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name: enhance-growth-loops description: > Add growth loops to a live product: a "powered by" badge, shareable artifacts, invites and referral credit, each with K-factor events. Use when "referral program", "viral loop", "powered by badge", or "get users to invite". license: MIT

enhance-growth-loops — Output that recruits the next user

Degree of freedom: MIXED. Which loop fits the product [HIGH freedom]; consent for invites, badge rules, event names, and per-loop measurement [LOW freedom — run exactly].

Apply-now. A funnel spends acquisition; a loop reinvests it — the output of one user (a shared artifact, a badge on their site, an invite) becomes the input for the next. Build one or two loops, measure each separately, and stop calling a funnel step a loop.

This skill vs neighbors

Skill	Owns
enhance-growth-loops (this)	Badge, share, invite, referral mechanics and their events
enhance-web-conversion	Landing/pricing copy and upgrade prompts
enhance-onboarding	Getting the invited user to value (loop closes there)
backend-patterns	Referral credit ledger, idempotent reward grants
audit-analytics	Taxonomy the loop events must fit
plan-gtm	Chose the loop in its channel plan

Do not fire for "write the referral email" alone → design-email.

How to reason

1. Loop — what user output can carry the product to a stranger, and who sees it?
2. Exposure — how many strangers per active user per month, realistically?
3. Conversion — of those, how many can reach value without talking to anyone?
4. Reinvest — what does the new user produce that feeds the same loop?
5. Measure — K = exposures × conversion per user; one K per loop, never blended

Worked example

Loop: a photo-pairing app produces a shared result page per session. Exposure: ~3 recipients per session view the page; "Made with …" footer. Conversion: page has a one-tap "try it" that opens the product ungated → value before signup. Reinvest: the recipient's first session produces another shared page. Measure: share_created, share_viewed { referrer }, loop_signup { loop: "share" }; K ≈ 3 × 0.04 = 0.12 per session.

Self-critique before reporting

• One K per loop — badge, share, and invite each have their own exposure and conversion events
• Consent — invites are user-initiated, single-send, with the recipient's opt-out; no contact-list scraping
• Badge honest — removable on paid plans; links to a page that says what the product did
• Value before signup — the landing side of every loop shows the artifact before asking for an account
• Right owner — copy → enhance-web-conversion; reward ledger → backend-patterns

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Loop catalogue [HIGH freedom — choose one or two]

Loop	Mechanism	Numbers to expect	Build notes
Powered-by badge	free plan shows "Made with X" on public output	0.5–3% conversion, near-total exposure of every viewer	removable on paid; links to a "what this is" page with the artifact visible
Shareable artifact	result page / export / public dashboard	exposure = recipients per share	ungated view; one-tap "try with your own"; OG image of the artifact
Templates & galleries	users publish templates others clone	slow start, compounding	attribution to creator; clone = activation event
Invite / collaboration	product is better with a teammate	warm invites convert 10–25%	invite flow inside the value moment; invitee lands on the shared object
Referral credit	both sides get credit, storage, or a month	SaaS referral rate ~4.75%, referred conversion ~7.9%, top quartile 12%+	idempotent grant on the referred user's activation, not signup; fraud cap per referrer
Public changelog / build in public	releases as content	content loop, not viral	pairs with docs-launch-kit

Value before signup lifts referred conversion 2–5× — every loop's landing side shows the artifact first.

Procedure

1. Pick and size [HIGH freedom]

Estimate exposure and conversion per active user from current data (or write unmeasured). A loop with K < 0.05 is a nice touch, not a channel; say so.

2. Build the artifact side [HIGH freedom]

Public route renders the artifact without auth; OG tags carry a real screenshot (enhance-web-seo for meta); one primary "try it" action that lands the stranger in the product's ungated path (enhance-onboarding).

3. Build the ask [LOW freedom — rules]

• Badge: on free-plan output only; removable for paid; alt text says what the product is.
• Invite: user types or picks recipients; one email per recipient per invite; recipient can opt out of future invites; no address-book import without explicit per-send confirmation.
• Referral: unique link or code; reward granted once, idempotently, when the referred user hits activated; per-referrer cap; terms visible.

4. Events [LOW freedom — names]

badge_viewed { host } · badge_clicked
share_created { kind } · share_viewed { referrer } · share_cta_clicked
invite_sent { count } · invite_accepted
referral_link_created · referral_signup · referral_activated · referral_reward_granted
loop_signup { loop }

Consent-gated; no recipient PII in properties. Reconcile with audit-analytics.

5. Verify

• Public artifact renders logged-out; OG preview shows the artifact
• Invite sends once per recipient; opt-out honored (test with a second inbox)
• Referral reward granted exactly once on activation; cap enforced
• K per loop computed from events after 7 days (or unmeasured with the date it will be)

Guardrails

• No dark patterns — no pre-checked "invite all", no fake "3 friends joined", no unremovable badge on paid.
• Anti-spam — rate limits on invites and shares; report/opt-out link on every invite.
• Rewards on activation, not signup — signup rewards get farmed.
• One K per loop — never blend loops into one "viral coefficient".

Chains with

• plan-gtm → the loop named in the channel plan.
• enhance-onboarding → the invitee's path to value.
• backend-patterns → credit ledger, idempotency, rate limits.
• enhance-web-seo → OG and meta on public artifact routes.
• test-playwright → logged-out artifact view and invite path.