referrals

Turning your existing customers, or outside promoters, into a steady source of new ones — starting with an honest check on whether your product is the kind of thing people pass along at all.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

Work out the moment in your product when a customer is most likely to recommend it.
Decide whether to reward just the referrer, both sides, or more for each extra referral.
Decide whether sharing should be built into the product itself, like a Powered By badge.
Pick a tool like Rewardful, Tolt, or PartnerStack for your program type.
Diagnose why customers aren't referring or referrals aren't converting.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (13)

Referral & Affiliate Programs

You are an expert in viral growth and referral marketing. Your goal is to help design and optimize programs that turn customers into growth engines.

Before Starting

Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

1. Program Type

Customer referral program, affiliate program, or both?
B2B or B2C?
What's the average customer LTV?
What's your current CAC from other channels?

2. Current State

Existing referral/affiliate program?
Current referral rate (% who refer)?
What incentives have you tried?

3. Product Fit

Is your product shareable?
Does it have network effects?
Do customers naturally talk about it?

4. Resources

Tools/platforms you use or consider?
Budget for referral incentives?

Should You Engineer Virality First?

Before building a reward-driven program, check whether virality can be built into the product — often cheaper and more durable than paid referrals. But don't force virality where it doesn't naturally fit.

Place the product on the Viral Potential Spectrum:

Natural (build for it): collaboration tools, communication tools, user-facing outputs — every use exposes the product to non-users.
Limited (don't force it): backend, competitive-advantage, internal-only, and infrastructure products. Invest in referral programs, content, and partnerships instead.

If the product is on the natural end, consider product-embedded viral mechanisms (Powered By badges, exposure loops, social sharing, embeds, watermarks) before or alongside a reward program.

For the spectrum diagnostic, the 7 viral mechanisms, value-presentation and timing best practices, and affiliate power-law mechanics: See references/viral-mechanisms.md

Referral vs. Affiliate

Customer Referral Programs

Best for:

Existing customers recommending to their network
Products with natural word-of-mouth
Lower-ticket or self-serve products

Characteristics:

Referrer is an existing customer
One-time or limited rewards
Higher trust, lower volume

Affiliate Programs

Best for:

Reaching audiences you don't have access to
Content creators, influencers, bloggers
Higher-ticket products that justify commissions

Characteristics:

Affiliates may not be customers
Ongoing commission relationship
Higher volume, variable trust

Referral Program Design

The Referral Loop

Trigger Moment → Share Action → Convert Referred → Reward → (Loop)

Step 1: Identify Trigger Moments

High-intent moments:

Right after first "aha" moment
After achieving a milestone
After exceptional support
After renewing or upgrading

Step 2: Design Share Mechanism

Ranked by effectiveness:

In-product sharing (highest conversion)
Personalized link
Email invitation
Social sharing
Referral code (works offline)

Step 3: Choose Incentive Structure

Single-sided rewards (referrer only): Simpler, works for high-value products

Double-sided rewards (both parties): Higher conversion, win-win framing

Tiered rewards: Gamifies referral process, increases engagement

Present the reward with the bigger-feeling number — "lead with the larger number" (say "$10 off," not "40% off," on a low-priced product). Reward at the aha moment or milestone, not signup. Reduce friction: one-click share, pre-written messages.

For examples and incentive sizing: See references/program-examples.md

For product-embedded virality, value-presentation rules, and affiliate power-law mechanics: See references/viral-mechanisms.md

Program Optimization

Improving Referral Rate

If few customers are referring:

Ask at better moments
Simplify sharing process
Test different incentive types
Make referral prominent in product

If referrals aren't converting:

Improve landing experience for referred users
Strengthen incentive for new users
Ensure referrer's endorsement is visible

A/B Tests to Run

Incentive tests: Amount, type, single vs. double-sided, timing

Messaging tests: Program description, CTA copy, landing page copy

Placement tests: Where and when the referral prompt appears

Common Problems & Fixes

Problem	Fix
Low awareness	Add prominent in-app prompts
Low share rate	Simplify to one click
Low conversion	Optimize referred user experience
Fraud/abuse	Add verification, limits
One-time referrers	Add tiered/gamified rewards

Measuring Success

Key Metrics

Program health:

Active referrers (referred someone in last 30 days)
Referral conversion rate
Rewards earned/paid

Business impact:

% of new customers from referrals
CAC via referral vs. other channels
LTV of referred customers
Referral program ROI

Typical Findings

Referred customers have 16-25% higher LTV
Referred customers have 18-37% lower churn
Referred customers refer others at 2-3x rate

Launch Checklist

Before Launch

Define program goals and success metrics
Design incentive structure
Build or configure referral tool
Create referral landing page
Set up tracking and attribution
Define fraud prevention rules
Create terms and conditions
Test complete referral flow

Launch

Announce to existing customers
Add in-app referral prompts
Update website with program details
Brief support team

Post-Launch (First 30 Days)

Email Sequences

Referral Program Launch

Subject: You can now earn [reward] for sharing [Product]

We just launched our referral program!

Share [Product] with friends and earn [reward] for each signup.
They get [their reward] too.

[Unique referral link]

1. Share your link
2. Friend signs up
3. You both get [reward]

Referral Nurture Sequence

Day 7: Remind about referral program
Day 30: "Know anyone who'd benefit?"
Day 60: Success story + referral prompt
After milestone: "You achieved [X]—know others who'd want this?"

Affiliate Programs

For detailed affiliate program design, commission structures, recruitment, and tools: See references/affiliate-programs.md

For affiliate power-law mechanics (buyout clauses ~12× monthly commission, the 20/80 super-promoter rule, launch-affiliate tactics): See references/viral-mechanisms.md

Task-Specific Questions

What type of program (referral, affiliate, or both)?
What's your customer LTV and current CAC?
Existing program or starting from scratch?
What tools/platforms are you considering?
What's your budget for rewards/commissions?
Is your product naturally shareable?

Tool Integrations

For implementation, see the tools registry. Key tools for referral programs:

Tool	Best For	Guide
Rewardful	Stripe-native affiliate programs	rewardful.md
Tolt	SaaS affiliate programs	tolt.md
Mention Me	Enterprise referral programs	mention-me.md
Dub.co	Link tracking and attribution	dub-co.md
Stripe	Payment processing (for commission tracking)	stripe.md
Introw	Channel partner programs with tiers, deal registration, QBRs	introw.md
PartnerStack	Enterprise partner and affiliate programs	partnerstack.md

Related Skills

launch: For launching referral program effectively
emails: For referral nurture campaigns
marketing-psychology: For understanding referral motivation
analytics: For tracking referral attribution

This skill ships inside the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin.

Install just this skill

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

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npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill "referrals" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

If installation created a top-level skills folder that did not exist when your Claude Code session started, run /reload-skills in that session. Run it again after later changes in that folder.

Install the whole plugin

This route installs the Marketing Skills for AI Agents plugin package selected for your AI tool.

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin

Type both lines inside a Claude Code session, not at your shell prompt. They add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository, and the marketing-skills plugin, with all 50 skills.

/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugin install marketing-skills
```

Installation and loading

The second line opens the plugin's details; Claude Code installs it once you pick one of the install options shown.

Good to know

/plugin does not work in Claude Code on the web, GitHub Actions or other non-interactive setups. For those, Corey gives a shell form: claude plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills, then claude plugin install marketing-skills@marketingskills.

Add the marketplace, then pick the plugin in Codex

Run the first line in your terminal to add Corey's marketplace, which is this repository. Then start a Codex session, type /plugins and select marketing-skills to install all 50 skills. To get new releases later, run codex plugin marketplace upgrade.

codex plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills

02
```
/plugins
```

Open plugin page ↗

What's inside

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ad-creative
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ads
When the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'Google Ads,' 'Facebook ads,' 'LinkedIn ads,' 'ad budget,' 'cost per click,' 'ad spend,' 'should I run ads,' 'ABM,' 'account-based marketing,' 'B2B ads,' 'lead quality,' 'negative keywords,' 'Performance Max,' 'thought leader ads,' or 'when should I kill an ad.' Use this for campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative generation and iteration, see ad-creative. For landing page optimization, see cro.Read full description
ai-seo
When the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' 'optimize for Claude/Gemini,' 'llms.txt,' 'llms-full.txt,' 'OKF,' 'Open Knowledge Format,' 'knowledge bundle,' 'agent-readable site,' 'agent readiness,' 'is my site agent-ready,' 'WebMCP,' 'do listicles still work for AI,' 'ChatGPT stopped citing comparison pages,' or 'AI citation format shift.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema.Read full description
analytics
When the user wants to set up, improve, or audit analytics tracking and measurement. Also use when the user mentions "set up tracking," "GA4," "Google Analytics," "conversion tracking," "event tracking," "UTM parameters," "tag manager," "GTM," "analytics implementation," "tracking plan," "how do I measure this," "track conversions," "Mixpanel," "Segment," "are my events firing," or "analytics isn't working." Use this whenever someone asks how to know if something is working or wants to measure marketing results. For choosing attribution models, comparing multi-touch/MMM/incrementality, or reconciling conflicting numbers across tools, see attribution. For A/B test measurement, see ab-testing.Read full description
aso
When the user wants to audit or optimize an App Store or Google Play listing. Also use when the user mentions 'ASO audit,' 'app store optimization,' 'optimize my app listing,' 'improve app visibility,' 'app store ranking,' 'audit my listing,' 'why aren't people downloading my app,' 'improve my app conversion,' 'keyword optimization for app,' or 'compare my app to competitors.' Use when the user shares an App Store or Google Play URL and wants to improve it.Read full description

Referral & Affiliate Programs

Before Starting

1. Program Type

2. Current State

3. Product Fit

4. Resources

Should You Engineer Virality First?

Referral vs. Affiliate

Customer Referral Programs

Affiliate Programs

Referral Program Design

The Referral Loop

Step 1: Identify Trigger Moments

Step 2: Design Share Mechanism

Step 3: Choose Incentive Structure

Program Optimization

Improving Referral Rate

A/B Tests to Run

Common Problems & Fixes

Measuring Success

Key Metrics

Typical Findings

Launch Checklist

Before Launch

Launch

Post-Launch (First 30 Days)

Email Sequences

Referral Program Launch

Referral Nurture Sequence

Affiliate Programs

Task-Specific Questions

Tool Integrations

Related Skills

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Add the marketplace, then pick the plugin in Codex

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