what your industry is. It's also relatively easy to implement when following the right steps.

How to do it: Follow the above 6 things we outlined. A/B test different versions to find what works best for your brand.

How to measure its success: ‍Email marketing metrics, such as open rate, reply rate, click-through rate, and actual conversions, act as a measure of success.

Campaign duration: All year round

Learn more: How To Write Great Emails Asking For Referrals

4. Give store credit, cash, or discount

A business gifting its existing and newly referred customers with credit, cash, or discounted products is a referral program strategy that isn't likely to go away any time soon.

Simply because it works and has been proven to do so again and again.

Take Honeylove here, for example:

Honeylove refer a friend program is based around a two-side incentive: a simple give 20% and get $20. All the referred customer has to do is fill out the form, and both parties will be rewarded with a very tidy discount on future purchases.

Why it works: As with all the marketing ideas recommended throughout this post, rewarding both the existing customer and the newly acquired customer is a must. The best way to do this is to match the incentives for both customers. An incentive, as small as a $5-10 discount, for both customers is often enough to encourage them to sign onto your referral program.‍

How to do it: It's super simple: a referring customer refers a friend of theirs to your business. In return, they are rewarded with an attractive incentive like store credit, a cash card, or a percentage discount on their next purchase. And on the other hand, the newly acquired customer also enjoys a similar incentive, something that rewards them for doing business with your brand.‍

How to measure its success: As with any marketing strategy, the success of this referral program is dependent on ROI. To ensure your investment in this strategy is worth your while, balancing the investment and return is essential. With that in mind, offer incentives that motivate your customers to participate in the program. Incentives that aren't too large, hurt your bottom line and cause the program to be a money pit.‍

Campaign duration: 30 days, all year round, seasonal

5. Offer a free surprise gift

Most customers prefer to know exactly what reward they will receive when making a referral.

However, some customer bases quite enjoy surprise rewards.

For example, perhaps your product line is trend-based, meaning items come in and out of demand at a high frequency. This may cause excess stock lying about that's not as easy to shift as it once was at the spike of a trend.

This is where surprise gifting can work well.

Use these largely under-purchased and excess products to reward your referring customers. Sure, the trend may be over but it's doubtful anybody is going to argue with freebies.

Or, perhaps your business is a services-based brand. A service-based mystery box may just work to entice your customers to create a referral opportunity for you.

For example, see how Nuki does this:

They promise the referrer 'exciting rewards' as a thank you, making it seem more mysterious.

Sounds intriguing, right?

Why it works: Surprise gifting works on your customer's anticipation levels. It keeps them excited and hyped about your products and services. And as long as the reward is worthy of their anticipation, they are sure to refer again and again.‍

How to do it: Hype, hype, hype. To ensure the success of this type of referral program campaign you must get people excited about the idea of receiving some sort of out-of-this-world reward.‍

How to measure its success: Basically watch your ROI. How much money are you spending on the mysteries you are rewarding your referral program participants? If the return is outweighed by the cost of the reward and marketing efforts, perhaps it's time for a new strategy.‍

Campaign duration: All year round

6. Upgrade product or service

Rewarding your loyal customers with product or service upgrades is a great way to further bolster their loyalty to your business.

Let's say, for example, your business offers SaaS services (software as a service). Through your refer-a-friend program, you reward a successful referral with an upgrade to a premium package or free limited access to premium features.

Rewards such as these won't cost your business anything but are extremely effective in acquiring new customers while keeping your existing and referring customers very happy.

Take Evernote's refer a friend campaign, for example.

Their referral program rewards every successful referral from an existing customer with points. These points can then be spent to upgrade their service to Evernote Premium, an upgraded version of the software that has many benefits over the free version.

To make customer referrals super easy, the Evernote team has included three different ways that referrals can occur. The first is via email, the second is a link posted on social media, and the third is a simple copy-and-paste link that can be shared on just about any platform, including Slack, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Why it works: It incentivises existing customers to refer friends through three different methods. A software-based upgrade does not cost the business any extra money to run the referral campaign.‍

How to do it: This type of referral program works best for tiered or software-based products or services. Decide on a reward for your referring customers, ideally, something that isn't a huge expense, and, if possible, make it super easy to refer by adding different methods for your customers to invite their friends.‍

How to measure its success: Pay close attention to 1) how many referral links are used and 2) how many of the referring customers actually sign up for the upgrade. Though it may not cost you much to offer a temporary upgrade, your referral program may be falling flat if it's not actually enticing enough.‍

Campaign Duration: All year round

7. Run a contest or sweepstakes

When running a contest or sweepstake, use rewards that are in high demand, something that will make it worth their while competing for.

A good idea here is to also offer prizes for those that don't come in the first place. This will help drive even more referrals as contestants feel they have even more chances to win a prize. Secondary prizes don't have to be big; a simple discount will often do the trick.

For example, check out Bagg's sweepstakes referral program.

Contestants simply fill out Bagg's 'Refer a Friend' form and refer at least one friend to be automatically entered. This puts them in the running to win a special offer of $25 dollars off a $100 purchase or $50 dollars off a $150 purchase.

Contest-based referral programs are best run for a short period, a period of around a month works best. A time period such as this keeps contestants enthused enough to enter but not too disappointed if they lose.

If they didn't win this time around, they can always try their luck next month.

Why It Works: This referral marketing strategy leverages the competitive nature of all of us and directs it towards driving new customers to your business.‍

How To Do It: When a successful referral is obtained, enter the referrer into the running to win. High-demand rewards work best, the latest and greatest tech gadget or a trip away should do the trick. Remember to reward contestants that come in second, third, and fourth place with rewards as well. This will only increase their chances of winning and your chances of acquiring new referrals.‍

How To Measure Its Success: This strategy is all about consistently acquiring new referrals from your existing customers each month. To measure if this is the case, record the details of all entered contestants and compare the number of entrants over time.‍

Campaign Duration: 30 days

8. Launch a seasonal campaign

Seasonal referral programs work similarly to contests or sweepstake campaigns as they leverage hype and even viral growth to drive success.

Whether it be more traditional holidays like Christmas or New Year, events earlier in the year like Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day, or even more left-of-field events like World Environment Day or World Peace Day, there are a ton to choose from.

And whichever promotional period or event you land upon, simply ensure the grand prize at the end of the campaign is alluring enough to entrants. Your contestants can easily be turned off by a prize they don't deem worthy of filling out an application for.

To ensure the success of a referral campaign of this type, offering a worthy reward, one that truly represents the spirit behind a holiday or event, is a must.

For example, take a look at Rift's Christmas refer a friend campaign.

Over the holiday season, Rift offered their customers a chance to win £1,000 when they successfully referred any of their colleagues, family, or friends.

That's a pretty handy little Christmas gift for whoever was lucky enough to snag the prize, that's for damn sure!

Why it works: Seasonal referral campaigns harness the hype and excitement of a holiday or promotional period and use it to drive referrals to your business.‍

How to do it: Start promoting the campaign prior to the seasonal event to ensure people know when it's time to enter the contest. Be sure to use gifts that align with the spirit of the season; this will help motivate them to refer as many customers as they can to your brand.‍

How to measure its success: One of the best things about seasonal campaigns is they happen once a year every year, which makes it fairly easy to measure its success. Simply look back at the referrals you received in years previous and compare them to the time period in which you just held your first seasonal campaign.‍

Campaign duration: Seasonal

9. Donate to a worthy charity

Not all customer referral program ideas have to be based on discounts or product upgrades. In fact, aligning your brand with a social cause, one that is important to your customer base, can be the perfect solution to boosting your referral marketing outreach.

Naturally, people love getting behind a good cause, particularly one that aligns with their moral compasses. With that in mind, leveraging word of mouth is the best way to get the word out about your socially aligned customer referral program.

Take the software company Vena, here for example:

Vena donates an incredibly generous $2,000 to a charity of their customer's choice. They are aligned with charities such as American Red Cross, WWF, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and even the Wounded Warrior Project.

Why it works: What does your business stand for? This is a question that is becoming more and more important to many consumers. If you can align yourself with a worthy cause, one that is shared by your customer base, you are well on your way to making this referral marketing strategy an absolute winner for your business.‍

How to do it: Take a good look at your brand and what it means to your customers. Does your business stand behind anything of worth? Does it support the environment, local people, or other socially aligned causes? If so, leverage this to your advantage. Make every referral count towards something that really inspires your customer base to support your business and this worthy cause of yours.‍

How to measure its success: Social media is a great way to spread the word about a worthy cause. Take advantage of this and get the word out that your customer referral program is all set to help something or someone in need. Sure ROI is important, but also pay attention to how well your social media posts are performing. People who aren't signing onto your customer referral program are still being exposed to your brand, and perhaps best of all, are seeing it in a positive light thanks to your brand new social cause.‍

Campaign duration: 30 days, all year round, seasonal

10. Focus on increasing your referral rates

This idea almost acts as a summary of the previous steps.

For those who aren't sure, referral rates are simply the volume of referred purchases as a percentage of total purchases.

Here's a super simple example.

Let's say your brand achieves a total of 100 purchases over a period of a few days, the purchases being made with the help of a 3 percent referral rate. That means that for every 100 purchases made with your brand, 3 of these were from referred customers.

Three percent may not sound like much, but I wouldn't be too disappointed if I were you. The fact is the average global referral rate is about 2.3 percent.

With that in mind, basically, the higher you can increase your referral rate, the more sales you'll make, and the greater your brand's revenue.

It's that simple.

Here are things you can do:

• Invite past customers to join your referral program
• Allow non-customers to benefit from referring friends
• Use two-sided rather than one-sided incentives
• Be generous with the friend offer
• Feature your referral program prominently on all your touchpoints
• Communicate the friend offer clearly to participants and referred friends
• Keep your referral program top-of-mind with timely emails
• Communicate the conditions of your referral reward clearly

Why it works: ‍The higher your referral rate, the better ROI your referral program gets.

How to do it: Act on the action items we listed above. Encourage customers to join, use two-sided incentives, communicate referral reward conditions clearly, and so on.‍

How to measure its success: Follow your referral conversion rate. Do you know what percentage of the customers you present your referral program to, actually join? Follow this metric, it’s available on referral program software, such as ReferralCandy.

Campaign duration: 30 days, all year round, seasonal

Learn more: 8 Best Things You Can Do to Boost Your Referral Rates and Get More Sales

11. Bonus: Try affiliate programs

Another incredibly powerful way to boost your referrals is to establish an affiliate program. And although affiliate programs aren't technically referral programs, they do work on very similar premises.

Here's how they work.

Instead of taking advantage of your current customer base, affiliate programs often use marketers, bloggers, influencers, and other similar partners to drive customers to do business with your brand. These partners use their influence, hence the name influencer, to promote your products and services to audiences they already have through social media posts, publishing content, or PR.

The advantage to this?

It saves you from having to put in work to build audiences or, maybe worse and consequently more time-consuming, figuring out a way to find exposure equal to this level. Instead of this, an affiliate marketing strategy leverages other people's followers, and followers that trust their every word and direct that trust towards your brand.

It's basically targeted marketing on steroids.

Take a look at Recovery For Athletes here for example.

Recovery For Athletes specializes in selling and distributing quality athletic, therapeutic, and recovery equipment. They, like many other online shops, offer an affiliate program that not only makes them a hefty increase in their brand exposure but also drives future sales toward their own online store.

Genius!

Why it works: An audience that is interested in your brand's products or services isn't always easy to find, but that's where affiliate marketing really shines. It exposes consumers that are already well known to be interested in your brand's product or service niche, to your business.‍

How to do it: Find affiliates that are well-trusted by their followers, and followers that are likely to be interested in your products and services. Use this form of targeted marketing to extend your business' reach and boost your bottom line.

How to measure its success: Customers that are referred to your business usually come through an affiliate's website or other platforms like YouTube or Instagram. Normally, affiliates use a unique link that is assigned to them through an affiliate program. This link is assigned to customers, usually in the form of cookies, and allows easy monitoring of how many referrals are coming in and where they are coming from.

Campaign duration: All year round

Final Thoughts

There's no doubt, that coming up with referral program ideas can be tough at times.

And finding a program that aligns with your business model and promotes or represents your products and services in the right light can be even tougher.

I’m certain, though, that the referral marketing ideas I’ve mentioned within this post should work as inspiration to get your very own referral program off the ground. And the examples mentioned should certainly give you the confidence needed to make your referral program an absolute success.

Here are a couple of interesting articles that we think might help: 

• 10+ Top Ecommerce Referral Programs to Learn From
• Referral Program Benchmarks: What's A Good Referral Rate?
• The Ultimate Referral Widget Guide to Improve Referrals
• Why We Use Referral Links at ReferralCandy (and the Secret Features You Can Use With It!)
• What We Learned From Analyzing 3,000+ Referral Programs For Ecommerce Brands

In 2024, businesses are spending billions of dollars on marketing strategies such as email and social media, influencer marketing, and paid advertising. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great, but we often overlook the value of existing customers.

Word-of-mouth marketing gives you a chance to tap into a group of people that you would have otherwise missed out on. Referral programs are one form of word-of-mouth marketing, which is what our software ReferralCandy lets you do. 

This article will not just focus on referral programs as a word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Instead, we will look at the big picture of word-of-mouth marketing, discuss the different strategies that go with it, and show you examples of successful word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.

To begin with, let’s start by defining what word-of-mouth marketing actually is.

What is word of mouth marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM marketing) is a marketing strategy that relies on customer recommendations to spread information about your product or service. Word-of-mouth marketing aims to create a customer experience worth talking about and encourage customers to recommend you to their friends and family.

A successful word-of-mouth advertising campaign involves implementing different strategies. 

For example, a popular fashion retailer might create a referral program where customers receive a $15 discount for every friend they refer that makes a purchase. This encourages existing customers to share their positive experiences and attracts new customers through trusted referrals.

4 reasons why word of mouth marketing is so powerful

The main reason word-of-mouth marketing is effective is that consumers trust recommendations from people they know. Besides all other forms of marketing, it does not take money from existing customers, and it is a scalable approach.

Let's take a closer look at each of these reasons.

1. Consumers trust recommendations more from friends and family

The main reason word-of-mouth marketing is so powerful is that 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know, as well as other forms of marketing.

Personal recommendations from friends and family are perceived as less biased and are more genuine compared to traditional advertising.

2. Doesn’t take money from existing customers

Unlike most forms of marketing, word-of-mouth marketing doesn’t take money from existing customers in many cases. Most word-of-mouth marketing revenue is new revenue since it comes from referred customers.

For example, you could set up a referral program and encourage existing customers to recommend your products to their friends and family with a referral incentive. The main benefit of this is that you're able to access a customer group that is otherwise not accessible.

3. Builds up a community of brand advocates

When you execute the word-of-mouth marketing strategies we will go through in the next sections, it will gradually begin to build up a community of brand advocates.

Your brand advocates will go above and beyond to recommend your products or services to their friends and family. They will also be more than happy to recommend you to their followers on different social media platforms.

4. It is a scalable marketing strategy

Word-of-mouth marketing is not often seen as a scalable strategy, but there are a number of things you can do to make it a long-term strategy. These are called ‘word of mouth marketing strategies’, and we will discuss them next.

7 word of mouth marketing strategies you can start implementing today

There are dozens of different word-of-mouth marketing strategies out there, but we will look at seven that we consider the most effective.

Let's get started on the first one!

1. Maintain a great customer lifecycle

Maintaining a great customer lifecycle is arguably the most effective way to enhance word-of-mouth marketing. The customer lifecycle involves five different stages: reach, acquisition, conversion, retention, and loyalty.

All steps of the customer lifecycle should be made as seamless as possible so customers naturally want to recommend your products to their friends and family members.

So, what can you exactly do?

Here are action items related to the five stages of the customer lifecycle:

1. Reach: During the reach stage, customers have just found you, and they're comparing your products to competitors. To win the customer over initially, you should clearly state how you will solve the customer's problem, your brand should be visible on Google, and you should engage on your social media pages by posting new content and answering customer questions.
2. Acquisition: In this stage, the customer has entered your website. The goal is to guide them towards making a purchase by publicly showcasing customer reviews, educating the customer on the problem you're solving for them, and answering any questions they may have. Content offers, pricing pages, and blog posts should all provide the customer with the information they need to decide.
3. Conversion: The conversion stage is when the customer gets over the line and makes a purchase from you. After this, you should ensure that the post-purchase process is seamless so customers stay loyal. Optimize your post-purchase emails, provide customers with tracking numbers, and educate them with product use cases and helpful blogs.
4. Retention. During the retention stage, your goal should be to continue building up the relationship with your customer. You can send them an email asking how they've liked the product and offering a discount for future purchases in exchange for a product review. At this point, you can even start inviting them to your ecommerce referral program.
5. Loyalty. At this stage, customers have become your most valuable asset. They might write product reviews, post about their experience with your company on social media, and start recommending you to their friends and family. To maintain their loyalty, hold giveaway contests, establish loyalty programs, and continuously provide them with valuable content.

If you can optimize these five customer lifecycle steps, you will quickly notice that customers are more satisfied, which will naturally lead to them recommending you to others.

2. Launch your referral program

Referral programs help incentivize your existing customers to share your product with their friends and family. Referral programs work best as a word-of-mouth marketing strategy when the whole process is seamless for the customers.

To get started, follow these steps:

1. Select your referral program software. Without good referral software, you can't make your referral program scalable. Referral program software, like ReferralCandy, lets you set up your referral program, enable post-purchase pop-ups and emails, and automate customer rewards.
2. Add referral incentive. Referral incentive is the reward you promise to your customers when they refer your products to their friends and family. Two of the most popular incentives are cash rewards and discounts. For example, you could set up a 'Give $10, Get $10' off incentive.
3. Create a referral landing page. A referral landing page allows referrals to sign up for your referral program. On your landing page, you should use a clear call to action, make the rewards clearly visible, and have a low-friction form where customers can sign up.
4. Invite customers to join the program. Setting up a post-purchase email is the easiest way to invite customers to join your referral program. For old customers, you can send a dedicated email explaining that you've just created a referral program and offer them an incentive.

These steps will help to get your referral program up and running. After this, you should continuously monitor the performance to get more referrals.

3. Use social media to your advantage

We love sharing examples from successful ecommerce brands, so let's see how Oodie uses social media to enhance its word-of-mouth marketing strategy.

They have built up a large Instagram following of over 400,000 followers, and every day; they share stories of customers wearing their product, which is a wearable long hoodie.

They also continuously encourage user-generated content through emails and then share it on their Instagram feed.

From a word-of-mouth marketing perspective, this has many benefits.

The first is that Oodie gets free engagement from customers who share the products on their Instagram pages. The second one is that when potential customers see the community Oodie has built, they are more inclined to join and purchase their products.

They are also likely to invite their friends to join the Oodie community and wear the hoodies together.

Similarly, you could start building a community among your customers, either through social media or email (or both). 

4. Encourage customers to create UGC content

According to research done by Nosto, 81% of marketers believe visual user-generated content resonates more with customers than professionally shot photos.

User-generated content is often seen as less pushy, making it easier for customers to trust the brand.

One of the best ways to encourage customers to create UGC content is to offer them incentives. For example, this could mean giving them a discount on their next purchase or giving them a chance to win a free product.

5. Make use of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing has been on a steady rise for a long time, and it's expected to be worth $24 billion by the end of 2024.

Influencer marketing is also one of the most steady word-of-mouth advertising strategies out there.

To use influencer marketing, you need to pay an influencer to promote your product on their social media pages. In exchange, they will link to your website in hopes of bringing you new customers.

You can contact the influencers through email or directly within the social media platform.

6. Collect and publish customer reviews

99.9% of consumers read reviews when shopping online, and 98% say reviews are essential when it comes to making a purchase.

This just proves the power of authentic customer reviews, which is why you should also use them for word-of-mouth marketing.

To collect customer reviews, send an automated email to every customer after they receive their order. Getting customer reviews without giving anything in return can be difficult, so offer them an incentive, such as a discount on their next purchase.

Once you have started collecting reviews, you should publish them on pages where additional social proof is needed.

The most common places to add reviews are:

• Product pages. For example, see how Dockatot adds customer reviews to their product pages:

• Home page. A common place to showcase customer reviews is a home page. Home page reviews are typically short and to the point, like here:

• Social media page. If you have started building your social media page following, it's a great place to showcase customer reviews.
• Emails. Whether you are sending a welcome email, survey email, promotional email, or any other type of email, customer reviews can add credibility.
• Dedicated review page. Some brands also have a dedicated review page that is all about increasing social proof through customer reviews.

Collecting and publishing online reviews helps to influence consumers who aren't just ready to buy from you.

7. Do small extras that customers will remember

If you think of brands that have made a lasting impression on you, it's usually because they went the extra mile to exceeding customer expectations. Because of this, you might have even recommended their products or services to your friends and family.

It can be as simple as:

• Remember customer names: For example, if a customer emails you after a purchase, the simple thing of remembering/knowing their name will make them feel more special.
• Provide them with freebies. If a customer buys something from you, you can give them a complimentary product. This doesn't have to be anything big to make customers feel valued.
• Host giveaways. For example, you can host a giveaway of a free product for all of your customers. You can inform them about the giveaway through emails and social media.
• Create educational content. You can share educational content on your blog, social media pages, or via emails, such as newsletters. This should be related to your niche and product so customers can relate to it more.
• Give customers a bigger reason to buy from you. Many potential buyers prefer brands that have a bigger mission behind them. For example, 4Ocean mentions that they clean 5 pounds of trash for every bracelet purchased.

These are just a few extra things you can do!

Top word of mouth marketing examples

Next, let's look at three word-of-mouth marketing examples from other ecommerce brands.

We show you what they did to succeed so you can take inspiration for your own campaigns.

1. Branch Basics

Branch Basics is a brand that offers eco-friendly all-purpose cleaning concentrates. They used ReferralCandy to launch their referral program with the hopes of generating awareness in the competitive cleaning market.

Brand Basics made the referral program simple:

• First-time customers received a $10 discount
• For referring a friend, customers received $10 off their next order, which could be applied to their next purchase

To spread the word, they sent emails to customers encouraging them to join the referral program. Customers were directed to this landing page:

As a result, Branch Basics created over $1.5 million in sales through the referral program. Close to 10% of their total sales came from referral sales, proving the effectiveness of it when implemented right.

2. 4Ocean

4Ocean is a great example of how to generate buzz about your brand and get people talking. Their main product is a bracelet that cleans five pounds of trash every time someone purchases it.

They post videos on Instagram showing them cleaning trash out of the ocean and protecting animals, such as turtles.

Doing this, they have gained a whopping 3+ million followers on Instagram and have made it one of their primary channels for customer acquisition.

In the same way, you can use viral marketing techniques like this as your word-of-mouth advertising strategy.

3. Endy

Endy is doing an extremely good job of collecting and publishing satisfied customers reviews on their website and social media posts.

After the customer receives their product, they send them an email asking for a review.

This is how Endy showcases customer reviews on their home page:

They also have a dedicated page where customers can read the over 30,000 reviews Endy has received.

On top of these, they also show the reviews on their product pages and social media.

If you're looking to use reviews as your word-of-mouth marketing strategy (which you probably should), Endy is one of the best brands from which to take inspiration.

Word of mouth marketing strategy checklist

To conclude, here is a checklist of the seven word-of-mouth marketing strategies we recommend:

1. Maintain a strong customer lifecycle during all its stages, including reach, acquisition, conversion, retention, and loyalty.
2. Launch your referral program with referral software, such as ReferralCandy.
3. Take advantage of social media sites to start building up a community
4. Utilize influencer marketing on platforms like Instagram and TikTok
5. Encourage customers to create user-generated content and then share it
6. Collect and publish customer reviews on your website, social media, and emails
7. Do small extra things for customers, such as remembering their names, providing them with freebies, or hosting giveaways.

Utilizing these seven strategies, your customers are more likely to be satisfied with your brand, and they will naturally recommend your products and services to others. That's the essence of word-of-mouth marketing!

Further reading

Here are some articles that we think might be able to help you enhance your word-of-mouth strategy further:

• 22 Examples of Providing Practical Value in Marketing
• The 7 Best Referral Program Ideas (And One That Doesn't Work)
• How to Use Referral Marketing to Scale Your Organic Customer Acquisition

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, subscribe to our newsletter where we share our latest articles and helpful resources.

Referral landing page is one of the most important pieces of your referral program. This is the page that determines whether or not new customers join your referral program.

We've recently updated our latest guide to referral programs, including resources from the basics to the advanced, as well as examples. Once you've set up your referral program, it's time for you to take it to the next level by optimizing your referral landing page.

To help you with that, we have listed 25+ referral landing page examples you can use as inspiration for your own. You'll learn how to optimize your referral landing page and effectively encourage your best customers to spread the word about your brand!

(NOTE: If you're interested in setting up a referral program for your Shopify store, I'd suggest trying ReferralCandy for free here, or perhaps you need more inspiration for your referral emails? If so, check out our post on the best referral email design examples.)

What is a referral landing page?

The referral landing page is a page that encourages visitors to sign up for your referral program by explaining the rewards they can get— either a discount coupon or a freebie when they refer someone. To run a successful referral program, you need an effective referral landing page so customers actually join your program.

A successful referral landing page usually includes the following:

• Heading highlighting the reward
• Body text explaining how the referral program works
• Referral form where customers can join the program
• FAQ section answering any common questions
• Terms of service section explaining who is eligible for the program
• Hero image (or any other image) that is related to the program
• A strong call to action

For example, this is the referral landing page for Adore Beauty:

Source

Brands then promote the referral landing page through different sales channels, such as email, SMS, social media, and through promotional cards included in customer packages.

The reason why so many brands have referral landing pages and referral programs is that all referral marketing revenue comes from new customers. This is different from other marketing methods, such as email marketing, which takes revenue from existing clients. This allows brands to tap into a new market that they would not get access to otherwise.

What makes a good referral landing page? 7 helpful tips

All the most successful referral landing pages have the same things in common. Let's go through some factors that come into play.

1. Using a catchy headline

“Assume your audience isn't interested. Write a headline that spotlights the most compelling, most irresistible part of your content.” - Charlie Meyerson

Headlines are the first thing that people read when they click on your referral landing page. It's the best opportunity to wow them so that they'd want to learn more about your program.

2. Making rewards clearly visible

When people click on your referral landing page, they're expecting to know what they can get out of it. And that's where mentioning your incentives is important.

After you've grabbed your customers' attention with a compelling title, it's time to drop more information to convince them to join the program.

You can show the rewards on the body text, or many brands even showcase the rewards in the heading, which is known to be an effective strategy.

3. Using power words

Power words are often used to trigger psychological or emotional responses from readers. These power words tend to be persuasive and can easily convince people to take action.

Some power words and phrases include:

• Free
• Earn more
• Get more
• While they last
• Login required
• Members only
• Be one of the few

4. Using relevant and appealing images

Ideally, the image on your referral landing page should be something that helps prospects relate to your brand or product. Alternatively, it could also be a picture that enables them to visualize themselves enjoying your product or service.

The image quality is also an important component. Why? Because using low-quality images indicates unprofessionalism, and that isn't something you'd want prospects to associate your brand with.

5. Having a clear call to action (CTA)

Now that you've got your headline, your images, your form in place, it's down to the final step of converting your prospects into leads by clicking that call to action button. 

CTAs can be general with words like “Next”, or “Start sharing today”. Alternatively, they could also fit the message of your brand— if your brand places emphasis on the community, you could change it up to “Share the love”.

Some examples of CTAs:

• Invite friends
• Refer friends
• Start sharing
• Get your referral link
• Get invite link
• Get my code
• Share the love
• Spread the word
• Get $10 off
• Refer and earn

6. Maintaining your brand identity

The colors you use should reflect your brand and style, but at the same time, they should stand out so that prospects know where exactly to click and what exactly to do next.

Making sure that your CTA button is noticeable and in the “right” place is also essential so that it doesn't cause confusion.

7. Including a low-friction form

Low friction forms tend to have one or two fields— most of the time, it's the prospect's name and email address. It keeps things simple while allowing you to collect the most essential information to connect with them.

Friction happens when something in the design of the landing page slows the user down or makes it difficult for them to accomplish their task.

The main goal is to get as many people to sign up for the program as possible. And people dropping off the page because of a form with way too many fields clearly isn't ideal.

25+ Referral Landing Page Examples (& Why They Work)

Next, let's dive into the best referral landing page examples!

For each example, we will:

• Link to the referral landing page so you can check it out yourself
• Tell about the brand and what their referral page is all about
• Explain why the referral program works so well

Let's start!

1. Alohas

Alohas is a fashion brand known for its sustainable approach to producing footwear and apparel. As part of their growth strategy, their referral page features a simple 'Give $20, get $20 off' referral program.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The style of the referral page matches their brand voice extremely well
• The referral program is explained in a way that everyone can understand it
• Under the main text, Alohas shows in simple steps how the referral program works:

• Alohas gives its customers a chance to win a pair of free Alohas if they get 5 referrals

• At the bottom of the page, Alohas makes it easy for customers to join the referral program through a form

2. Honeylove

Honeylove is a brand known for its stylish shapewear that combines function and fashion. They created a landing page where they show their '$20 off and get $20 off for each friend' referral program.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Showcases clearly the benefit friends receive ($20 off) and the benefit referrals receive ($20 off).
• The referral program is explained in three simple steps on the landing page:

• The 'Share the Love' text is heavily related to the brand message Honeylove is sharing

3. Saie

Saie is a beauty brand known for its commitment to clean and environmentally friendly makeup. Take a look at how Saie makes it easy for their customers to join the referral program by only asking for an email address.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The big heading 'GIVE $10, GET $10' encourages potential customers to join
• The banner image behind the referral form is in tune with Saie's brand identity
• The only thing Saie asks customers to fill in is an email address, making it extremely easy to join the referral program

4. Feel

Feel is a brand that focuses on creating high-quality nutritional supplements to enhance overall wellness. They have one of the most interesting referral landing pages, which offers existing customers the opportunity to receive £5 through PayPal for every successful referral.

If you want to create a similar landing page, where you pay directly to customers through PayPal, you can use referral software, such as ReferralCandy.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Direct cash payment, which is a huge incentive for potential referrals
• The use of bold text to highlight the most important parts of the referral program
• The use of the PayPal logo to create a sense of familiarity with customers
• The referral program is explained in three simple steps:

5. TRIP

TRIP is a UK-based brand for CBD oils and CBD drinks. TRIP has a good example of one of the classic referral pages. It's easy to understand and take action through the referral link.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The image on the right showcases all the main products of TRIP
• The call to action button shows the incentive (GIVE £15 OFF)
• The simplicity of the page matches well with TRIP's brand feel
• TRIP shows social proof under the referral program section:

6. Bees & Trees

Bees & Trees is committed to producing high-quality, raw, and unprocessed Manuka honey. Through their dedicated landing page for referrals, they promise $10 off for every referred friend.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The first texts, 'Save on your next order' and 'Get $10 off', are strong incentives for potential referrers
• The referral page follows the same design principles as other Bees & Trees pages
• The referral page explains what Manuka honey is (The main product of Bees & Trees)

• The referral program is explained in clear steps

7. Our Place

Our Place offers stylish cookware products designed to simplify a variety of kitchen tasks. Since their products are high-ticket, they can offer referrals and their referred friends up to $20 off.

Why this referral landing page works:

• A great hero shot to help prospects imagine themselves benefitting from buying their pots and pans.
• The hero image includes not just the product but also the whole ambience of a homemade dining experience alongside the warm colors used.
• The call to action button stands out on the page, ensuring customers don't miss it

8. Skinny Food Co

Skinny Food Co is a UK-based brand that provides healthier low-calorie and sugar-free food products. Their customer referral program offers a discount of 20% to both the referral and the person they refer.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Skinny Food Co's referral program landing page involves a large hero image showcasing the 'referral and the friend'.

• Skinny Food Go explains well the benefits both the referral and the friend get from the program
• The referral program is explained clearly in the 'How to Get Started' section:

9. Esker Beauty

Esker Beauty is a skincare brand that focuses on natural body care products that use plant-based ingredients. Their referral page showcases their referral program, which is a simplistic 'Give $25, Get $25' for each successful referral.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Esker Beauty ensures that their page is clean and simple and makes use of white spaces to direct prospects' sight to what matters most.
• The simplicity of the page keeps customers engaged, focused, and able to comprehend the message better.
• Instead of using a generic image, the image showcases the product in use

10. Recess

Recess is primarily known for its CBD-infused sparkling waters, aiming to provide a calming experience without the use of alcohol. To get new customers for their products, they have a referral page showcasing their 'give $10, get $10' referral marketing program.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The landing page follows brand tone and voice with the right colors and text
• The text explains different ways customers can share the referral link (text, slack, email, or in the next Zoom call)
• The simplistic style of the page ensures customers actually understand what the referral program is all about

11. LAY LO

LAY LO is a brand designing high-quality dog beds with a focus on both comfort and style. Their referral page showcases a 'give $20, get $20' referral program. It's one of the most simplistic referral page examples that anyone can implement.

Why this referral landing page works:

• LAY LO has one of the most simple referral program landing pages, which includes a short heading, body text, form, and a call to action for the referral link
• To increase customer loyalty and awareness, LAY LO asks their customers to share a picture of the product in use. When sharing the picture, customers can share the referral link with new potential buyers.

12. TWOTHIRDS

TWOTHIRDS is a fashion brand with a strong environmental focus and aims to produce high-quality clothing with minimal impact on the planet. Although they operate in the fashion niche, their referral page is an example that can be executed in any niche.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The banner image that is heavily related to the brand
• Simple 'START REFERRING' call to action that leads to a page where customers get the instructions

13. Bokksu

Bokksu is a subscription service that delivers Japanese snacks and teas directly from Japan to subscribers worldwide. To get more customer referrals, they created a customer referral program where both the referral and the friend get $15 off.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Uses its brand color, which is a vibrant orange, as well as white, to show the contrast of its CTA button.
• The use of two bright colors draws the attention of prospects looking at this page for the first time.

14. Super Smalls

Super Smalls is an ecommerce brand that creates sparkly and playful accessories aimed at children. They use a playful 'Be a Super Friend' referral page to catch the attention of their customers.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Using the phrase “Be A Super Friend” as the headline. While it coincides nicely with their overall brand name— a plus point, it is also a strong power word since it captures the attention of readers.
• The image on the left side relates to the theme of 'refer a friend' extremely well

15. Amass

Amass offers a wide range of products focused on both social and self-care. Like many other examples in our article, this is another landing page that can be implemented in any niche.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Action words tell customers exactly what they should do next. Amass directs their prospects to the next step by telling them to “Refer a Friend” on their CTA button.
• Amass makes it clear that once customers submit an email, they get a personalized referral links they can share.

16. Omsom

Omsom offers a variety of cooking sauces and noodle kits that allow customers to prepare Asian dishes at home. To entice existing customers to refer friends, they use a 'GIVE $10, GET $10' referral landing page offering.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Omsom also showcases its menu offerings on its referral landing page, similarly to entice prospects to refer their products to their friends.
• The referral page follows the right brand colours and designs extremely well. Even the image has an orange-yellow theme, which is Omsom's main brand color.

17. Stylevana

Stylevana specializes in Asian beauty and skincare products, offering a wide selection of items from both well-known and niche brands. They combine giving members $10 off for referring a friend as well as giving 'Vana points'.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The referral page has a large hero image that explains in simple steps how the program works
• Stylevana offers extra 'Vana points' for customers who refer people in
• The benefits of the program are clearly outlined below the main text:

18. Daniel Footwear

Daniel Footwear is a British brand established in 1993. It is known for its extensive range of both men's and women's shoes. Their referral page showcases their program where they offer 15% off for the referrer and a friend.

Why this referral landing page works:

• More information doesn't necessarily mean better results, which is what Daniel Footwear understands. They use a lot of empty space on the referral page, only including a short heading, body text, a call to action button, and an image of one of their products.

19. Starface

Starface is a skincare brand that specializes in treating acne with a fun and positive approach. Starface does their referral page the classic way, giving new customers $10 off and referrals also receiving $10 off.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The copy is simple and straight to the point, large enough to stand out on the page, and follows the flow where readers' eyes will go— such as to the right or bottom of the form.
• The referral page is colourful, which is part of how Starface presents itself

20. Buddy Bites

Buddy Bites provides high-quality, vet-approved dog food through a subscription-based model. From our list of examples, they have one of the most simple customer referral programs, which is showcased on their referral page.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The referral page heading starts with a question, which hooks the customer in.
• Buddy Bites offers quite a big discount for both the referrer and the friend ($25 off)
• The colourful call to action button catches attention quickly:

21. Yaya Papaya

Yaya Papaya is a fruit and vegetable business based in Singapore, offering a subscription service for regular home deliveries of fruit boxes. On their referral landing page, they promise a 15% discount for every new customer referral brought in.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Yaya Papaya explains well how the referral program is a 'win-win' for both the referral and the friend
• The two headings do a good job of answering what the referral program is and how it works
• The FAQ section below the main text that answers all other common questions customers may have

22. Otty

Otty is a UK-based brand known for its high-quality hybrid mattresses, delivering superior comfort and support. They have an interesting referral page, offering customers a £25 Amazon gift card if their friends pass the 100-night trial.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The referral program is unique and involves a chance to win a £25 gift card to Amazon
• Otty sells high-ticket products, so they're more strict with their referral program. However, they explain the terms of service clearly below the main section:

23. Bulk

Bulk is an ecommerce brand specializing in sports and fitness nutrition. Out of all the referral rewards on our example list, Bulk offers the most generous reward, 45%, for both the referrer and the friend.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The call to action button is a strong incentive (GIVE 45% OFF)
• Bulk products are products that customers can buy monthly (such as protein powders), so customers are more likely to take advantage of the referral program since they can save a lot of money.

24. Ten Little

Ten Little is a brand that emphasizes the creation of shoes that support the natural growth and development of a child’s feet. To get an existing customer to spread the word about their brand, they have created a 'Give $5, get $5' referral page offering.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Ten Little has chosen to use the cash rewards in their headlines to grab the reader's attention. It is also a way for prospects to easily understand what they stand to gain from being a part of the referral program.
• The simplicity of the page is one strong element of this referral page. The page only includes a short heading, body text, referral link form, and a background image.

25. LOOKFANTASTIC

LOOKFANTASTIC is a online beauty retailer, featuring over 660 premium brands with more than 22,000 items. Similarly to Ten Little, their referral page showcases their 'Give £5, get £5' referral program.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The three steps explain the referral program process in a simple way
• The page has multiple different images, and they're all related to each other
• Under the three steps, you can see an FAQ section. If customers have more questions, they most likely find an answer here.

26. Joanie

Joanie offers products like dresses, knitwear, skirts, and tops that are both fun and flattering. On their referral page, they offer existing customers a chance to refer friends and get 15% off for both.

Why this referral landing page works:

• The first sentence of the heading matches the brand messaging of Joanie well (Any friend of yours if a friend of ours).
• The image on the right showcases well how Joanie's clothing would look on the referrer and his friend.
• Below the main section, Joanie provides customers with more reasons of why they should buy:

27. Native

Native is a personal care brand offering products like body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and sunscreen. They showcase a 'Give 20%, Get 20%' offering on their referral page.

Why this referral landing page works:

• Native keeps things clean on their referral landing page. A simple theme, simple form, and a next button to get the referral going.
• They explain well and humorously who you can share the link with (friends, enemies, social networks, crushes).

4 extra tips for making your referral program landing page more effective

1. Optimize the referral page for mobile

Mobile web traffic accounts for 60.67% of global web traffic. If you're still not optimizing your landing page for mobile users, you might be losing out on double the potential prospects you could have.

2. Include a FAQ segment

FAQ segments are good to have on your referral landing page, especially if your referral program is slightly more complicated. It's an easy way for you to answer commonly asked questions from people interested in your program.

At the same time, it gives you space to explain your program without squeezing too much information into your headline or blurb.

3. A/B test your landing page

Create several referral landing pages and change up a small element each time, be it your headline copy, your blurb copy, or even your CTA button. This way, you'll be able to identify which combination works well.

You can do this with a referral program software like ReferralCandy.

4. Make a good use of the white space

Most people tend to skim through copy and pull out information deemed important to them. That is why it's important to make sure that your referral landing page isn't overly cluttered with images, copy, CTA buttons, and forms all over the place. Besides having a structured layout, knowing how to place around with white spaces is a good design practice.

In a nutshell

A successful referral program landing page should include elements, including a strong CTA, heading, hero image, body text explaining the program, and an FAQ section.

A well-put-together referral landing page is crucial in getting your customers to spread the word about your product or service. It's easy to create a landing page but not easy making it a good one.

If you enjoyed reading this, check out our 30+ examples of awesome friend landing pages and perfect your landing pages with more inspiration.

Or if you're looking to beautify your referral landing page, check out EComposer Shopify Page Builder, which is fully integrated with Referral Candy.

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