Has anyone successfully run a referral program (ie. tell your friend about our product and if he/she purchases and mentions you, you get paid)? We have decent word of mouth for JumpBox at this point and we're interested in accelerating that. My main concerns at this point are:<p>* Kathy Sierra is adamant about the idea that you never pay your evangelists. I hold her advice in high regard and I can understand her arguments: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/02/inspiring_your_.html<p>* in any cash-back incentive program you introduce the ability for people to game the system. I suppose it requires willingness to accept some level of that in trade for the boost in visibility.<p>* energy devoted to implementing the program is potentially be better spent on other evangelism activities (Joel Spolsky in Founders at Work said none of the sales-generating gimmicks he's ever tried has had more ROI than investing time in improving the product - http://www.grid7.com/archives/143_faw-25-joel-spolsky-of-fog-creek-software.html<p>But at the end of the day, I'm really curious if the referral program could substantially boost our word of mouth. This forum always has insightful startup advice - I'm hoping to get input (good or bad) from folks who have conducted referral programs or other successful activities to get the awareness ball rolling.<p>sean
I wouldn't recommend wasting time with it. The only reason for me to recommend something to my friends is that I think the service or product is great and it would be a good fit for them. If the product is great I will recommend it even if I don't get paid. If it's not great I'm not going to trick my friends into using it just because I'm getting paid.<p>A refferal program could however convince someone to adverise your product to complete strangers on the web. But if that's the kind of exposure you want just go ahead and buy ads.