---
aliases: ["Referral Program Management"]
Is A: Procedure
Belongs to: "[[responsibility-grow-newsletter]]"
Cadence: Weekly
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Referral Program Management

The referral program turns engaged readers into a growth engine. When subscribers actively recommend the newsletter to others, those referrals convert at a higher rate and retain longer than subscribers from almost any other channel. This weekly procedure ensures the program runs smoothly — rewards are delivered, performance is monitored, and the referral copy is continuously improved to maximize [[measure-subscribers]] growth through word of mouth.

## Steps

- [ ] Check the referral dashboard for the past week: how many referrals were made, by how many unique referrers?
- [ ] Identify top referrers who have crossed a reward threshold and trigger the reward fulfillment (digital reward, shoutout, premium content access, or physical merchandise)
- [ ] Send a personalized thank-you message to the top 3 referrers this week — genuine appreciation drives continued advocacy
- [ ] Review the referral conversion rate: of people who clicked a referral link, how many actually subscribed? If this rate is dropping, investigate landing page or copy issues
- [ ] Check if any A/B test on referral copy is running — review results if the test window has closed and implement the winning variant
- [ ] If no test is running, set up a new A/B test on one element: the referral prompt copy, the reward description, or the referral landing page headline
- [ ] Monitor for abuse: look for suspicious referral patterns (bulk self-referrals, bot signups) and clean them from the data
- [ ] Log weekly referral metrics in the growth tracker for trend analysis alongside [[measure-subscribers]] data

## Notes

- The referral prompt placement matters as much as the copy. Test positioning it at different points in the newsletter — after the most valuable section often outperforms the footer placement.
- Reward tiers work better than a single reward. Multiple levels (3 referrals, 10 referrals, 25 referrals) create ongoing motivation rather than a one-and-done dynamic.
- The best referral copy explains the *why*, not just the *what*. "Share this with a friend who is building something" resonates more than "Refer 3 friends for a free sticker." See [[topic-newsletter-growth]] for more on this.
- Track the lifetime value of referred subscribers vs. other acquisition channels. If referral subscribers have significantly higher retention, that justifies investing more in the program.
- Do not let the referral program run on autopilot for more than a month without reviewing performance. Stale rewards and copy lose effectiveness over time.
