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Ask HN: I built a referral program for developers, would love feedback

9 pointsby geekjockalmost 7 years ago
Hi everyone,<p>Over the weekend I launched a referral program for my app Pull Reminders (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pullreminders.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pullreminders.com</a>). Here&#x27;s a quick summary with two screenshots showing what it looks like: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;abi&#x2F;status&#x2F;1001432164569960451" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;abi&#x2F;status&#x2F;1001432164569960451</a><p>For some background, Pull Reminders is used by over a thousand developers and has 100+ new developers signing up each week. I&#x27;ve been looking at strategies to reach more potential customers without having to spend money or a ton of time so a referral program seemed like it had potential.<p>There are well-known success stories out there of referral programs designed by consumer products like DropBox, but far fewer for B2B, and almost none that I found which were targeted at developers (DigitalOcean is one).<p>I considered a cash incentive (ie. $25 per converted referral), but developers are well-paid so offering cash seemed like it could actually be a turn off. I considered offering credits, but Pull Reminders is expensed by teams so for an individual on the team this feels like a poor incentive. This eventually led me to the idea of offering free coffee (and tea)–not just regular coffee, but high-end coffee from specialty roasters. It&#x27;s a generalization but I feel that most developers like coffee, and getting a bag of specialty coffee seems like it could be a fun and novel reward.<p>I have no idea if my approach or design is good so I would love your thoughts and feedback. How can I improve the structure, presentation, or description of my referral program? Is the coffee idea good? Is my copy written well (this was tough – I spent several hours repeatedly tweaking and rewriting)?<p>P.S. Sorry for the long post – I plan on eventually turning my learnings and results into a blog post.

5 comments

tixocloudalmost 7 years ago
Hi there,<p>Based on your post, I reckon your overarching goal is to acquire more customers and the tactic you&#x27;re focused on is a referral program.<p>But perhaps it might be good to take a step back. Firstly, do you know what the value of your customers are at the moment and how much will you be willing to spend per customer?<p>Referral programs could be a good strategy provided you feel that your customer also has a potential network to reach out to and you have enough to incentivize them, which leads back to how much you&#x27;re willing to spend per customer.<p>That being said, have you tested the coffee idea out with your existing customers? More importantly, have you had a chat with your existing customers to understand what would get them to refer you to their networks?<p>The way I&#x27;d approach it is to talk to your customers and test out your strategies (i.e. coffee or otherwise).<p>Happy to discuss further as I&#x27;ve been involved with designing loyalty&#x2F;rewards&#x2F;switching programs.
inputcoffeealmost 7 years ago
It is certainly an interesting problem. I don&#x27;t know that I have the solution.<p>I agree with everything you said about the problem around finding a good reward.<p>However, coffee drinkers can be picky. It would not motivate me, but then again I am not sure what would other than the benefit of doing my friend and the customer a favor.
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jbardnzalmost 7 years ago
Looks really great. As a developer I would be way more motivated by this than some free credits for my companies account.<p>How do you handle fulfillment? Seems like it could be a real time suck if it is manual? Also do you ship internationally?
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salukialmost 7 years ago
How about an amazon e-gift card based on your plans they get the referral on.<p>Maybe a minimum of $20, then $50 and $100.<p>How about a bonus e-gift card every 12 months their signup is a customer.<p>So if they refer a signup on your $99 plan they get $100 after it is confirmed and then every 12 months another $100 e-gift card.<p>I don&#x27;t drink coffee btw, but I do have an amazon wish list.
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trcollinsonalmost 7 years ago
I don’t drink coffee but I know a ton of people who do. I actually really like this idea and your layout of it. Great job. I’ve also never heard of your service but I like that too! I’m on gitlab though. Any comment on when you’ll integrate?