An Epic List Of 47 Referral Programs

From Referral Candy, an epic list of 47 referral program examples for businesses of all types.

A. "Best practice" referral program examples

1. Dropbox's famous referral program gives you and your friends 500MB additional free storage space, up to 16GB: this is a legendary referral program as Dropbox's refer-a-friend feature permanently increased signups by 60%, with users sending 2.8 million direct referral invites by April 2010

2. PayPal's referral program literally gave users (and their friends) cash - something payment platforms can get away with: referrals helped PayPal achieve 7 to 10% daily growth, catapulting their user base to over 100 million members

3. Airbnb's referral program - the 2nd iteration was even more successful than the 1st!: "Airbnb created a referral program [...] launched in a private beta to 2,161 existing members and brought in 2,107 new members, nearly achieving a viral growth factor of 1."

4. Uber's referral program lets you give your friends the gift of discounted first rides:
Simple! And with a clear call-to-action to refer friends. The bar at the bottom is a cunning little piece of gamification -- everybody wants to fill up progress bars

5. Evernote's referral program gives your friends Premium- and you get points that you can use towards Premium or increased monthly uploads: Evernote has a dual-sided referral incentive program that gives people additional space and/or Premium membership.

6. Amazon Prime's referral program is pretty well put together - no surprise, coming from a market leader like Amazon!: Prime members are a lucrative demographic, spending 2x more than others, and ordering more times per year



7. Flash sales: Amuze's referral program gives you and your friends $25 off your next flash sale purchase

8. Adventure Gear: The Clymb's referral program is very stylish!: The Clymb sells sporting and adventure gear. Interestingly, they've changed their referral reward structure- initially it was $15 credit for a minimum purchase of $50. At the time of writing, it's now $10 credit, but for a minimum purchase of $25

9. Accessories & Stationery: Erin Condren's referral program uses a delightful GIF to explain the process: Erin Condren sells clutches, t-shirts, notebooks, papers, stickers and all sorts of fashionable accessories

10. Lingerie: True&Co's referral program has strong visual images

11. Wool Products: Wool Overs' referral program has some nice copy and visuals. 10% off to Referred Friends, 5% cash reward to Advocates: 11. Wool Products: Wool Overs' referral program has some nice copy and visuals. 10% off to Referred Friends, 5% cash reward to Advocates

12. Designer sneakers: GREATS feature their referral program on every page- including their about page!: Greats is a Brooklyn-based brand that sells designer sneakers at an affordable price. They give both Advocates and Friends $10 off their next order

13. Watches & Accessories: DapperTime's referral program gives you $10 cash for every successful referral you make: DapperTime has a very loyal (and stylish) following on Instagram, which pretty much guaranteed the inevitable success of their referral program

14. Lingerie: Leonisa's referral program gives Advocates $20 off and Friends 10% off

15. Sandals & Footwear: Okabashi's referral program has Referred Friends spending 13.2% more on average!: Okabashi is the largest manufacturer of sandals and flip flops in the United States

16. Student Discounts: Perkla's referral program gives students 20% off on various aggregated fashion products:

17. Designer dress shoes: Beckett Simonon's referral program gives $25 credit to both Advocate and Friend: Stylish, hand-crafted, full-grain leather shoes at affordable prices

18. Dresses: Sesura's referral program gives discounts and coupons to encourage shoppers to buy more

B2. Beauty & Grooming Referral Program Examples

19. Shaving Razors: Dorco USA's Referral Program gives Friends 20% off while Advocates get 5% of their friends' purchase: Famous for being the blades used by Dollar Shave Club, Dorco sells great razor blades at an affordable price

20. Speciality Razors: Bevel's Referral Program gives Friends and Advocates a free month each for every successful referral: Bevel sells shaving products designed specifically for people with curly hair, coarse skin and so on

21. Monthly Beauty Subscription Boxes: Julep's Referral Program gives both Advocate and Friend $15 credit

22. Cosmetics Subscription Box: Blush's referral program gives $10 credit to both Friend and Advocate

B3. Electronic & Gadget Referral Program Examples

23. Smart Kitchen Robot: Mellow's referral program- tell your friends about a super-cool smart sous vide machine: Mellow sells a really cool smart kitchen robot that can cook sous vide for you while you're not even at home

24. Bluesmart's Referral Program - Give $20, get $20 when buying smart luggage: Bluesmart sells smart luggage. Never lose your luggage again

25. Wearables: Pavlok's referral program - Advocates get 20% of friend's purchase in cash: Pavlok is a wearable device that helps you change your habits

26. Futuristic luggage: Trunkster's referral program gives $30 cash to Advocates, and $30 off to Referred Friends: Trunkster, like Pavlok, is one of Shopify Build-a-Business winners in 2015

27. Hardy phone cases: Rhino Shield's referral program - gives Advocates 15% off their next purchase when they successfully refer 3 friends: Are you a clumsy person with a history of dropping and damaging your precious tech devices? Do you know somebody who is? Then EvolutiveLabs' Rhino Shield is just for you. Klutzes know klutzes, so Rhino Shield is served well by a referral program

28. Super Thin iPhone Cases: Peel's referral program gives Advocates 40% off all products, and Referred Friends 20% off

29. Ztylus's Referral Program - phone cases designed specifically to improve your camera experience: Ztylus sells incredibly versatile smartphone cases

30. Saleae Logic Analyzers Referral Program has an incredibly stylish referral email template: We especially love the imagery of the envelope- it makes hitting the Submit button just a little bit more exciting

B4. F&B and Supplements Referral Program Examples

31. Meal Delivery: 22 Days Nutrition's referral program gives Advocates 15% off their Friends' purchase in cash, and gives friends 10% off

32. Kitchensurfing's in-house referral program has multi-tiered rewards: Kitchensurfing has been described as a sort of Airbnb for kitchens and chefs

33. Munchery's referral program allows you to give and get $10 of credit for every referral you make

34. TeaGlad's referral program gives Advocates $10 cash and Friends 20% off their purchase of cleansing detox tea

35. Nootropics: Powder City's referral program gives Friends 10% off and Advocates a 6% cash bonus

C. Other referral program examples for inspiration

36. Mattresses: Leesa's referral program even allows you to donate your referrals credits to charity: On top of the $50 discounts and cash rewards, Leesa also offers a very generous (and confident!) 100-night sleep trial

37. Toys: GoldieBlox's referral program has advocates sharing for a cause- 20% off the next purchase for both advocate and friend: GoldieBlox sells toys designed to teach girls engineering skills, and to get them engaged in building and learning. Very strong branding

38. Stock Photos & Videos: Videoblocks' referral program gives Advocates $20 off and referred friends a staggering 90% off

39. Furniture: Made.com's referral program gives Advocates and Friends £15 off

40. Lunatik's referral program is significantly more involved than most: Lunatik's referral program is a little more "involved" than most. It's more accurately described as an "ambassador" program, looking for greater commitment from its participants, with a greater payoff

41. MMORPGs: World of Warcraft's referral program rewards you with exclusive in-game items: Interesting use of language. You RECRUIT a friend. Great way to match the "clan" and "team" language within the product. You'll get free game time when a friend signs up, which is pretty lucrative. The reward is saving money

42. FantasyDraft's referral program is uniquely multi-tiered (with up to 6 degrees!): FantasyDraft has a rather unique setup- they actually reward advocates for the referrals that their referred friends make, and the referrals that THOSE people make... up to 6 tiers! This would be overkill in many industries, but it makes perfect sense in a Fantasy Game setting, where friends-of-friends greatly enrich the experience

43. Sunworks' referral program is multifaceted, with referral parties and group discounts: It's a new, emerging industry, so they're going all out to educate their potential customers. They reward advocates for throwing parties, and even give away chances to win free a free Tesla Model S

44. Booker's referral program gets business owners referring each other - (an iPad mini for the first referral!): There's some nice copywriting and visual communication on this one

45. AirPartner's referral program made you a #thousandaire - free 30 mins of flight time for Advocates and Friends: You never know when you're going to need to charter a private jet!

46. Seedr's referral program brings all the crowdfunders to the yard, giving Advocates a cut of Seedr's earnings from Referred Friends: Investors refer other investors all the time already- so a referral program makes perfect sense for Seedrs

47. Carpathia's referral program gets businesses into the cloud: Very suave, with very polished design

This post barely even scratches the surface of referral programs.

Ecommerce stores, countless gyms, yoga classes, banks and other service providers have referral programs.

If you have a great product worthy of referrals, then you should do like Dropbox and add a refer-a-friend feature to your business.

Read the full post: Referral Program Examples - An Epic List Of 47 Referral Programs.

Do you use any referral program in your website?