Why are referral programs so popular?
Because when referred by a friend, people are 4x more likely to make a purchase. Not to mention referral programs can increase customer loyalty and retention when the reward itself is redeemable for future purchases.
But how do you get more friends to spread the word in the first place?
First, you need a referral program.
Second, you need a promotional strategy.
Third, you need a referral campaign destination: a referral landing page.
Your referral page communicates the value of your program, shares important details about how the program works, puts terms and conditions front and center, and makes signing up easy.
Without a referral page, your program has no home. And without a home, good luck getting your referral program to work.
In this article, we’re going to explore everything you need to know about referral pages: a proper definition, purpose and benefits, best practices, and 21 referral page examples to spark your imagination.
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A referral page is a dedicated landing page built to promote the benefits of your referral program and increase program conversions so you can increase new customers through word of mouth (WOM).
Simple.
A referral page should clearly communicate your program’s incentives, make signing up easy, and, most importantly, function as the single source of truth for all information (no miscommunication about incentives, terms, conditions, etc.).
Think of a referral page like a product page, only your referral program is the product.
You wouldn’t try to sell a product or service without a web page, right? Of course not.
Well, you shouldn’t try to sell your referral program without one either.
Aside from establishing a single source of truth for your referral program, let’s review some not-so-obvious benefits of referral pages:
- Credibility: 30% of companies have a formal referral program (which is surprisingly low), but certain industries skew much higher, like health and beauty or eCommerce. Either way, if you expect your referral program to stand out from the rest, first it needs credibility. And there’s no better way to tell your customer base (or the people they refer) that you’re serious about their rewards than by creating a dedicated home for your program.
- Disclaimers: Every referral program has different rules, but if you don’t communicate your terms and conditions, you’re asking for trouble (and pissed off customers). A referral page puts everything in writing. No guessing. No ambiguity. No he said, she said.
- Conversions: Yup, more participants that sign up for your referral program to begin with. Why? Because a good referral page makes it easy to A/B split test different messages and incentives so that you can keep getting better. You can’t optimize your referral program without a landing page.
- Measurement: Without a dedicated page for your referral program, how will you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns that promote it? You won’t. To measure conversion rates, you need a dedicated landing page.
- Scalability: Sure, when you’re a one-person shop or small business, managing referrals and rewards ad hoc isn’t a problem. But when you have loads of existing customers, it’s impossible to scale an effective referral program without scaling its reach. And you can’t scale its reach one customer at a time (or when the only way to communicate your program is by telling someone yourself). Share the damn link.
Like any landing page, a referral page should follow a set of proven landing page best practices:
- Attention-grabbing headline
- Enticing subheading
- Credible design
- Relevant visuals
- Social proof
- Features and benefits
- Compelling call-to-action (CTA)
- Low-friction opt-in form
- Irresistible offer
But since we’ve written about each of those best practices in detail, we’re not going to repeat ourselves here (just click on the links to learn more).
Instead, we’re going to explore the three most important components of a referral page that are 100% unique to referral pages:
- Incentive or reward
- Terms and conditions
- How it works
The entire effectiveness of your referral program hinges on the incentive. This means you should use your heading and subheading to clearly articulate your program’s potential earnings or rewards for participants.
No beating around the bush. No hiding it in the body copy. Put your incentive front and center.
For example, Chase’s refer-a-friend program uses the headline and subheadline to communicate their incentive in big, bold letters:
“Get a cash bonus up to $500: Earn $50 for each friend who opens a qualifying Chase checking account - up to $500 per year.”
No referral page is complete without written terms and conditions (or a link to your terms page).
Why?
Because the last thing you want from your referral program is a customer service “he said, she said” nightmare.
Make your terms and conditions easily accessible so participants know the stakes of the game outright. No assumptions.
For example, Bombas provides a brief terms section below their sign up form:
SoFi details their terms and conditions in an “Official Rules” section at the bottom of their referral page:
And Rakuten does the same with their “Refer-A-Friend Terms & Conditions”:
Whereas a traditional landing page might spend a good amount of time communicating features and benefits, a referral page needs to spend more time communicating how the referral program works.
However you want to call it, the best referral pages include a simple outline, diagram, or step-by-step guide that makes participation feel simple, uncomplicated, and achievable.
For example, Uniqlo includes a “How it works” tab on their referral lander:
TurboTax includes a three-step process titled “How to refer a friend to TurboTax”:
And Moo includes two different “How it works” sections, depending on whether you refer a friend or refer a business:
Now that you know what it takes to create a high-converting referral page, let’s explore some referral page examples (and referral program examples) so you can size them up on your own.
Below is a list of 21 referral page examples (some of which we’ve already touched on), complete with a referral page link (if there is one), a full-page screenshot, and a highlight.
We searched high and low for reputable referral pages from recognizable brands:
- Morning Brew
- Bombas
- Coinbase
- Canva
- Rakuten
- TurboTax
- T-Mobile
- GetResponse
- Uniqlo
- Coursera
- Chase
- MeUndies
- Fiverr
- Dosh
- Sofi
- Koodo
- SwagBucks
- Xfinity
- Quip
- Moo
- Gusto
Let’s do it.
View full referral page: Morning Brew referral page
What we love: Not only does Morning Brew’s referral page function as a homepage for program signups, but it’s also the home for monitoring your rewards. Everything on one, bookmarkable referral page.
View full referral page: Bombas referral page
Website URL: Bombas referral program
What we love: Not only can you send your referral link via email, text, or social media, but Bombas will do it all for you.
View full referral page: Coinbase holiday referral program
What we love: Not all referral programs are evergreen. Coinbase’s holiday referral program offers a massive reward for a limited time. Adding a timeframe adds urgency, and urgency increases conversions.
View full referral page: Canva affiliate page
Website URL: Canva affiliate program
What we love: This is technically an affiliate program, not a customer referral program. But we loved the depth of the information on this page so much we had to include. Video, social proof, affiliate resources, and so much more.
View full referral page: Rakuten referral page
Website URL: Rakuten referral program
What we love: Rakuten places their incentive, how it works, and CTA all above the fold.
View full referral page: TurboTax referral page
Website URL: Turbotax referral program
What we love: TurboTax’s simple three-step outline makes their referral program seem conquerable!
Website URL: T-Mobile referral program
What we love: Short and sweet.
View full referral page: GetResponse referral page
Website URL: GetResponse referral program
What we love: GetResponse includes a useful FAQ section on their referral page. A FAQ section is a great place to clarify details or handle objections.
Website URL: Uniqlo referral program
What we love: Using Extole’s referral program software, Uniqlo offers a “My Stats” section on their referral page. Simply plug in your email and they’ll send you a report on your referrals and earnings.
Website URL: Coursera referral program
What we love: We love this incentive (Give a free course, get a free course). While most referral programs center around cash earnings, Coursera uses their referral program to put their product in front of more people.
View full referral page: Chase referral page
Website URL: Chase refer your friend program
What we love: Powerful incentive made even more powerful by the size of the heading. If it’s big, make it BIG.
Website URL: MeUndies referral program
What we love: Short and sweet.
View full referral page: Fiverr referral page
Website URL: Fiverr referral program
What we love: “Three Easy Steps” (phew!)
View full referral page: Dosh referral page
Website URL: Dosh affiliate program
What we love: Dosh does a better job at communicating benefits than anyone we’ve researched: VIP newsletter, reporting, earning potential, and a suite of professional graphics.
View full referral page: Sofi referral page
Website URL: Sofi referral program
What we love: Cleanest design of them all. The design establishes credibility, and credibility increases conversions.
View full referral page: Kodoo referral page
Website URL: Kodoo referral program
What we love: Nothing (no Act-On logo, poor design, uncompelling copy, limited social proof, weak CTA (“Lean more about the product”)
View full referral page: SwagBucks referral page
Website URL: SwagBucks referral program
What we love: “Earn 10% for Life.” When you create a superior offer, your referral page writes itself.
View full referral page: Xfinity referral page
Website URL: Xfinity refer a friend program
What we love: Xfinity offers tons of services, but they clearly communicate which services are eligible for referral rewards (and which aren’t) in their “Ways to earn” section. No guessing.
View full referral page: Quip referral page
Website URL: Quip referral program
What we love: Quip uses their referral page to subtly promote their Smart Brush. How? If you use a Smart Brush for two minutes, twice a day, you earn redeemable points. But you need to buy the brush first 😉.
View full referral page: Moo referral page
Website URL: Moo referral program
What we love: Moo’s popup form is awesome. You can sign up and invite friends via an email campaign or social sharing (Twitter, Facebook, Messenger).
View full referral page: Gusto referral page
Website URL: Gusto affiliate program
What we love: Beautifully designed. Clear benefits. Short and sweet.
To run a successful referral program, you’ll need to enlist the help of referral software.
Referral software handles the heavy lifting so you can launch, manage, and scale a referral program without technical expertise.
Consequently, you really only have two options for building your referral page:
- Referral software landing page: You can choose a referral program software that includes a landing page feature, like FriendBuy, Extole, or Talkable. Simply use one of their out-of-the-box referral page templates and viola.
- Landing page builder + embed: Or you can design your own referral page using a landing page builder like Unbounce, LeadPages, or Instapage, then embed your referral program widget into it.
If you want to A/B split test your referral page copy, headlines, and incentives, best to use a landing page builder since they make split testing easy and scalable. Though some referral software like Talkable makes conversion optimization easy too.
If you want to get your program up and running quickly, best to use referral software that includes referral page templates and custom domain hosting.
Whichever you decide, here’s a list of some of our favorite referral tools, some with landing pages, others with embeddable widgets (pricing varies):
There’s a reason why referral marketing is so popular:
The customers you acquire through referrals have a 37% higher retention rate than non-referrals, and 81% of customers are more likely to engage with brands that have a rewards program.
But your referral program will only go as far as your referral page will take it.
Good news: It’s never been easier to create and publish a referral page.
Happy WOM!
