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name: referral-program description: "Design a referral program that drives real word-of-mouth growth. Use when asked to build a referral or refer-a-friend program, create an incentive/reward structure, or turn happy users into a growth channel. Produces the incentive design (who gets what, when), the mechanics and trigger moment, fraud guardrails, and the unit-economics check — a program that pays back, not one that just burns budget."

Referral Program Skill

A referral program turns happy customers into a growth channel — but most fail because the incentive is wrong, the ask comes at the wrong moment, or the economics don't work. This skill designs one that does: the right reward for both sides, the trigger at peak satisfaction, fraud guardrails, and a payback check so it's growth, not a giveaway.

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• The product & economics — what you sell, price/margin, and roughly your CAC and LTV (so rewards can be sized).
• The "aha" / happy moment — when users feel the value most (the right time to ask).
• Audience motivation — would they refer for cash, credit, status, or to help a friend? B2C vs B2B differs a lot.
• Constraints — budget per referral, legal/region limits, what's technically feasible.

Output Format

Referral program: [product]

1. Incentive design — who gets what, and when it pays out:

Side	Reward	Triggers when	Why this reward
Referrer		(e.g. friend's first purchase)
Referred friend		(e.g. on signup)

Double-sided usually beats one-sided. Reward the outcome you want (paid conversion), not just a click/signup.

2. The ask moment & mechanics — when to prompt (right after the aha moment / a great experience), where (in-product, email, post-purchase), and the share flow (unique link/code, how it's tracked, how rewards are granted). Keep it one or two clicks.

3. The message — a short, shareable framing the referrer would actually send (helping a friend, not spamming for a kickback).

4. Fraud & abuse guardrails — self-referral, fake accounts, reward farming; the checks (reward on real conversion, limits, verification).

5. Unit-economics check — total reward cost per successful referral vs. CAC and LTV. The program must acquire customers below your other channels' CAC (or clearly cheaper than paid) to be worth running. State the breakeven.

6. Measure & iterate — participation rate, referrals per advocate, conversion of referred users, and referral CAC vs. payback. What to tune.

Quality Checks

• Incentive is sized against real CAC/LTV and rewards the outcome (conversion), not just a click
• The ask is triggered at a genuine high-satisfaction moment, with a low-friction share flow
• Double-sided vs. one-sided is a deliberate choice with a rationale
• Fraud/abuse guardrails are specified
• A unit-economics / breakeven check shows the program pays back
• Success metrics (participation, referral CAC, referred-user conversion) are defined

Anti-Patterns

• Do not set a reward without checking it against CAC/LTV — that's just burning money
• Do not reward signups/clicks alone — reward the conversion you actually want
• Do not ask before the user has felt value — timing is half the program
• Do not ignore fraud — reward farming can quietly eat the whole budget
• Do not make sharing clunky — every extra step kills participation

Based On

Referral/viral-growth practice (double-sided incentives, trigger-at-aha, referral CAC vs. LTV, fraud guardrails).