Mkt Referrals

---
name: mkt-referrals
description: Referral and affiliate program design — incentive structure, double-sided rewards, fraud prevention, launch plan. Use when user says "referral program", "refer a friend", "affiliate program". Ongoing viral loop mechanics are mkt-growth-loops.
license: MIT
metadata:
  source: "coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT)"
  category: marketing
---

# Referral — Referral & Affiliate Program Design

**A referral program is not a reward-design problem but a "why do people want to refer" problem.** Adding rewards without motivation only attracts reward hunters.

## Design Order

1. **Confirm organic referral motivation first** — ask existing customers "who would you refer?" If answers emerge, the program is just removing the friction in that moment (handing over contact info, etc.)
2. **Reward structure** — double-sided (referrer + referee) equal value is typical. But make the referee's reward bigger and upfront (first-purchase discount) and the referrer's deferred (paid after conversion) to prevent fraud
3. **Reward form** — credit / cash / service term. Credit drives repurchase and is favorable vs CAC; cash only in hot categories
4. **Payment timing** — partial payment immediately, remainder after the double-sided guarantee is confirmed. Full payment at 30 days converges to zero perceived value

## Judgment Criteria & Thresholds

- The program must hold CAC below 70% of channel CAC to stay. Above that, substituting discount coupons is cheaper
- Baseline: a mature referral program sees 2~5% of active customers referring. Below that it's a product problem, not a program problem
- Fraud prevention: no self-referral, no duplicate payment methods, verify email/card ownership before payout
- Run affiliates separately from referrals — targets (creators/media), payout basis (CPC vs CPS), and legal disclosure duties differ

## Output

```
# Referral Program Design — {product}
## Motivation analysis (organic referral points + friction removal)
## Reward structure (double-sided value, timing, payout conditions)
## Fraud prevention checklist
## Launch plan (3 weeks: pilot → measure → scale)
## KPI (referrer participation rate, referral CAC, fraud rate, net referral LTV)
```