Referral prompts come at the wrong time
Ask for referrals right after users experience value. They're happiest then and most likely to share.
When to use
You have clear value moments where users feel good about your product.
Hypothesis template
If we prompt referrals after [value moment] instead of [random times], referral rate will increase because users are primed to share when they're happy.
Method
The problem: Referral program buried in settings. Users never see it. Or it pops up on day 1 before they even know if they like the product.
What Uber did: After every ride, "Share a free ride with a friend." You just
had a good experience. Sharing feels natural. At peak, Uber spent $300M/year on
referral incentives (and got way more back).
Why post-value timing works:
- Users are in a positive emotional state
- Value is fresh in mind
- Natural conversation: "I just used X and it was great"
- Not interruptive, experience is already complete
- Peak-end rule: we remember ends
Good value moments:
- After completing a task successfully
- After hitting a milestone
- After saving time/money
- After receiving a compliment (Airbnb: after good review)
- After upgrade (they just invested more)
How to do it:
- Map your product's value moments
- Add referral prompt after top 3-5 moments
- Pre-fill shareable message
- One-tap sharing
- Track: which moments generate most referrals?
- A/B test prompt copy and timing
Success metrics
- •Referral prompt impressions by moment
- •Referrals per value moment
- •Best-converting moments
- •Overall referral rate change
Prerequisites
- Identifiable value moments
- In-app prompt capability
- Easy sharing mechanism
- Referral tracking
Common pitfalls
- •Prompting before value is delivered
- •Too frequent prompts
- •Complicated sharing flow
- •No tracking on prompt performance
Source: Uber $300M/year referral program. Read more
Suggested ICE scores
Ready to run this experiment?
Sign up free to use this playbook with step-by-step guidance and track your results.