Launch a customer referral program

The reward that works is the one your customers value most for the least it costs you. Cash isn't always the best choice. A pool service might offer one free cleaning for every neighbor who signs up. The cleaning feels generous to the customer, and it costs the business far less than its retail price. A software company might give both people a free month. A bakery might give both a free dozen.

Kite starts with what a new customer is worth to you. It reads your pricing and, when you connect Stripe, your actual revenue per customer, then compares that with what you spend to win customers in other ways. That comparison sets the most you could pay for a referral. Kite then proposes a reward comfortably below that line, so the program pays for itself even when a few rewards go to customers who would have come anyway.

Kite also looks at what fits your customers. It uses your customer research to judge whether they'd rather have a discount, account credit, a free service, a donation in their name, or a physical gift. For B2B and professional services, where many people refer you because the introduction helps a friend, Kite may suggest a thank-you gift instead of a cash reward. It can design branded merchandise, such as a hoodie or a mug with your logo, and order it through its built-in Printify connection.

Make the reward big enough that the customer notices it, but not so big that it changes why they recommend you. A reward that's too small feels like an afterthought. A reward that's too large attracts people who share your link with strangers for the payout, and those referrals rarely turn into good customers.

Kite proposes the amount along with the rules that keep the program fair. It usually suggests paying the reward only after the referred person becomes a paying customer, rather than when they sign up. It may also suggest a limit on how many rewards one customer can earn in a year, and a rule that customers can't refer themselves. You can change any of these, and Kite keeps the final rules in your knowledge base so every page, message, and reward follows them.

Kite also recommends rewarding both sides. When the friend gets a discount or a free month too, your customer's recommendation feels like a favor to the friend instead of a sales pitch.

A referral page should answer the customer's questions in the order they'll ask them. It says what each person gets, how sharing works, who makes a good referral, and what the rules are. A customer should understand the whole program before they scroll past the first screen.

Kite writes and builds the page in your brand's voice and visual style. A typical page includes:

• A headline that names both rewards, such as "Give a friend a free month, and get one yourself."
• Three short steps that explain how to share, what the friend does, and when the reward arrives.
• A description of the kind of person who'd be a great fit, so customers think of the right friend.
• A way to refer someone, such as a form, a personal code, or a link from your referral tool.
• Plain terms that say when rewards are paid, any limits, and how long the offer runs.
• A short list of common questions.

If Kite hosts your website, it builds the page there, shares a preview, and sends you the live link once you approve it. If your site runs on Webflow or self-hosted WordPress, Kite publishes the page through your connected account once you approve it, as a new item in one of your Webflow CMS collections or as a WordPress post.

Most customers want to recommend you but don't want to write the message themselves. Kite writes it for them. It prepares a short note a customer can paste into a text or an email, a version for LinkedIn or another social channel your customers use, and an image sized for each one.

Kite writes these from your positioning and what it knows about your best customers, so the message describes the problem you solve in words a friend would recognize. Here's a note Kite might write for a bookkeeping firm's program:

I've used Ledgerly for my café's books for a year, and they've saved me every Sunday night. If you want someone to take your books off your plate, use my code MARIA20 and your first month is free.

Kite places these messages on the referral page and in the announcement email, so customers can copy them without searching. It can also make a short vertical video that explains the program for your social accounts.

A referral program only works if you can tell who referred whom. Without that record, rewards go unpaid, customers lose trust in the program, and you can't tell whether it's worth running.

Kite chooses a tracking method that fits the tools you already have:

• Personal codes in Stripe. Kite creates a promotion code for each customer in your Stripe account. When a friend uses the code at checkout, Stripe records the redemption, and Kite matches it to the customer who shared it.
• A form on your referral page. The referred friend enters their details and the name of the person who sent them. On a site Kite hosts, its built-in analytics record each submission and where the visitor came from.
• Your CRM. With HubSpot connected, Kite adds each referred person as a new contact and records who introduced them, so you can follow the referral through to a closed deal.
• Your referral tool. If you already use a tool such as ReferralRock, ReferralHero, GrowSurf, or Tapfiliate, connect it, and Kite works with the referral links, conversions, and rewards you've set up there.

When a referral becomes a paying customer, Kite tells you a reward is due and prepares it, such as a coupon in Stripe, a thank-you email, or a gift order. Approve the reward, and Kite sends it.

Customers can only refer people to a program they know about. Kite announces the launch with an email to your customer list, sent through Mailchimp or from your own Gmail address, plus social posts that link to the referral page.

A single announcement is easy to forget, so Kite also suggests the moments when a reminder makes sense. These include a customer's first good result, a renewal, or a thank-you note from a customer. For a routine that asks individual customers at those moments, see Ask happy customers for referrals.

Kite reports how the program is doing on whatever schedule you choose, such as once a month. The report shows how many customers shared, how many people visited the referral page, how many referrals signed up, how many became paying customers, and what the rewards cost.

Kite uses those numbers to suggest what to change next. If plenty of friends visit the page but few sign up, the friend's reward may be too small or the page may be unclear. If very few customers share at all, they may not know the program exists, so Kite suggests more reminders. Kite saves what it learns in your knowledge base, so each change builds on what the last one taught it.