Referral Program Design
Turning happy customers into a sales channel.
Workflow
Step 1Objectives
ObjectiveDefine the referral program's goal.
InputBusiness goals
OutputProgram goals
Key activities
Set what the program must deliver
Decision points
What do we want?
Tools: PlanningRoles: Marketing
Success: Goals set
Quality gate: Go: clear. Loop back: vague.
Why it matters
- Referred customers convert higher and churn lower. A referral program turns your best asset (trust) into pipeline.
Best practices
- Make referring effortless for the customer.
- Reward both sides — referrer and referee.
- Ask at the moment of peak satisfaction.
- Track referrals end to end.
Common mistakes
- Referral asks buried in fine print.
- Incentives that cheapen the ask.
- No tracking — referrals lost in the void.
Key questions
- When are customers happiest — and easiest to ask?
- Is the incentive worth the referral?
Agents that drive this
Campaign BuilderAttribution
Tools we use · alternates in [ ]
Notion[ Confluence, Obsidian ]Metabase[ Looker Studio, Power BI, Grafana ]HubSpot[ Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio ]