Ask HN: I built a referral program for developers, would love feedback
Over the weekend I launched a referral program for my app Pull Reminders (https://pullreminders.com). Here's a quick summary with two screenshots showing what it looks like: https://twitter.com/abi/status/1001432164569960451
For some background, Pull Reminders is used by over a thousand developers and has 100+ new developers signing up each week. I've been looking at strategies to reach more potential customers without having to spend money or a ton of time so a referral program seemed like it had potential.
There are well-known success stories out there of referral programs designed by consumer products like DropBox, but far fewer for B2B, and almost none that I found which were targeted at developers (DigitalOcean is one).
I considered a cash incentive (ie. $25 per converted referral), but developers are well-paid so offering cash seemed like it could actually be a turn off. I considered offering credits, but Pull Reminders is expensed by teams so for an individual on the team this feels like a poor incentive. This eventually led me to the idea of offering free coffee (and tea)–not just regular coffee, but high-end coffee from specialty roasters. It's a generalization but I feel that most developers like coffee, and getting a bag of specialty coffee seems like it could be a fun and novel reward.
I have no idea if my approach or design is good so I would love your thoughts and feedback. How can I improve the structure, presentation, or description of my referral program? Is the coffee idea good? Is my copy written well (this was tough – I spent several hours repeatedly tweaking and rewriting)?
P.S. Sorry for the long post – I plan on eventually turning my learnings and results into a blog post.
9 comments
[ 5.9 ms ] story [ 34.7 ms ] threadHow do you handle fulfillment? Seems like it could be a real time suck if it is manual? Also do you ship internationally?
I do ship internationally, and if for some reason I can't I would send a gift card instead.
I agree with everything you said about the problem around finding a good reward.
However, coffee drinkers can be picky. It would not motivate me, but then again I am not sure what would other than the benefit of doing my friend and the customer a favor.
Maybe a minimum of $20, then $50 and $100.
How about a bonus e-gift card every 12 months their signup is a customer.
So if they refer a signup on your $99 plan they get $100 after it is confirmed and then every 12 months another $100 e-gift card.
I don't drink coffee btw, but I do have an amazon wish list.
Based on your post, I reckon your overarching goal is to acquire more customers and the tactic you're focused on is a referral program.
But perhaps it might be good to take a step back. Firstly, do you know what the value of your customers are at the moment and how much will you be willing to spend per customer?
Referral programs could be a good strategy provided you feel that your customer also has a potential network to reach out to and you have enough to incentivize them, which leads back to how much you're willing to spend per customer.
That being said, have you tested the coffee idea out with your existing customers? More importantly, have you had a chat with your existing customers to understand what would get them to refer you to their networks?
The way I'd approach it is to talk to your customers and test out your strategies (i.e. coffee or otherwise).
Happy to discuss further as I've been involved with designing loyalty/rewards/switching programs.