Incentive Design

---
name: incentive-design
description: Use when structuring payouts, tiers, and eligibility for referral programs.
---

# Referral Incentive Design Skill

## When to Use
- Launching new referral or affiliate programs.
- Revisiting incentive structures after performance reviews.
- Adapting rewards for new personas, products, or regions.

## Framework
1. **Objective Alignment** – tie incentives to desired behavior (lead quality, revenue, product adoption).
2. **Structure Options** – choose between cash, credits, swag, tiered multipliers, or charitable donations.
3. **Economics** – model CAC/LTV impact, cap payouts, and define clawback rules.
4. **Compliance** – account for tax reporting, regional regulations, and contractual clauses.
5. **Experimentation** – define hypotheses, guardrails, and measurement cadence.

## Templates
- Incentive matrix (persona → action → reward → cap → notes).
- Budget planner comparing reward scenarios vs target outcomes.
- A/B test brief for incentive experiments.

## Tips
- Keep tiers simple; too many options create friction.
- Pair with finance/legal early to avoid rework.
- Document changes with effective dates for auditability.

---