This new feature from Gather unlocks a new way to extend the reach of a Lead-Gen Referral Program.

A typical journey for a referral program, designed to increase leads or opt-ins (lead-gen referral program), may look like the following:

Customer enrols as an advocate -> customer invites friends -> a friend accepts an invitation by opting in -> both friend and advocate are sent their rewards.

Where this study shows that referred friends tend to be more loyal, there is an opportunity to incentivise referred friends to enrol as advocates themselves and go-on to refer their network.

This extends the reach of a Lead-Gen Referral Program, and with Gather this can be done with 1 click.

As soon as a friend accepts the invitation, they are presented with an option to enrol on the referral program with 1 click where they can begin to refer their friends.

This journey is suitable for the following types of referral programs:

• A launch referral program. This is if you are launching a new product or brand and are building a launch list (or a waitlist).

• A competition or a giveaway where the more friends an entrant refers, the more entries they get.

• A simple newsletter referral program. For example, when a friend is invited to subscribe, they may land on a page featuring the latest issue of the newsletter (so they get a feel for the newsletter content). This is where they can be served a form to opt-in. When they confirm their opt-in, they can be presented with a button to invite subscribers.

Why is this Feature A Good Fit for a Lead-Gen Referral Program?

Gather offers two types of referral programs:

• A Lead-Gen Referral Program. This is where referral success is determined on an opt-in (for example a newsletter referral program).

• A Conversion Referral Program. This is where a successful referral is determined by a sale conversion. An example of this is a referral program for an e-commerce or DTC brand.

Unlike a Lead-Gen referral program, when a referred friend accepts an invitation as part of a Conversion Referral Program and receives their incentives, they would need to go on to complete a purchase for the referral to be marked as successful.

The opportunity for asking a referred friend to enrol as an advocate comes after they make a purchase decision (i.e. they become a customer first). In the case of a Conversion Referral Program, a post-purchase call to action is used to convert new customers into advocates.

Click here for detailed instructions on how to implement this new feature in your lead-gen referral program.

If you run a Conversion Referral Program, This article runs through how you can leverage this new CTA button as a part of a conversion referral program.