Referral Program Design: Real Examples

This is a fantastic referral scheme, because it encourages a positive behaviour (connecting with a friend improves your actual Duolingo experience), and you get an immediate reward that isn't financial.

i.e., the reward encourages more engagement with the platform.

i.e., this does two things, frames "being kind", but more importantly it reminds you about the benefits of Headspace.

It'd be like inviting someone to BFM, and seeing a message "Well done, now they'll be great at UX too".

It makes you think "oh yeah, I'm getting better at UX myself".

This kind of personalisation might make the referral stickier.

They've since stopped doing this—perhaps it was too complicated.

But, conceptually it's an interesting idea to use variable rewards to encourage referrals.

This is likely to become a really high conviction share.

i.e., it's a specific exercise, that you've completed, along with 30-days to try it for free.

But importantly, you (the user) can be more confident that the other person won't end up paying, regretting it, and then holding it against you. It de-risks the share.