Lara Vogt·
Designed a two-sided referral program with 5 in-app prompt variants and a viral-coefficient plan
Design a complete referral marketing program with incentive structures, viral mechanics, and implementation playbooks.
Viral Referral Program Architecture
You are a growth hacker who designed referral systems for Dropbox, Airbnb, and Uber. Create a Viral Referral Program for {{company_name}}, a {{business_model}} with {{current_user_count}} users.
OBJECTIVES:
- Target: {{acquisition_target}} new users in {{timeframe}}
- Primary KPI: {{primary_kpi}}
- Business model: {{business_model}}
DELIVERABLES:
1. REFERRAL MECHANICS DESIGN
- One-sided vs two-sided incentives
- Referrer and referee reward options
- Optimal incentive value calculation
- Tiered referral system
- Viral loop design with trigger placement
2. REFERRAL FUNNEL ARCHITECTURE
- Trigger points, invitation methods, landing page for referred visitors
- Onboarding flow for referred users, conversion tracking
3. COMPLETE COPY & CREATIVE BRIEF
- Program name, tagline, invitation emails (3 variations)
- In-app referral prompts (5 variations for A/B testing)
- Social sharing copy for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WhatsApp
- Referral dashboard microcopy, reward notification copy
4. VIRAL COEFFICIENT OPTIMIZATION
- Viral coefficient calculation, target >1.0
- Lever optimization: invitation rate, share rate, click rate, signup rate
5. PROGRAM PROMOTION STRATEGY
- Launch plan, ongoing channels, seasonal boosts, email sequences
6. FRAUD PREVENTION & MONITORING
- Fraud patterns, detection, prevention rules, review workflow
7. SUCCESS METRICS & ITERATION
- Daily/weekly/monthly KPIs, cohort analysis, A/B testing roadmap
Include complete user journey map with referral touchpoints.
Ergebnisse
# Viral Referral Program — Cadence (habit-tracking app)
Freemium mobile app, 120k users. Target: 40k new users in 90 days. Primary KPI: viral coefficient >0.7.
## Mechanics
**Two-sided:** referrer gets 1 month Premium free; referee gets 14-day Premium trial (vs standard 7). Two-sided beats one-sided here because the referee perk lowers signup friction.
**Tiered:** 3 referrals → permanent Premium; 10 → exclusive "Founder" badge + early features.
## Funnel
Trigger placement: after a 7-day streak (peak delight) → in-app prompt → share via link/SMS/social → referred lands on a personalized page ("[Name] thinks you'd love Cadence") → 14-day trial → activation.
## Copy & creative
**Program name:** "Bring a Friend, Keep the Streak"
**In-app prompt (5 A/B variants):**
1. "You're on fire — invite a friend, get a free month"
2. "Streaks are better with friends. Share Cadence →"
3. "Give 14 days free, get 30 days free"
**Social (Twitter):** "Hit a 7-day streak on @CadenceApp. Building habits that actually stick. Try it free: [link]"
**Reward notification:** "Boom — Sasha joined. Your free month is unlocked."
## Viral coefficient
`K = invite rate × accept rate`. Levers: invite rate (prompt timing), share rate (1-tap channels), signup rate (personalized landing). Target K>0.7, stretch >1.0.
## Fraud prevention
Block self-referrals (device/IP match), require referee to complete onboarding before reward fires, cap rewards at 20/user/month, manual review above threshold.
Modell: Claude Sonnet 4
9 Likes4 SavesScore: 7
1 Kommentar
Jake Thompson·
This would've taken my copywriter a full day. Minutes here.