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Who do you trust: the paid SERP ads or your sibling? A study by Nielsen has revealed that people are 90% more likely to trust and buy from a brand recommended by a friend. You are more likely to be influenced by their reviews, testimonials, recommendations, and referrals.
That’s where the idea of referral marketing tools lies!
- 55% of B2Bs with referral programs believe their sales efforts are “highly effective,” compared to 35% of companies without referral programs. (Source: Influitive)
Referral marketing is a business tactic that uses word of mouth and recommendations to acquire new customers from its existing customer base. Using referral marketing tools, your current customers become your brand advocates.
According to a source, 55% of B2B organizations have referral programs and believe the sales efforts are “highly effective” compared to 35% of companies without any referral program.
Referral marketing has inspired business owners so much that it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 15.5% by 2027!
You might want to join the referral marketing troop to stand out from your competitors. We’ve churned out a list of the best referral marketing tools for you.
21 Best Referral Marketing Tools in 2024
1. Referral Factory
Referral Factory is one of the best referral marketing tools, with over a thousand referral program templates. There’s no need to install tracking scripts on your website as the software has a built-in page builder to build individual pages and capture referrals. In addition, its flexible reward structure offers multiple ways to interact with your data.
→ Campaign analytics
→ Conversion Tracking
→ Data import/export
→ Employee referral management
→ API
Pros
→ Simple interface
→ Easy to export data
→ Flexible features
Cons
→ Challenging customizations
→ Outdated platform design
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $95
→ It offers a 15 day free trial
2. Refersion
efersion is an influencer marketing platform and a referral marketing tool. It includes a marketplace to publish an offer where you can consist of what you need and what you’ll pay. With Refersion, you can set up a targeted landing page and go beyond setting up simple referral rewards. You can also request customization reports from the team.
→ Campaigns and management
→ Data insights and privacy
→ Payments and taxes
→ Attribution and first-party tracking
→ Affiliate discovery and recruiting
Pros
→ Organized and user-friendly interface
→ Top-notch customer support
→ Easy affiliate payout
Cons
→ Limited API
→ No cross-device tracking
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $95/month for the starter pack. It offers a 14-day free trial.
3. Ambassador
Ambassador is a referral marketing tool where you can easily enroll influencers, customers, and affiliates in targeted and customized referral campaigns. The software offers and tests multiple incentives for various campaign segments and automates the rewarding process. It also optimizes referral programs in real time and monitors key performance indicators.
→ Activity tracking
→ Affiliate management
→ Bonus management
→ Campaign analytics
→ Loyalty program
Pros
→ Versatile reward payment methods
→ Easy integration
→ Great onboarding and customer support
Cons
→ Average reporting methods
→ Average customization for campaigns
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
4. Friendbuy
Friendbuy is genuinely your friend! You can quickly and easily launch your referral programs to get the program live with lightweight code snippets. In addition, the software automatically allows the fulfillment of any reward type: account credit, loyalty points, gift cards, coupon codes, and others. Friendbuy also offers flexibility to design custom communications.
→ Reward programs
→ Email capture
→ Fraud detection
→ Analytics
→ A/B testing
Pros
→ User-friendly
→ Available widgets
→ Mature API
Cons
→ Average dashboard design
→ Average customer support
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $249/month for starter pack
→ It offers a 30-day free trial
5. Referral Rock
eferral rock is one of the top-notch referral marketing tools that helps organizations set up word-of-mouth referrals on autopilot. Users can build the referral programs straightaway into your marketing channels and customer interactions to provide a flawless experience across all touch points. In addition, the referral tool has software to track and share results.
→ Easy social sharing
→ Reward distribution/fulfillment
→ Member/advocate portal
→ Automated programs and email campaign invites
→ API
Pros
→ User-friendly interface
→ Excellent customer
→ Support Automated template email messages
Cons
→ Limited reporting
→ Lack of numerous customization options
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $200/month for starter pack
6. ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy is one of the best marketing tools for beginners. It is one of the first referral software for online stores that help them to boost sales. Small businesses and the computer software industry are the most common users of ReferralCandy. The software gives you more insights into sales, customers, and traffic.
→ Email marketing
→ Analytics
→ Optimization
→ Full flexibility for developers
→ Easy to use customization
Pros
→ Easy to set up
→ Templates to create email messages
→ Affordable
Cons
→ Limited whistles and bells
→ No multiple referral and affiliate programs
Pricing
→ Pricing starts $49/month as base fee
→ It offers a 30-day free trial
7. VYPER
YPER is a referral marketing tool that makes it easy to run viral campaigns. It maximizes gamification to incentivize, encourage and engage sharing for faster and more efficient business growth. You can also set up reward/loyalty programs, referral programs, and leaderboards with VYPER. It is also easy to build branded campaigns focusing on your brand’s core goals.
→ Activity Tracking
→ Blind judging
→ Contact management
→ Gamification
→ Email marketing
Pros
→ Tracks purchase and lead referrals
→ Flexible builder
→ Point system for tiers, milestones and placement winners
Cons
→ Weak customer care support
→ Limited design functions
Pricing
→ Pricing starts from $149/month
8. Referral Magic
Referral Magic works like magic! Referral Magic can turn your customers and users into referral magnets by integrating referral tracking software into your website. You can directly build the referral program into your SaaS, resell to your clients and personalize it according to the business needs. You can rebrand your referral program too!
→ Easy and fast installation
→ Campaign management
→ Loyalty programs
→ Reward distribution
→ Referral campaigns
Pros
→ Customer centric
→ Cost efficient
→ Tracks all kinds of traffic through your site
Cons
→ Limited templates
→ Limited integrations
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
→ It offers a free trial and has
9. InviteReferrals
InviteReferrals is among the top simple referral marketing tools with a complete referral design, strategy, and implementation. It measures everything from referral visits, referrers, referral installs, and invites to your top-notch influencers in one dashboard. With InviteReferrals, you can run different referral programs like top referrer contests and several others.
→ Easy to set up
→ In-depth analytics
→ Customizable campaigns
→ Multiple social sharing and referral options
→ Data export
Pros
→ Flawless integration with third party apps
→ Analytical reporting
→ Social media optimized
Cons
→ Limited design options
→ Limited campaign participants
Pricing
→ Pricing starts from $99/month for basic plans
10. TapMango
TapMango is a feature-rich and comprehensive customer loyalty program that provides you with the necessary tools and resources to run and build a loyalty program that the existing customer base can tell their loved ones about. In addition, it has a fully automated POS integration that lets you convert sales transactions to loyal customers.
→ Automated scheduling
→ Contact management
→ Customer activity tracking
→ Email marketing
→ Customer segmentation
Pros
→ Easy integration
→ Excellent customer service
→ Awesome retargeting capabilities
Cons
→ Long checkout process due to lack of integration
→ Complex user interface
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
11. Extole
Extole has a referral marketing platform that helps acquire more customers. With the SaaS platform of Extole, marketers can create an efficient, reliable, and complete acquisition channel. It enables you to capture the trust factor, target precision, and acquire new customers through social media. Extole offers nominate-a-friend, ambassadors, drop-a-hint, influencers, refer-a-friend, family & friends.
→ Email templates
→ Lead engagement
→ Campaign management
→ Referral tracking
→ ROI tracking
Pros
→ Rewards friends and tracks advocates
→ Fraud prevention
→ Easy reporting
Cons
→ No geo filtering capabilities
→ Not user-friendly
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
12. Referral SaaSquatch
Referral SaSquatch is among the best marketing tools that work for B2C brands operating in the on-demand space. It is designed for on-demand businesses, online marketplaces, or consumer service/box subscriptions with 5000+ customers. In addition, referral SaaSquatch has fraud detections, funnel analytics, and more than fifty integrations with marketing and payment systems.
→ Customer loyalty
→ Influencer marketing
→Brand ambassador management
→ Affiliate management
→ Customer engagement
Pros
→ Excellent customer service
→ Ability to flag or block referrals and screen for fraud
→ Easy to implement and track referrals
Cons
→ Limited reporting
→ Limited customization
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $1750/month for the pro plan
13. Mention Me
Mention Me is among the best referral marketing tools. It has a powerful marketing strategy that is used by at least 300 brands across the world. It has a name-sharing feature that enables users to capture real-world conversations. It also includes A/B testing and refer-a-brand tailored to your brand.
→ Discount management
→ Customer segmentation
→ Social promotion
→ Widgets
→ Tagging
Pros
→ Extensive reporting dashboard
→ Seamless customer journey
→ Excellent customer team
Cons
→ Restrictive UX
→ Multiple overwhelming features
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
14. Genius Referrals
Genius Referrals is a real genius product! At Genius Referrals, marketers can customize and choose the appropriate template for their referral program in less than ten minutes! In addition, it offers smooth integration methods, and lets businesses personalize different types of programs. It also includes flexible campaigns with numerous currencies and tier restrictions.
→ Automate referral processes
→ Alerts/notifications
→ Activity tracking
→ Customizable templates
→ Discount management
Pros
→ Easy navigation
→ Great flexibility and customization
→ Awesome customer service
Cons
→ Manual fulfillment
→ Complex understanding of code and scripts
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $49 for the starter plan
→ It offers a 30-day free trial
15. InviteBox
InviteBox is among the referral marketing tools that make it easy for businesses to create various referral marketing campaigns such as sweepstakes and instant rewards. Its usage is simple. The marketers just have to set the rules of the referral program and copy and paste the widget code into the website.
→ Campaign management
→ Referral tracking
→ Social media integration
→ Employee referral management
→ Contact management
Pros
→ Easy set up
→ Integration with wordpress sites via a WP login
→ Instant support
Cons
→ Average referral campaigns
→ No customization of the widget to fit the site design
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $29/month for its startup plan
16. Hello Referrals
Hello Referrals is among the best web-based referral marketing tools that help organizations send, track, and receive sales leads and business referrals. You can send and receive word-of-mouth leads and business referrals with Hello Referrals. In addition, users can send messages to partners and create events to help each other throughout the sales cycle.
→ Gamification
→ Rewards
→ Track referrals
→ Manage leads
→ Send and receive business referrals and word-of-mouth leads
Pros
→ Easy to send and track referrals
→ Easy to use
→ Great UX design
Cons
→ No free version
→ No free trial
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
17. Talkable
Talkable is one of the best referral marketing tools if you want to invest in a referral and loyalty marketing program. You can manage high-value clients and increase retention as well! With powerful customer insights, you can better understand your target market. It also has A/B testing for its users.
→ Detailed campaign reporting and analytics
→ Fraud management
→ Mobile optimized programs
→ Activity dashboard
→ Activity tracking
Pros
→ Affordable rates
→ Easy to use
→ Excellent customer support
Cons
→ Backend issues
→ Average user interface
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
→ It has a free version
18. Yotpo
Yotpo is one of the best referral marketing tools in town! It offers top-notch and advanced solutions for visual marketing, customer reviews, referrals, SMS marketing, and others. It integrates flawlessly with your complete marketing stack. You can increase your sales, understand feedback and stand out on search engines with Yotpo.
→ Account based marketing
→ Content marketing
→ Event management
→ Email marketing
→ Digital analytics
Pros
→ Excellent customization
→ User friendly interface
→ Awesome up-time and dependable function
Cons
→ Poor reporting
→ Limited granular filters
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $799/month for the premium version
→ It has a free version plan
19. Revetize
Revetize is just like some of our colleagues-multitalented! Among those referral marketing tools, it is the one-shop-stop for everything ranging from lead generation to reputation management. You can acquire reviews, and referrals, send personalized business texts and generate leads. In addition, you can create and promote distributions straightaway from the platform.
→ Calendar management
→ Automated responses
→ 2-way messaging
→ Data extraction
→ Contact database
Pros
→ Excellent customer service
→ Easy to use interface
→ User-friendly
Cons
→ Average mobile app version
→ Multiple whistles and bells
Pricing
→ Customers need to contact the team for pricing
20. Upviral
Upviral is a top-notch referral marketing tool that improves site performance, like lead generation and conversion. You can create your own landing pages in addition to personalized email drip campaigns and thank-you pages. You can also set up smart leaderboards to encourage users to bring in more leads.
→ Monitoring
→ Performance metrics
→ Lead management
→ Referral tracking
→ Rewards management
Pros
→ Great customer support
→ Easy and fun lead generation tactics
→ Easy to use
Cons
→ Issues with page builder
→ Limited customizing options
Pricing
→ Pricing starts at $79/month for starter plans
→ It offers a 14- day trial at $1
21. LeadDyno
LeadDyno is a referral marketing tool and affiliate marketing software with several functions to facilitate your unique referral marketing strategy. With LeadDyno, you can manage your social media campaigns with little effort. In addition, it has an embedded and customizable email follow-up system to reach a wide range of customers.
→ Affiliate management
→ Commision management
→ Email marketing
→ Conversion tracking
→ Referral Tracking
Pros
→ Transparent commission system
→ Easy to use
→ Seamless integration with CRM, email marketing apps and payment processors
Cons
→ Average customer support
→ Multi commission rates are challenging to new users
Pricing
→Pricing starts at $49/month
→ It offers a 30-day free trial
How to Improve the Quality of Referrals with Rewards?
To improve the quality of referrals with rewards, the three following questions may prove helpful:
Who Gets the Referral Reward?
The first question is, who do you want to motivate? Who’ll be your biggest benefactor? The ones who come to your mind are the ones who get the referral reward. It helps you lay the foundation for other elements in the program.
When you know whom to target, offering incentives and deciding the program structure becomes easier.
There are three incentive campaign types:
- One-sided- It is either offered to the existing or new customer. One-sided rewards benefit new companies that need to grow their brand awareness.
- Two-sided- It is offered to both existing and new customers. Two-sided rewards are beneficial to all business types with enough resources.
- No referral incentive- It has referral programs with no referral fees or incentives. No referral incentives are offered by companies on a low budget or establishing a natural referral rate with adding incentives.
How to Choose the Referral Reward Type?
Referral incentives don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. It depends on the business type and the customer base. You need to dig in and understand what reward would best motivate your customers.
Some of the most commonly used rewards across various businesses include cash, gift cards, donations, store credit, free subscriptions, branded swag, free products, and many others.
How to Create Your Referral Reward Structure?
Yes, there’s a reward structure too! But, first, you need to ask specific crucial questions:
1. How often and when will you give the reward?
Ensure what event will trigger rewards that you’ll send to customers. For example, is it when the referred friends click the link or when they make a purchase?
2. Will you use a tiered reward system?
Some programs have multiple levels of referral incentives and rewards based on the actual number of referrals. It is complicated but creates an opportunity for customers to become loyal members of your referral marketing program.
3. Will you offer a reward for every single referral?
Ensure that you reward your customers for every referral or when a specific number is reached? Also, consider the customers’ motivation while deciding on the reward. For example, for small referral programs, you can reward for every successful referral.
You can try these referral ideas as well-
- Create a customer of the month program
- Break the referral process into various stages
- Run a limited-time drawing or contest
How Xoxoday Can Help you Run a Successful Referral Program?
Referral programs can surely bring you more customers. Scaling referral programs successfully was quite a pain. Not anymore; all you need to do is just “one-click”. Xoxoday is a holistic reward management software that allows companies to manage their referral reward programs easily.
It enables businesses to run successful reward campaigns by giving them an incentive for each referral made by their customers and employees. Xoxoday gives you everything you need to run a successful referral program and turn your customers into brand ambassadors.
Here are some key benefits of using Xoxoday:
- It helps to automate your entire referral program management process by simply entering your desired parameters and rules into our platform.
- Offering rewards that are interesting and worth sharing with others is crucial for any referral program. We offer you a wide range of rewards from the most popular global brands like Amazon, Flipkart, PayTM, etc. You can also create your custom reward catalog with Xoxoday.
- The robust infrastructure keeps your referral campaigns running smoothly, making the redemptions easy and trouble-free.
- It provides you with engagement reports to help you keep track of the number of gift cards sent/redeemed so that you can tweak your strategy to maximize referrals.
Are Referral Marketing Tools Worth a Try?
A hundred times, yes! Referral marketing tools are worth giving a try. With referral marketing tactics, you can keep your customers happy, improve your loyal customer base, improve customer retention rates, and increase engagement.
And in return, you’ll have greater marketing reach and boost ROI value. So, why not give it a try?