Thinking of putting together a referral program, but not quite sure what to expect, and looking for some sort of referral program template to follow? Want to get a peek at others' referral emails templates or social sharing messages to get started, but don't know where to look?

We got you covered.

What are the templates you'll need in a referral program?

We've broken down the templates by who will be interacting with them, whether it's your customers, their referred friends, or everybody in general. Click to jump to each of the sections below, or leap to our referral program templates checklist.

• Referral incentives – what rewards you will offer your Advocates and their Friends
• Referral program Call-to-Action and signup page – a place to let your customers know about your referral program, and for them to signup
• Referral emails – to send your customers their referral link
• Reminder emails – to remind your customers about the referral program (for example after they receive the product)
• Reward emails – to inform them about their reward status: pending, successful or cancelled
• Referral sharing messages – default phrasing for your advocates to use when sharing their referral links online
• Referral landing pages – default phrasing for your advocates to use when sharing their referral links online

ReferralCandy makes it easy for you to produce all of the above assets, with easy-to-use template editors, and step by step advice on how to promote your referral program.

Referral Incentives Template: What to Offer

We have a more in-depth article on how to choose your referral program incentives, but here's a brief summary. First, there are two sets of incentives you need to decide on:

1. the Referral Reward, given to the advocate who refers their friend, and
2. the Friend Offer, which the friend gets upon being referred.

Understanding your customers is key to offering them what they want.

• If your advocates are likely to make repeat purchases, give discounts to encourage them to make another purchase. 10% is a good place to start.
• If you're a subscription service, consider giving a free month
• If your advocates are unlikely to make repeat purchases (long purchase cycle), give cash.
• Apply the rule of 100: use whatever looks like the bigger number:
• 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)
• Remember to focus on your customers’ interests and motivations. Custom rewards like exclusive limited pieces or unique experiences may mean a lot more to customers
• Two-sided incentives (rewarding both the referring customer and the referred friend) work for everyone.

Mattresses have a long purchase cycle, so Leesa offers cash instead of a discount.
The donation to charity is a nice touch and offers unique branding for Leesa.

Sample referral calls-to-action templates:

Why put the call-to-action on your homepage? It makes sense to let everyone know about your referral program. Returning customers will want to take advantage of the referral rewards, while new customers will know to make referrals after their purchase for extra rewards.

Here are some templates to follow for putting the Call-to-Action (CTA) on your homepage:

Perrobox dangles the attractive referral incentive on their navigation bar

Customers will sniff out the good deal for a barking good time

Oola Tea marks their referral CTA is in its navigation bar, front-and-centre:

Read more about how Oola Tea makes referrals a part of their online strategy

Brode Electrolyte Vitamins uses a pop-up widget:

The benefit of putting the call to action in a pop-up widget or the navigation bar, is so the referral program CTA will always be visible, no matter which part of the site the visitor is at. You can also check out our article on 10 Examples of Prominent (and Successful!) Referral Program Calls-to-Actions.

By the way - you might be wondering where the CTAs would link to...

Referral program sign-up page template

Some merchants like to enrol customers into their referral program automatically, but you may choose to allow your customers to enrol manually. It's also a good chance for you to showcase your amazing referral program offer.

Oola Tea invites you to share a cuppa and makes it easy to sign up

Riff Raff n Co makes getting a toy free and easy

ReferralCandy offers you the flexibility to offer referral rewards, even to non-customers, so long as they enroll in the referral program. Riff Raff & Co offer a free toy with five successful referrals, so customers - or hardworking salesy hustlers - can get one of their popular toys for free.

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Sample referral email template:

These are the emails that you send your existing customers after they've signed up for your referral program. Some merchants automatically enroll new customers into the program to encourage them to make more referrals.

The role of this email is to convince customers and advocates to share the Referral Link with their friends - but some merchants go a step further as a branding opportunity.

Become an Ambassador and Earn Cash in POPRAGEOUS' referral email

Brooklinen's referral email is poetry in motion

Lingerie retailer Leonisa has a snug-fitting email

Reward and reminder emails can be simple variations of the first referral email, but their impact should not be overlooked. Customers will be eager to claim their rewards and make more referrals once they receive their reward emails. Because of shipping and delivery times, merchants also set reminder emails to be sent to the customer after the products have arrived, or when it's nearing time to buy the next box of teas/set of razors/renew subscriptions.

Check out more examples of referral emails with beautiful, compelling designs, or jump back to the Menu.

Sample referral sharing message template:

Social media is an extremely popular way to share - and you can expand your advocate's sharing options to more than just emails and URLs. ReferralCandy lets customers share a default social sharing post, or customise it with their own text and images. Since they get their own personalised referral links, some ardent advocates make their own videos, graphics or sharing posts and really go far.

But with the right lead image and some tight copy, even the default sharing message can become eye-catching and click-worthy.

(Check out how to get your referral message right here.)

Check out 120+ more examples of referral sharing messages.

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Sample referral landing page templates:

For referred friends, this is the first thing they'll see when they click on a referral link (from an email, social share or post). Here's your chance to blow them away with the amazing friend offer -- and also put your brand and values front and centre. Here are some impressive pages, and

GREATS' Friend Landing Page Offers the Discount Right Out of the Box

Flat Tummy Tea’s Friend Landing Page Makes You Want To Tell All Your Babes

Strong use of a ‘hero image’ with a very strong call to action is the key to success. (And yes, you can build a Friend Landing Page easily and intuitively with ReferralCandy's page editor.)

Check out 30+ more examples of Friend Landing Pages.

Here's a referral program templates checklist, just for you

Congratulations for making it this far! You'll have seen how some great designs and savvy brands are building their referral programs for success. Now it's your turn to get your referral marketing right. It's time for you to learn how to set up your referral program. To help you keep track of what you'll need, here's a simple image: