Top 10 Referral Marketing Programs

Global brands use referral marketing programs, also called incentivized sharing, to accelerate new customer growth. We've compiled a list of our top 10 favorite referral programs, not only to explain their offers but best practice Takeaways that can be adapted for your own referral marketing program.

Uber has one of the most well known referral marketing programs. So many people had their first incentivized sharing experience through Uber that they are often credited with popularizing the concept. Both the new customer and referrer typically receive $15 to $20 in ride credit, depending on the city.

Takeaway: Uber is a great example to help explain your referral marketing program because customers are likely to have heard of or used Uber's program.

Electric car maker Tesla started their first referral program with a $1,000 dual incentive, with the first person to have 10 referrals earning a new car. That’s what we call strong motivation, so much that it prompted a customer to pay for a billboard advertisement to promote their referral link. Tesla updates their program regularly, with the latest offer being $1000 off Model S and X cars and free Supercharger access, only available through referral.

Takeaway: With the right incentives, your customers will promote their referral link far and wide.

Amazon is one of the best known names in retail. But not everyone understands the benefits of their Prime membership program. Amazon offers a $5 dual incentive referral offer for current members who recommend Prime. While the $5 incentive is not very generous, the Prime program has great benefits and is rarely discounted.

Takeaway: People will still talk about your brand even if the offer is not very generous. Just make sure your product or service is as awesome as Amazon Prime.

Vonage started as a residential VOIP telephone service and an early referral marketer, offering one month of free service for both new and referring customer. Their current program offers $50 in gift cards for residential lines but large cash bonuses, as much as $10,000, for business referrals.

Takeaway: Don't be afraid of trying referral marketing for a Business to Business (B2B) product.

California’s Eaze is the leader in on-demand Medical Cannabis delivery. They offer $60 for each new customer to use evenly across their first three orders and $20-$40 in store credit for the person who referred them.

Takeaway: Your customers probably know others who will enjoy your product or service. Referral Marketing is a great way to reach out to like minded people.

Dropbox offers 500MB of additional storage for every new customer referral, up to 16 GB. The offer is explained next to the amount of storage used, which reminds users of the offer when they need it most.

Takeaway: You can provide an upgraded service as your reward, not just discounts.

Evernote's referral program rewards points for initial referrals and additional points if referred users sign up for the Premium service.

Takeaway: Like Dropbox, Evernote used upgraded services as a reward, but they introduced multiple point earning opportunities and saving points to build up to larger redemptions.

Airbnb used referral marketing to help introduce the alternative lodging concept. New ideas, like trusting others to take care of your house, need confirmation from friends that it works well. Referral Marketing helped spread the word that Airbnb is a great way to stay in unique places and make additional money by hosting. They offer $25 for a new stay referral but $75 for someone who becomes a host.

Takeaway: Referral Marketing helped Airbnb introduce a concept where it's important to know someone who has already had success with it.

Last minute hotel room app Hotel Tonight offers a $25 dual incentive for each referral.

Takeaway: Similar to Airbnb, Hotel Tonight delivers a new lodging experience that might make new users nervous because hotel plans are made very close to the date of the stay. Friends can help confirm their past success and explain how they used it, reducing barriers to trying the service.

Capital One 360 - Capital One 360 is an online only bank account originally introduced by ING Direct. After Capital One acquired ING’s product, they kept the referral program even with their well known banking brand. The current offer is $25 to new customers and $25 to the person who referred them.

Takeaway: While banking and payment apps can offer cash referral benefits, most businesses should use discounts because your cost of delivering that product or service is probably less than the face value.

You may have noticed the top 10 referral programs, except for Tesla, all are app or web based products. ReferLink is the first referral marketing program that works for any business - no app or web commerce required. Instead, we leverage Facebook Messenger, the most popular chat platform in order for customers to signup and begin sharing their link, no lengthy forms to fill out or new apps to download.