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Referral Marketing Software 2024: Complete Guide

Referral marketing software simplifies the creation and management of your referral program, making it easy to initiate, monitor, and optimize your referrals as they come in. Top-tier referral software aids in designing your program, spreading the word to your customers, and efficiently tracking and converting incoming referrals.
Unlike advocacy marketing, referral marketing has an element of incentive to make the outcome more repeatable and does not always need a fully satisfied customer.

What is the right solution for you depends on your business context and needs. Let us help you firm up your needs and find you the right-fit solutions. Get your personalized assessment report now!

Updated By Cuspera

Last updated: Jan 31, 2024

Popular Referral Marketing Software

Talkable

Referral Program software built for eCommerce

4.61

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Talkable Icon

Talkable

23.07
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Program software built for eCommerce

Talkable is a Referral Program software built for eCommerce. It is also available as a mobile version. Talkable provides growth in Revenue through targeted loyalty programs and referrals.

Talkable software provides opportunities to build on the existing customers and identify ways to increase returns from the relationship, in addition to attracting and adding the right type of new customers or referrals.

Talkable Referral program provides analytics on customer insights to enable tracking and rewarding of valuable customers and campaign optimization. It allows for building a customized referral program and facilitates ongoing optimization based on performance. The other features include campaign templates, which can also be customized, customer segmentation based on geography or study of customer insights, a comprehensive suite of reports, a fraud protection module, and more.

Testimonials

Chanelle Leslie

Senior Manager of Acquisition Marketing

Soko Glam

Talkable Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Loyalty management,Campaign management
Top Features : AB Testing,Gamification,Fraud detection

Vendor: Talkable

Founded: 2010

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 475 Valencia St, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94103

Financials: SERIES A

Mention Me

Referral Marketing Software to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals

4.54

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Mention Me Icon

Mention Me

22.68
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing Software to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals

Mention me is a referral marketing platform that provides tools and expertise to turn customer base into an engine for growth. It is suited for businesses and companies of all sizes to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals.

It features marketing software, referral marketing, segmentation, Net Promoter Score (NPS) and retaining tools that supports to increase new customer acquisition, retention and advocacy.

It supports to target customer segments to drive specific actions, increase engagement and repeat purchase rates. It allows to drill down into customer traits to build up brand affinity and encourages, rewards and track customer recommendations. The NPS feature helps to understand and improve customer perception of brand with quantitative and qualitative insight.

Testimonials

Kate Douglas

SENIOR CUSTOMER MARKETING MANAGER

Trouva

Mention Me Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Campaign management,Engagement management,Channel marketing
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,AB testing

Vendor: Mention Me

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 1-45 Durham Street,, London, London SE11 5JH, GB

Financials: SERIES B

Extole Advocacy

Referral Programs to power new customer acquisition

4.27

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Extole Advocacy Icon

Extole Advocacy

21.36
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Programs to power new customer acquisition

Extole is an Enterprise Advocacy platform enabling drive for increased traffic and conversions in retail businesses, increased memberships and subscriptions in the Membership and Loyalty programs, and member build up in scalable member-get-member programs in Consumer Financial Services.

Extole features include Refer-a-friend which identifies and engages advocates with relevant rewards. The feature includes tools such as pre-built referral templates, visual editing of content, choice of designs that are mobile or web or in-app friendly, language localization and more.

Extole’s Rewards Engine includes real-time rewards and fraud protection. It provides coupons, loyalty points, gift cards, and more with the automatic rewards engine. The software supports international rewards, customization of rewards for each campaign and rules to detect low-quality referrals.

Testimonials

Cynthia Jow

AAA

Extole Advocacy Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Engagement management,Loyalty management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Personalization

Vendor: Extole

Founded: 2007

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 350 Sansome Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94104

Financials: PRIVATE

ClientCircle

Referral marketing service designed to build client loyalty

4.85

Read Reviews
ClientCircle Icon

ClientCircle

24.27
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral marketing service designed to build client loyalty

ClientCircle is a referral marketing platform that makes client communication simple, clients stay longer, buy more, and refer their friends. It helps to enhance customer relationships and acquire customers.

ClientCircle helps strengthen client loyalty, stay focused on growing the business, win and retain more clients, and enhance data reporting to compare client loyalty trends by product, company, industry, and more. It also provides the agents with revenue-boosting tools.

Its features include understanding the clients by tracking loyalty trends, automating communications, collecting more client reviews on Google and Facebook, tracking performance, getting expert guidance, and much more.

Testimonials

Sharon Wood

Wood Griffith Insurance

ClientCircle Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Customer feedback management,Measuring net promoter score,Engagement management
Top Features : Feedback surveys,Gamification,Leaderboards

Vendor: ClientCircle

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 317 6th Ave, 8th Floor, Des Moines, IA 50309, US

Financials: PRIVATE

Fomo

Social Proof Marketing Platform for increasing Trust, Credibility and Sales

4.77

Read Reviews
Fomo Icon

Fomo

23.85
★★★★★
★★★★★
Social Proof Marketing Platform for increasing Trust, Credibility and Sales

Fomo is a social proof marketing platform that enables businesses to display live customer experiences, testimonials and recommendations on the website, helping to increase trust and credibility and sales growth. The software can be used in businesses of all sizes and integrates easily with the business systems currently in use.

Fomo enables customization of the display of notifications to suit the website design, is quick and easy to set-up, and applies machine learning to study customer behaviours to suggest the best conversion settings for the website. It provides a dashboard display of ROI, in addition to getting it through A/B tests, and provides insights to optimize on-page conversions.

The features include filters for adding style and automations to control every element, allows customization of the templates for better display, page rules for controlling what visitors see, and a theme builder for brand creation with facility to add custom themes. Fomo is available in 29 different languages and can be viewed in the language of choice or based on the location.

Fomo Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Advertisement,Engagement management,Sending & publishing communications
Top Features : Alerts: popups & Notifications,Dashboard,Personalization

Vendor: Fomo

Company Size: 11-50

Financials: PRIVATE

InviteReferrals

Software that helps to grow business and acquire new customers through Referral Marketing

4.69

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InviteReferrals Icon

InviteReferrals

23.44
★★★★★
★★★★★
Software that helps to grow business and acquire new customers through Referral Marketing

InviteReferrals is the best referral software for mobile apps and websites. It is the simplest software to run customer referral program campaigns and helps to grow market share, acquire customers, and increase sales and revenue.

InviteReferrals provides integration with multiple platforms, rewards on multiple events, provides complete referral strategy, design, and implementation. It also helps in inviting friends through customer referral programs to unlock the referral discount coupon instantly and identifies the most influential referrers who give maximum referral sales, site visitors, or registrations.

Its features include multiple platform support, in-depth customer referral analytics, fully customizable campaigns, multiple referral, and social sharing, and many more.

Testimonials

Gaurav

Buyhatke

InviteReferrals Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Discount management,Promotion management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Alerts: popups & Notifications

Vendor: InviteReferrals

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: District Centre, New Delhi, Delhi 110058, IN

Financials: PRIVATE

Referral Rock Software

Referral Program Software to help businesses unlock all the word of mouth they are missing out on

4.47

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Referral Rock Software Icon

Referral Rock Software

22.33
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Program Software to help businesses unlock all the word of mouth they are missing out on

Referral Rock is a referral marketing software that helps any business get more customers using the most powerful and underutilized asset, the happy customers. It automates every step of the process to scale and consistently measure the success of referral marketing. It helps to acquire customers, scale best practices and build brand awareness.

It takes a business’s existing relationships and turns them into predictable sources of new customers with built-in integrations, workflow automation, and reward fulfillment. This helps marketers rely on word of mouth as a channel for growth with the referral marketing platform.

Some of its features are unlimited referrals, standard rewards and integration and so on.

Testimonials

Jay Brown

Digital Marketing

YMCA of Metro Atlanta

Referral Rock Software Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Campaign management,Training & onboarding
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Personalization

Vendor: Referral Rock

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 950 N Washington, Suite 404, Alexandria, VA 22314

Financials: PRIVATE

Buyapowa Referral Programs

Referral and Advocate Marketing Programs

4.38

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Buyapowa Referral Programs Icon

Buyapowa Referral Programs

21.90
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral and Advocate Marketing Programs

Buyapowa is a refer-a-friend marketing platform turbo-charging customer acquisition for leading brands and retailers. It helps to increase sales and revenue and increase customer lifetime value.

Leverage existing audiences to expand reach, accelerate customer acquisition, and drive transactions. Buyapowa is the global leader in enterprise referral solutions, having powered programs for some of the world’s biggest and best-loved brands.

Testimonials

Bulk Powders

Buyapowa Referral Programs Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Engagement management,Engaging and following up,Sales incentive management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards

Vendor: Buyapowa

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 3 The Glass House Royal Oak Yard London United Kingdom SE1 3GE

Financials: SERIES A

Invitebox Social Referral Program

Social Referral program to reach new customers

4.33

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Invitebox Social Referral Program Icon

Invitebox Social Referral Program

21.67
★★★★★
★★★★★
Social Referral program to reach new customers

Invitebox is a Social Referral Program that can be used by businesses from start-ups to large enterprises for Referral campaigns that can be created within minutes. Invitebox technology can be set to work on the Referral program creation once the rules of the program and the Incentives are defined.

Invitebox offers different types of reward programs for different business situations such as Instant rewards suitable for Referral programs where valuable perks can be offered to the users at a low cost to the business, Goal based rewards for Referral programs with high value bonuses, Referral contests suitable for large one time promotions with expensive prizes and Sweepstakes and GIveaways for both large one-time promotions with expensive prizes and smaller recurring sweepstakes.

Invitebox Referral program is activated once the widget is copied and pasted onto the websites.

Invitebox Social Referral Program Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Promotion management,Discount management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Widgets

Vendor: Invitebox

Founded: 2010

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: P.O. Box 763 Collegedale, Tn. 37315

Financials: PRIVATE

SaaSquatch

Referral Marketing platform to create loyalty, referral, and reward programs

4.29

Read Reviews
SaaSquatch Icon

SaaSquatch

21.44
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing platform to create loyalty, referral, and reward programs

SaaSquatch is a referral program software that helps to create, manage, and optimize mobile app and web-based referral programs in all in one platform. It helps to acquire customers and enhance customer relationships.

The SaaSquatch referral and loyalty platform assists in creating referral and partner programs along with a wide variety of incentive-based customer activation, retention, and win-back programs.

Specific features of Saasquatch include multi-program and multi-campaign functionality, user segmentation and enrollment, easy-to-use visual email and widget editor, a robust collection of APIs, and WebHooks to build on, analytics to find best channels, members and locations, automated fraud detection program and management and many more.

Testimonials

Muhammad Saleem

Customer Marketing Manager

TouchBistro

SaaSquatch Icon
Highlights
Top Processes : Referral management,Loyalty management,Engagement management
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Widgets

Vendor: SaaSquatch

Founded: 2018

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 100 - 838 Fort Street Victoria BC V8W 1H8 Canada

Financials: PRIVATE

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What is Referral Marketing?

Referral Marketing

A delighted customer’s recommendation is hands down, the best way for a business to acquire new customers. A referral happens when a customer recommends your product or service to a friend or peer. Not only does referral bring new business to you, but also it lets the new customer on a definite positive note.

Referral marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to acquire new customers for your business. According to research by Influitive, of companies with a referral program in place: 69% said they have experienced faster time to close 59% reported higher lifetime value 71% have seen higher conversion rates Even more compelling, over 14% of customers who visit a referral page will take action.

S B

Shane Barker

Digital Marketing Consultant

While some of your customers may refer your product on their own, to get most of the referrals, you need a referral marketing approach to facilitate and increase customer referrals. Referral Marketing usually involves a reward of some sort to be earned by the referring customer for successful referrals. However, referral marketing is not just about referral rewards. It should be built like any other marketing campaign including targeting strategy, implementation, analysis, and iteration.

People are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend. 92% of consumers trust recommendations.

N

Nielsen

Referral Marketing retains much of the character of spontaneous word-of-mouth - most referrals still tend to be made within the referrer’s intimate networks, and the recommendation still carries much of the credibility of unprompted referrals. What’s more, Referral Marketing is about smoothing out any inertia off of the referral process by incentivizing referrals that might have happened anyway. Several studies have found that customers enrolled through referral programs are markedly more profitable than others.

Referral Marketing brings in aspects of relationship marketing which helps to keep the current customers engaged and motivated, thereby improving overall retention.

Referral Marketing vs Loyalty Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing

Referral Marketing helps in acquiring new customers through existing customers and also is the most cost-effective way of driving growth. Referral Marketing should become your key marketing strategy, when you have a sizable customer base, the cost of new customer acquisition is high and takes a long time. Often, referral marketing is seen as intertwined with loyalty marketing. Referral Programs and Loyalty programs have different purposes and serve different business goals. Referral Programs are for acquiring new customers and Loyalty Programs are for retaining and rewarding existing customers. Loyalty programs help in driving repeat sales, cross-selling, and upsell. They help in increasing the share of the wallets of customers. Referral Programs help in broadening the customer base. It is quite common for users to find a consolidated list of referral, affiliate and even employee referral software when they are looking for Referral Marketing Software.

Other related programs like Affiliate Marketing and Influencer Marketing will also drive referrals. But Affiliate and Influencer programs involve usage of third party brand advocates to drive customer acquisition by paying commission, incentives, or a flat fee. Compared to Referral Marketing, the trust factor in Influencer or Affiliate Marketing is low.

B2B Referral Programs

Referral Marketing is not limited to B2C. It is equally important in the B2B world where purchase cycles are longer and the cost of customer acquisition is higher. Businesses that have the best in class products and services, high customer satisfaction, high NPS scores, and sizable customer base should definitely invest in Referral Marketing. Unlike B2C, the stakeholders in the B2B world are many and they are part of the decision-making process and the process of selection is more formal, structured, and has a long cycle time. B2B buyers want personalized and customized experience dealing with sales. Hence Referral Program has to be combined with the existing sales process. However, businesses can make it easier for their existing customers to participate actively in Referral Program by creating attractive and visible campaigns, promoting it actively, and making it easier for customers to provide referral customer information through simple forms and CTA. It is equally important to make the product and service information easy to share among their business contacts.

What is Referral Marketing Software?

Referral Marketing, while simple in concept, can get quite unwieldy to manage as programs encompass several parameters and are deployed to a large, diverse customer population. Deploying Referral Marketing Software is essential to retaining basic control around your referral programs. As an example, the software will automate activities like enrollment, referral commission payouts at scale, workflows across different systems such as Magento, and Shopify. The software will also make your referral programs far more customer-friendly through mobile experiences, positioning your referral programs firmly in the digital world that customers largely inhabit today.

But beyond just maintaining basic program hygiene, the newest crop of Referral Marketing Software can use machine learning capabilities along with multi-channel presence to observe and analyze customer behavior, present behavioral insights to you, and recommend referral program types most apt to target particular categories of customers. They can combine this with the ability to synchronize and operate across devices and platforms, including both online and offline transactions, offer customizable options to gamify the user experience of each referral program, and thus present to the user a unified and exciting brand experience. This elevates the referral game to a new orbit, one that is hardly possible without such software.

8 Key Benefits of Referral Marketing Software

As we saw above, Referral Marketing Software is very handy to keep the operational sanity of your referral programs intact as well as to support greater complexity in the programs.

Enables Higher Converting Traffic Source

Referral Marketing provides scalability for the word of mouth to happen. Word of mouth is one of the highest sources of leads for marketers and Referral Marketing Software enables word of mouth to happen. Referral Marketing Campaign helps marketers to reach a large pool of people and also helps to leverage social channels. Personal recommendations by friends are always the best forms of advertisement and are known to be trustworthy.

Not only is the cost of acquisition lower for referred customers, customers that come to us through referrals are stickier.

M B B

Mark B Brier

RingCentral

Data Use

Companies collect transaction data routinely through loyalty cards, POS software, websites, etc., which, however, remain segregated in silos that don’t talk to each other and remain underutilized. The latest Referral Marketing Software systematizes data collection, as its analytics modules have a definite plan to use this data.

Effective Targeting

This kind of software employs fairly powerful analytics engines to profile users by purchase behavior and device/channel use-patterns to determine the best time and manner to engage them with appropriate referral program communication. This is a veritable superpower for referral program success.

8 Key Benefits of Referral Marketing Software

Improved Engagement on Owned Channels

Businesses’ owned channels include their website traffic, social media assets, and emails. Referral marketing software helps businesses to use their owned channels effectively to engage with their customers and turn them into referrals. Referral Marketing Programs allow businesses to use relationship marketing.

Improved Reward Programs

Referral Marketing helps in gamifying reward programs. This makes rewards programs fun and ups customers’ interest level by bringing competitive spirit. Starbucks introduced an innovative rewards program by giving stars as reward points that customers can trade. It resulted in happy customers sharing the app, turning the rewards program into a successful referral program. Tesla used a leaderboard based referral program - wherein customers can see where they stand in the leaderboard. This visual aspect motivated them to send more referrals. Tesla keeps innovating every year on its rewards program which keeps the interest level of customers very high. The Referral Marketing software enables customers to bring in such innovation much faster.

Analytics and Reporting

The insights into customers’ purchase behavior that you gain from Referral Marketing Software’s analytics reports can be invaluable in terms of fine-tuning and realigning even other parts of your marketing plan. Referral Marketing Software helps to identify, target, and reward your most valuable customers through in-depth data analysis.

Ease of Implementation

In addition to sophisticated targeting and programming for referral schemes, this Software also fully supports their execution on the ground with the automation of many of the marketing tasks. This helps in improved lead conversion, increased customer value, and reduced churns. The Referrals world is constantly innovating, but competent software teams are able to keep up with the required changes in the Software. Many software vendors offer A/B Testing as well, giving you the benefit of rapid yet proven program support.

Anti Fraud

Referral Marketing platforms commonly deploy their analytical abilities to prevent fraud. Fraudulent transactions are always a costly possibility, unfortunately, since referral programs put money or its equivalent in participants’ pockets, so, fraud detection and prevention is a prized attribute.

Industries that Use Referral Marketing Software

Referral Marketing is a centuries-old idea, and sure enough, versions of it are deployed across all industries, serving both types of markets, retail, and businesses. It is, of course, used to boost sales, but also for brand-building, communications, and even to recruit staff. The use of Referral Marketing Software is indicated in almost all these applications.

People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the holy grail of advertising.

M Z

Mark Zuckerberg

CEO, Facebook

As discussed earlier, Software radically improves the execution of referral marketing programs and is instrumental in making many evolved elements of referral programs more feasible. Current Referral Marketing Software can be expected to straddle digital platforms and offline environments with equal ease and smoothly integrate them to present a seamless interface.

Users of Referral Marketing Software

Referral Marketing is ideally a multi-functional exercise, involving Marketing, Sales, and After-Sales departments. Program conception and design, execution, and post-execution follow-up require the active collaboration of these departments. Moreover, referral marketing is most effective if treated as an ongoing evolving program fed by feedback loops from previous instances rather than as a one-off, which too is best-served by a multi-functional approach. Users of the software, therefore, would be spread across these functions.

Why Referral Marketing is Important

Referral Marketing Software enables your referral programs to really stand up to their full size and potential.

Underutilized Customer Data

Vast stores of transaction data routinely collected by companies usually lie underutilized. The wealth of customer insight lying tied up in them can be unleashed and harnessed using this purpose-built Software.

Difficulty in Customizing Standard Referral Programs

Businesses no longer need to run blind with a one-size-that-doesn’t-fit-all referral program, risking a lack of interest from much of their audience. Transaction history analytics and dynamic tracking give Referral Marketing Software the power to assist in delivering pinpointed program communication to each recipient according to their transaction stage and the media they are on.

Operational Efficiency

Running referral programs manually - even undifferentiated cookie-cutter ones - can be daunting to track and do suffer many slips. Crucial notifications and updates can be missed. Inadequate communication can cause unnecessary discomfort and loss of brand image, quite the opposite of what the referral program seeks to achieve! It is easy to see the value, therefore, of Referral Marketing Software’s program execution capabilities.

One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than $10000 worth of advertising.

J R

Jim Rohn

Motivational Speaker

Difficulty in Promoting Referral Programs

Many companies suffer from the bad promotion of referral programs - even though the reward program itself is very attractive. The overall impact is low in such cases. Referral Marketing Software greatly helps to solve this problem. They support targeted email marketing, automation of promotion of referral programs to name a few. Some software support social proof wherein the customers take care of promotion through social media sharing that gives a viral effect.

Too many companies hide the refer feature in a sub-menu when referrals are one of the most important growth drivers

R E

Rob Edell

Founder, Servy

Misuse of Referral Programs

Many Referral Marketing Solutions have built-in fraud detection and prevention features. Misuse of referral programs is common, and the most effective way to prevent it is by careful scrutiny of participant and transaction data. If attempted manually, this is bound to prove too cumbersome to take through to even the critical minimum. It’s a no-brainer to allow specialized Software to be your lookout against fraud.

Key Features of Referral Marketing Software

Customer Analysis

Analysis and profiling customers based on discernible trends in their transaction history is a common Referral Marketing Software feature, the extent and sophistication of which differs by vendor and solution.

Communication Templates

Referral Marketing Software often offers standard templates for drafting communication pieces, e.g., referral letter, which can be used as-is or adapted as required.

Referral Tracking

Tracking each referral of all the currently running referral programs is a necessary but tedious process that is taken care of very well by Software.

Omnichannel Execution

Entire referral program rollouts can be automated, requiring practically no human ‘hand on the till’ on the part of the marketing team.

Gamification of Referral Programs

By creating a referral program that feels like a game, marketers can bring in fun, intrigue, excitement, and buzz. This ups the interest level of customers. Many Referral Marketing tools like ReferralRock, Extole include gamification features to create reward programs. The gamification techniques include features like Points, Badges, Leader Boards, and Contests.

Customization

While standard-issue templates are available for campaign teams to plug and play, programs can usually be customized too to suit every business’ particular needs.

A/B Testing

Many platforms offer the ability to conduct A/B Testing before full rollout of programs.

Campaign Management

Multiple referral programs can be run differently yet simultaneously in a Software-backed campaign. The Software enables smooth management of the campaign as a whole in addition to flawlessly executing each program.

Analytics and Reporting

Analytics and reporting features enable monitoring and insight generation along with all relevant campaign performance parameters.

Fraud Prevention

Referral Marketing Software comes equipped with the ability to detect various forms of referral fraud and prevent them.

Artificial Intelligence in Referral Marketing Software

Artificial Intelligence already does and will play an ever more important role in Referral Marketing Software. AI’s utility in customer profiling by parsing through vast data from diverse sources is rather obvious. AI may also be employed to pick out the most relevant program-seeding communication for all customer types in different situations. The AI capability of pattern recognition can be handily deployed for fraud detection in referral programs.

How to Choose Right Referral Marketing Software

Buyers are recommended to consider peer reviews and expert opinions that are extensively available on Cuspera before making buying decisions. Cuspera’s AI based engine guides you through the requirement process to help you choose the right software.

Having worked with different referral marketing platforms for my clients, I knew that there was no simple answer to that question. Your best option depends on the size of your business and your priorities.

S B

Shane Barker

Digital Marketing Consultant

Industry Vertical

The needs of different industry segments vary considerably while implementing Referral Marketing. The software should be able to provide industry-specific solutions. Though most of the Referral Marketing software are built on a common technology foundation, many of them provide tailored solutions for popular verticals like e-commerce, retail, and financial services. These ready-to-use solutions reduce time-to-value and eliminate deployment and integration challenges.

Integration

Seamless integration with other third-party systems used in your company like CRM and Marketing Automation and Email Marketing systems is important to track the referral journey from sales pipeline/funnel to acquisition. Referral Marketing solutions for e-commerce should provide out-of-box integration with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and BigCommerce to name a few. You may also want to verify interoperability with your finance systems to ensure smooth rewarding.

Omni-channel Support

The business might need the support of multiple channels to execute their referral programs. It is important to assess the channels supported by the Referral Marketing Software to ensure that it aligns with the marketing strategy.

Scalability

Verify the maximum capacity supported by the Software and compare them with likely campaign loads at your company - such things as, how many referral programs can be run simultaneously, transaction limits in number or size if any, customer communication, and peer communication options, wallets, omnichannel capabilities.

Flexibility/ Customizability

The software should afford the option to add/remove elements as per outreach and referral programs without affecting overall performance. The software must be scalable with respect to speed and features.

User Segmentation

The Software must allow for manual sorting and segmentation when required, in addition to its own in-built capacity to automatically categorize users per transaction history.

Campaign Analytics

What you cannot measure, you cannot manage. The solution must have the analytical ability to generate insights such as program participation, top influencers, referral rates per channel, and total revenue generated. Scheduled and ad hoc reporting capability is also a necessary consideration.

Customer Support

The Software vendor must have your back. You should be able to avail of the services of a strong customer support team, who can promptly guide and resolve issues. This is particularly important, as referral programs are run and changed/improved frequently as per seasons and trends, and need frequent updates almost by definition.

APIs and Scope of Data Usage

Make sure of the authenticity of the referral solution. It must have appropriate API capabilities and associated rights for the businesses to run the program to full potential. API documents also ease the interoperability with other systems. The goal is to own the information collected via authentic APIs and email addresses, as unclear usage rights may lead to legal hassles and losing customers’ trust.

Challenges in the Adoption of Referral Marketing Software

Data privacy concerns

Especially with hosted solutions, the brand’s customer data such as purchases, revenue, customer journey, order values, and others would reside offsite. While this is common enough to have been proven a functional and safe option, company culture can put paid to the prospect of allowing data to reside outside the company’s IT bounds.

Program restrictions

Despite customizable referral program options, sometimes, not all campaign design ideas can be achieved within the Software’s limitations in terms of campaign logic, design, and channel integration. Also if marketers are using different systems for other marketing campaigns, then referral campaigns should seamlessly integrate with the overall marketing systems.

One may argue that the above can be addressed by opting to create and deploy in-house software, but that could require an altogether different level of expertise and budget compared to vendor solutions. This is especially true when it comes time to scale or update the system, which is fairly often as referral programs evolve across user industries.

ROI - Most Effective Customer Growth Strategy

When compared to other marketing programs, referral programs have shown very high results time and again. An often-quoted statistic is how Dropbox grew nearly 40 times on the back of a successful referral campaign and got 4 million users in 15 months. With that kind of returns, the investment on referral campaigns is recouped many times over.

The justification for the cost of setting up Referral Marketing is easy to see when the difficulty of running referral programs without software assistance is considered. Complex programs would be deemed too infeasible, and even those considered feasible would suffer from low participation, incorrect tracking, inadequate communication, and low effectiveness and morale overall.

The software doesn’t just give a shot in the arm to your referral program. The software transforms your programs and makes them far more advanced while keeping them easy to run. The analytics-driven insights that you get access to informs your approach to other aspects of marketing such that your returns are markedly enhanced in those too.

Which of these 38 Referral Marketing software fit your needs?

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38 Referral Marketing Software

ClientCircle

Referral marketing service designed to build client loyalty

4.85

Read Reviews
ClientCircle Icon

ClientCircle

4.85
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral marketing service designed to build client loyalty

ClientCircle is a referral marketing platform that makes client communication simple, clients stay longer, buy more, and refer their friends. It helps to enhance customer relationships and acquire customers.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Customer feedback management,Measuring net promoter score,Engagement management
Top Features : Feedback surveys,Gamification,Leaderboards
ClientCircle Icon

Vendor: ClientCircle

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 317 6th Ave, 8th Floor, Des Moines, IA 50309, US

Financials: PRIVATE

Fomo

Social Proof Marketing Platform for increasing Trust, Credibility and Sales

4.77

Read Reviews
Fomo Icon

Fomo

4.77
★★★★★
★★★★★
Social Proof Marketing Platform for increasing Trust, Credibility and Sales

Fomo is a social proof marketing platform that enables businesses to display live customer experiences, testimonials and recommendations on the website, helping to increase trust and credibility and sales growth. The software can be used in businesses of all sizes and integrates easily with the business systems currently in use.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Advertisement,Engagement management,Sending & publishing communications
Top Features : Alerts: popups & Notifications,Dashboard,Personalization
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Vendor: Fomo

Company Size: 11-50

Financials: PRIVATE

InviteReferrals

Software that helps to grow business and acquire new customers through Referral Marketing

4.69

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InviteReferrals

4.69
★★★★★
★★★★★
Software that helps to grow business and acquire new customers through Referral Marketing

InviteReferrals is the best referral software for mobile apps and websites. It is the simplest software to run customer referral program campaigns and helps to grow market share, acquire customers, and increase sales and revenue.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Discount management,Promotion management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Alerts: popups & Notifications
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Vendor: InviteReferrals

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: District Centre, New Delhi, Delhi 110058, IN

Financials: PRIVATE

Talkable

Referral Program software built for eCommerce

4.61

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Talkable

4.61
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Program software built for eCommerce

Talkable is a Referral Program software built for eCommerce. It is also available as a mobile version. Talkable provides growth in Revenue through targeted loyalty programs and referrals.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Loyalty management,Campaign management
Top Features : AB Testing,Gamification,Fraud detection
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Vendor: Talkable

Founded: 2010

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 475 Valencia St, 2nd Floor San Francisco, CA 94103

Financials: SERIES A

Girafi

Referral program for Ecommerce to turn customers into ambassadors and recommend business among friends

4.55

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Girafi

4.55
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral program for Ecommerce to turn customers into ambassadors and recommend business among friends

Girafi is a Referral program for Ecommerce that turns the customers into ambassadors and get them to recommend the business among their friends. It’s a hassle-free way to improve the marketing ROI and cut customer acquisition costs by up to 50%.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Social media management,Scheduling post to social media,Engagement management
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Feedback surveys
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Vendor: Girafi

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: Markgrafenstraße 14, Berlin, 10969, DE

Financials: SEED

Mention Me

Referral Marketing Software to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals

4.54

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Mention Me

4.54
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing Software to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals

Mention me is a referral marketing platform that provides tools and expertise to turn customer base into an engine for growth. It is suited for businesses and companies of all sizes to engage customers, maximize lifetime value and drive referrals.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Campaign management,Engagement management,Channel marketing
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,AB testing
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Vendor: Mention Me

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 1-45 Durham Street,, London, London SE11 5JH, GB

Financials: SERIES B

Referral Rock Software

Referral Program Software to help businesses unlock all the word of mouth they are missing out on

4.47

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Referral Rock Software

4.47
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Program Software to help businesses unlock all the word of mouth they are missing out on

Referral Rock is a referral marketing software that helps any business get more customers using the most powerful and underutilized asset, the happy customers. It automates every step of the process to scale and consistently measure the success of referral marketing. It helps to acquire customers, scale best practices and build brand awareness.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Campaign management,Training & onboarding
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Personalization
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Vendor: Referral Rock

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 950 N Washington, Suite 404, Alexandria, VA 22314

Financials: PRIVATE

Referralcandy

Referral Program Software to grow sales through word-of-mouth marketing

4.42

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Referralcandy

4.42
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Program Software to grow sales through word-of-mouth marketing

Referralcandy is a referral marketing software that can be used by on-line stores and eCommerce companies across various industries, covering businesses of all sizes, including enterprises.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Engagement management,Loyalty management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Dashboard
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Vendor: Referral Candy

Founded: 2009

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: #06-26, 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent Singapore 139951

Financials: SEED

ReferralMagic

Referral tracking software made for SaaS

4.40

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ReferralMagic

4.40
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral tracking software made for SaaS

ReferralMagic is a referral tracking software made for SaaS. It helps to turn the users and customers into referral magnet. It helps to acquire customers and improve sales and revenue.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Sales incentive management,Loyalty management,Referral management
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Dashboard
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Vendor: ReferralMagic

Company Size: 2-10

HQ Location: 10771 71st Ave 510, New York, 11375, US

Financials: PRIVATE

Buyapowa Referral Programs

Referral and Advocate Marketing Programs

4.38

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Buyapowa Referral Programs

4.38
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral and Advocate Marketing Programs

Buyapowa is a refer-a-friend marketing platform turbo-charging customer acquisition for leading brands and retailers. It helps to increase sales and revenue and increase customer lifetime value.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Engagement management,Engaging and following up,Sales incentive management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards
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Vendor: Buyapowa

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 3 The Glass House Royal Oak Yard London United Kingdom SE1 3GE

Financials: SERIES A

Viral Loops

Viral referral marketing platform to launch ranking competitions, sweepstakes, pre-launch and referral programs.

4.36

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Viral Loops

4.36
★★★★★
★★★★★
Viral referral marketing platform to launch ranking competitions, sweepstakes, pre-launch and referral programs.

Viral Loops is a revolutionary template-based viral and referral marketing solution for modern marketers with powerful templates, tracking overall activity, analytics for marketers, minimal code snippet and API, and ready-made landing pages. It helps to increase sales and revenue, launch new products and increase customer lifetime value.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Viral marketing,Referral management,Communication management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Templates
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Vendor: Viral Loops

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: 21 Aylmer Parade Aylmer Road, London, GB

Financials: SEED

Invitebox Social Referral Program

Social Referral program to reach new customers

4.33

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Invitebox Social Referral Program

4.33
★★★★★
★★★★★
Social Referral program to reach new customers

Invitebox is a Social Referral Program that can be used by businesses from start-ups to large enterprises for Referral campaigns that can be created within minutes. Invitebox technology can be set to work on the Referral program creation once the rules of the program and the Incentives are defined.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Promotion management,Discount management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Widgets
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Vendor: Invitebox

Founded: 2010

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: P.O. Box 763 Collegedale, Tn. 37315

Financials: PRIVATE

VocalReferences

Referral solutions to generate testimonials

4.33

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VocalReferences

4.33
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral solutions to generate testimonials

VocalReferences is a leading testimonial app to get more testimonials for the website that provides effective solutions to common marketing challenges like SEO, online conversions and reputation management. It helps to acquire customers and improve digital and social presence.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Business development,Lifetime value management,Customer feedback management
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Vendor: VocalReferences

SaaSquatch

Referral Marketing platform to create loyalty, referral, and reward programs

4.29

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SaaSquatch

4.29
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing platform to create loyalty, referral, and reward programs

SaaSquatch is a referral program software that helps to create, manage, and optimize mobile app and web-based referral programs in all in one platform. It helps to acquire customers and enhance customer relationships.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Loyalty management,Engagement management
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Widgets
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Vendor: SaaSquatch

Founded: 2018

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 100 - 838 Fort Street Victoria BC V8W 1H8 Canada

Financials: PRIVATE

ReferMe IQ™

Automated referral platform to get referrals

4.29

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ReferMe IQ™

4.29
★★★★★
★★★★★
Automated referral platform to get referrals

Referme IQ is an automated referral platform that makes client acquisition easier. It helps to generate referral and personal network customers with state of the art marketing intelligence get more leads faster and cheaper.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Generation of new leads,Drip marketing,Advertisement
Top Features : Personalization
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Vendor: ReferMe IQ™

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: Johns Creek, GA

Financials: PRIVATE

WeGift

Instant, scalable digital rewards

4.29

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WeGift

4.29
★★★★★
★★★★★
Instant, scalable digital rewards
Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Engagement management,Communication management,Sending & publishing communications
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification,Personalization
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Vendor: WeGift

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: Water Lane Cheshire SK9 5AF

Financials: SERIES A

Friendbuy

Referral Marketing Software for Growth Marketers

4.29

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Friendbuy

4.29
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing Software for Growth Marketers

Friendbuy is a customer referral program software and email opt-ins for eCommerce. It provides customer acquisition software for savvy marketers. It helps to build brand awareness and scale best practices.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Engagement management,Loyalty management
Top Features : Templates
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Vendor: Friendbuy

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 925 N La Brea Ave , Los Angeles, CA 90038, US

Financials: SEED

Extole Advocacy

Referral Programs to power new customer acquisition

4.27

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Extole Advocacy

4.27
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Programs to power new customer acquisition

Extole is an Enterprise Advocacy platform enabling drive for increased traffic and conversions in retail businesses, increased memberships and subscriptions in the Membership and Loyalty programs, and member build up in scalable member-get-member programs in Consumer Financial Services.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Engagement management,Loyalty management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Personalization
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Vendor: Extole

Founded: 2007

Company Size: 51-100

HQ Location: 350 Sansome Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, CA 94104

Financials: PRIVATE

Genius Referrals

Referral Marketing solutions to reduce costs and maximize future growth.

4.25

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Genius Referrals

4.25
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Marketing solutions to reduce costs and maximize future growth.

Genius Referrals is a referral marketing software that helps to acquire better customers using the power of word of mouth. It helps to increase sales and revenue and improve efficiency.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Campaign management,Content management
Top Features : Widgets,Personalization,Gamification
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Vendor: Genius Referrals

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: 5401 S. Kirkman Rd, Suite 310, Orlando FL 32819 US.

Financials: NA

Untorch

Viral Referral Marketing Tool for Email Sign Ups

4.23

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Untorch

4.23
★★★★★
★★★★★
Viral Referral Marketing Tool for Email Sign Ups

Untorch is a fully automated referral marketing platform for email sign-ups. It creates an email capture form and provides each signup with a unique URL to share. It helps to acquire customers and build customer relationships.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Viral marketing,Engaging and following up
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Vendor: Untorch

Company Size: 1-10

Financials: PRIVATE

Hello Referrals

Referral Software to track business referrals and sales leads

4.17

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Hello Referrals

4.17
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral Software to track business referrals and sales leads

Hello Referrals is easy to use referral marketing software to track referrals within the referral group. It helps to acquire customers and increase sales and revenue.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Engaging and following up,Engagement management
Top Features : Rewards,Gamification
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Vendor: Hello Referrals

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: 583 Donofrio Drive Suite 218 Madison, WI 53719

Financials: PRIVATE

Incentivit

Referral platform that comes with everything you need to boost referral marketing and grow customer base.

4.17

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Incentivit

4.17
★★★★★
★★★★★
Referral platform that comes with everything you need to boost referral marketing and grow customer base.

Incentivit is a referral marketing software that releases the power of word-of-mouth and engage the customers. It helps to boost the referral marketing and grow the customer base.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Scheduling post to social media,Social media management
Top Features : Widgets,Dashboard
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Vendor: Incentivit

Company Size: 1-10

HQ Location: Branch Place Elite 95 Boulevard Curé-Labelle Ste-Thérèse, QC J7E 5R4, Canada

Financials: PRIVATE

FirstPromoter

Affiliate and referral tracking software for SaaS to track, manage and optimize marketing programs

4.17

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FirstPromoter

4.17
★★★★★
★★★★★
Affiliate and referral tracking software for SaaS to track, manage and optimize marketing programs

FirstPromoter is an all-in-one platform that allows SaaS companies to track, manage, and optimize any type of referral-based marketing programs. It helps to increase sales and revenue and improve ROI.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Campaign management,Sales document management
Top Features : Dashboard,Rewards,Gamification
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Vendor: Firstpromoter

Company Size: NA

HQ Location: Level 3, Domestica Complex,, Valley Road, Msida, MSD 9020, MT

Financials: NA

OSI Affiliate Software

Affiliate Program Software, Affiliate Tracking Software Marketing

4.78

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OSI Affiliate Software

4.78
★★★★★
★★★★★
Affiliate Program Software, Affiliate Tracking Software Marketing

OSI Affiliate Software allows the customers to easily promote the brand across all the social networks. It helps to improve brand engagement and increase sales and revenue.

Highlights
Top Business Usecases : Referral management,Promotion management,Discount management
Top Features : Gamification,Rewards,Personalization
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Vendor: Omnistar Interactive

Company Size: 11-50

HQ Location: 14330 Paradise Tree Drive, Orlando, Florida 21045, US

Financials: PRIVATE