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SaaS Referral Program Tactics

13 Best SaaS Referral Program Strategies & Optimisations (2025)

๐Ÿ’ฌ Whether you're actively researching about SaaS referral programs or you have one in place that you want to improve performance of, I share some key strategies and optimisation areas that you can test (with notes and some example references).
Published On:
16/12/24
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๐Ÿ’ฌ Many of you reading this know the potential of referral marketing when executed well for SaaS - there are many successful case studies about top brands (like Dropbox, Uber, etc) that saw amazing success thanks to referrals.

And with the right mechanics and variables in place, with a focus on tweaking/optimisations, you can increase your odds of seeing similar success within your context.

To help you think through what's possible and know about areas of opportunity for you to improve your program's performance, I put together ideas/tactics and strategies for to consider testing.

Various low-cost experiments, opportunities/optimisations and strategic areas to think about to improve SaaS referral performance

๐Ÿ’ฌ In the below checklist referral tactics I share, I made sure to include some key references, examples, and even tooling/software to explore further.

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It's worth putting in the time do proper research (competitors and checking out what top SaaS startups do) when it comes to referral programs. In particular a big component is choosing the right system for referrals, which can either two-sided or multi-tiered (you can also do one-sided, but it's not a recommendation in most cases). The reason why picking the right system is critical is because it dictates a lot of other components, with the main one being the incentives.

Here are the benefits of the two types - it's just a matter of whether or not it makes sense in your context:

โ€Two-sided

  • โ€โ€Rewards both parties - good for motivating
  • Immediate value and gratification - Volume play (assuming no caps from your end) for users to keep referring
  • Lots of software vendors that make it easy to get this going

โ€Multi-tieredโ€

  • Progression of rewards - helps with motivating customers to refer more to unlock more rewards
  • Engagement and continuous promotion - top-customers will naturally continuously share - which helps bring in more quality users (which helps reduce CAC)
  • It can lead to strong network referral effects

Only thing is with multi-tiered systems is that they are quite hard to setup (especially if doing anything custom) - there's only a handful of providers, and I highly recommend Gather Customers as the platform of choice.

Action: see checklist point #5 for software recommendations.

โ€

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A key consideration here for SaaS companies, regardless of size, is focusing on rewards/perks which are tied to the product offering - i.e. credits, discounts/upgrading of plans, storage space, etc - whatever makes sense for your context.

Example - Milanote

  • Milanote has a great storage-focused incentive, which is tied to their offering
  • Also like the fact they've made the CTA to their program clear within the dashboard
Milanote referral program example
(https://help.milanote.com/en/articles/2079954-how-do-referrals-work)
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Related to the above, think about perks/rewards related to certain segments of users/customers.

You want to be strategic about unlocking a natural 'referral' pathway for customers - i.e. how you refer for normal paid plan users vs freemium vs enterprise customers are naturally, in most cases, quite different.

That's why thinking about a more 'closed/exclusive' referral program for certain segments (especially higher-tier/enterprise customers) is something to consider.

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In conjunction with both checklist points I've highlighted, you could consider having two referral systems for consumers and the likes of enterprise customers.

You can display one (for normal consumers on lower-tiered plans, or even those on freemium), and one for enterprise (which you can choose to either be public or selective/invite-only).

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I've touched on this a bit earlier in the first checklist point with choosing the right referral system - my recommendation from experience is to invest in technology that can handle end-to-end management of referrals - i.e. can handle tracking of links, analytics, rewards, comms, design/UX, integrations, automation, and other items.

Which referral platforms/tools do I recommend checking out?

I actually created a resource which delves into some of my fave tools that I've come across (with manyย I have used).

View top referral tools here

In terms of specific software I recommend for SaaS, I recommend checking out:

Recommendation 1 - GrowSurf

Key reasons why I recommend GrowSurf:

  • Has great capabilities without complex dev work
  • You can do various rewards types, whether credits/incentives related to the product, or gift cards, cash payouts, etc
  • Good UX and UI of the embeds
  • Numerous integrations available
  • Other great features available as well...

Check out Growsurf here

Recommendation 2 - SaaSquatch

Key reasons why I recommend SaaSquatch:

  • Easily build 'on-brand' components as part of the sharing experience
  • Multiple reward types available (incl. custom rewards and 3rd-party integrations
  • You can do tier and time-based offers
  • Gamification is even available (leaderboards)
  • Many other great features too...

Check out SaaSquatch here

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You need to treat your referral program page just like your other pages - you want to optimise for conversions and getting 'buy in' from users/customers.

Some of the core areas you should be including are:

  • Social proof/testimonials- Clear labelling of rewards/incentives
  • A straight-forward "how it works" section
  • Simple FAQs
  • And ideally, a simple section to show an example of how much someone could refer.
What are some good reference examples of referral landing pages?

Example 1 - Fiverr

  • I like the simplicity of Fiverrโ€™s landing page
  • Clear offer above fold and CTA to sign in
  • And love the three simple steps of how users can be rewarded
(https://www.fiverr.com/referral_program)

โ€Example 2 - Quickbooks Australia

  • I really like this page layout from Quickbooks Australia
  • Clear '3 step' section of how it works
  • A section for users to refer their friends, either via email or through any of the four social share choices
  • A secondary CTA for booking a session - a nice touch for any new potential users/visitors who aren't on Quickbooks yet
(https://quickbooks.intuit.com/au/refer-a-friend/)
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There's no point having a program in place if you aren't going to actively promote, or at least make it easy for customers/users to opt in.

Make it evident across your email marketing automations/campaigns, website/landing pages, and of course, within the product dashboard.

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One of the other key components as part of any program is ensuring that both the referrer (sharing) and referred emails (received) are optimised for performance.

Here are some tips and examples for both:

โ€Referrer

  • โ€โ€Ensure it's clear how referring works and remind them of their reward if other party signs up
  • Clear CTA/unique link

โ€Referred

  • โ€โ€Headline and benefit they get for signing up
  • Personalised note/subject line
  • Social proof elements (as they're new potential users, so you want to remind them of the USP of the product offering)
Free resource: I created a dedicated checklist for optimising referral emails (on both sides) which you can check out.

View checklist here

In terms of a specific example for a promotional email to get users sharing with friends, I love this email from TicketTailor.

  • Highlights how users can earn
  • Use of social proof with a testimonial - highlighting how easy it is to share
  • Great layout and design for showcasing key sections - and nice roundup of USP icons at the end with star ratings too
TicketTailor referral email example
(https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/partner-with-us-earn-uncapped-commission-forever)
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Similar to what you should be optimising on your program's landing page, communicate it via email marketing campaigns - and tailor copy, CTAs and headlines that make contextual sense to the targeted segments you're sending to.

^ The example above from TicketTailor does a good job at this.
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Why not angle your program as part of an acquisition (demand gen) and/or remarketing/warm audiences?

Work with creators/thought-leaders through the likes of TikTok/LinkedIn to highlight how users can save when they refer more friends/colleagues.

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Related to some of the checklist points I've mentioned, you want to setup automated email and product in-app notifications for certain segments that are more likely to participate.

You just need to plan out the attributes into buckets to then trigger reminders/notifications where they make sense in the CX.

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Referral systems don't need to have just one use case - you can also use these systems for the likes of viral competitions (awareness/acquisition).

A few startups have done an awesome job with this initiative that has 'viral mechanics' in place, with a major component being referrals of friends to 'enter' some sort of competition.

Here's an example of Shopify using Gleam (a popular competition software)
  • Shopify used Gleam to drive key social actions for their blog a few years back.
  • You can see from the image underneath the widget and actions they used to drive users to share

It's a great case study worth reading - check it out here.

โ€Gleam Shopify Case Study

โ€Oh, and certainly recommend checking out Gleam if you're interested in doing a viral competition strategy for a TOF campaign.

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To make this initiative work in your favour for your SaaS brand, it's not simply 'set and forget' - not if you really want this to be a key lever for growth.

There's plenty of case studies and proof to show this can work, but many brands just can't seem to crack it.

Heya ๐Ÿ‘‹ย from Author
Dan Siepen
๐Ÿ‘‹ G'day everyone, Dan Siepen here from down under ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿฆ˜๐Ÿจ. I'm an experienced growth marketer w/ 8+ years exp. across SaaS, B2B, DTC & eComm. Get to know more about me (check my homepage too) & if you want to connect, just reach out. ๐Ÿ‘‡
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๐Ÿ’ฌ Quick note - I've put a lot of time into these marketing checklists, which I hope you'll enjoy. ๐Ÿ™‚ - I will also be adding, updating & editing from time to time, so make sure to subscribe to get updates!
Important - thoughts & considerations
It's important to state that these checklists are for fun, and hopefully can help you (as the reader) with idea generation, brainstorming and strategic discussion thoughts for your startup/brand (and chats with your team members) - BUT, like with anything you read online, you (as the reader) know your context best (whereas I don't). Not everything you read will be applicable, and people will value these various checklists I've created differently based on experience - however, I'm sure regardless of your experience or context, hopefully there's a good nugget/insight somewhere that you'll pick up/can help (or at least, hopefully create some sort of a 'spark' for a new idea/initiative/experiment, etc). Plus, I'm open to feedback (and love hearing it - the good and bad), so if there's something missing, or you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. ๐Ÿ™‚

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