Referral Program Examples

Real-world setups for common business types. Each example shows the campaign configuration, reward structure, and the code to make it work.

For a full library of examples by industry, see referralrocket.io/referral-program-examples.

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SaaS — Double-Sided Credit Reward

Scenario: A subscription SaaS product wants to reward existing users for referring new paying customers.

Setting	Value
Campaign type	Double-Sided Referral
Referrer reward	$20 account credit
Referee reward	$10 off first month
Qualifying event	First successful payment
Integration method	JS SDK on payment confirmation page

How it works:

1. Existing user shares their referral link from the in-app widget.

2. New user signs up via the referral link — addParticipant is called at sign up.

3. New user completes their first payment — qualifyParticipant is called with rewardReferee: true.

4. Both the referrer ($20 credit) and the new user ($10 discount) receive their rewards.

// On sign up
window.Rocket.getCampaign().addParticipant({
  email: '[e-mail]',
  fName: 'Jane',
  lName: 'Smith'
});

// On first successful payment
window.Rocket.getCampaign().qualifyParticipant({
  email: '[e-mail]',
  amountPaid: 49.00,
  rewardReferee: true   // rewards both referrer and referee
});

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E-commerce — Promo Code Referral

Scenario: A Shopify store wants to give both the referrer and new customer a discount code when a purchase is made via a referral link.

Setting	Value
Campaign type	Double-Sided Referral
Referrer reward	15% off next order (Shopify discount code)
Referee reward	10% off first order (Shopify discount code)
Qualifying event	First purchase
Integration method	Stripe Payment Links or Shopify integration

How it works:

1. Customer shares their referral link via a post-purchase email or account page.

2. Friend clicks the referral link and lands on the store — referral cookie is set.

3. Friend completes a purchase — Referral Rocket receives the Stripe or Shopify webhook and qualifies the referral automatically.

4. Discount codes are issued to both parties via Shopify.

No custom code required if using the hosted Stripe Payment Links or Shopify integration — configure it entirely from the dashboard.

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B2B / Affiliate — Cash Reward via Tremendous

Scenario: A B2B company runs an affiliate program where partners earn a cash reward for each paying customer they refer.

Setting	Value
Campaign type	Affiliate / One-Sided
Referrer reward	$150 cash (via Tremendous gift card or bank transfer)
Referee reward	None
Qualifying event	Customer completes first paid invoice
Integration method	REST API (server-side)

How it works:

1. Affiliate receives a unique referral link from the Affiliate Hub.

2. Referred prospect signs up — your backend calls addParticipant via the REST API.

3. Prospect pays their first invoice — your backend calls qualifyParticipant.

4. Affiliate reward is queued in Reward Management and issued via Tremendous.

# Step 1: Add the referred participant (server-side)
curl -X POST 'https://app.referralrocket.io/api/v1/addParticipant' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR-API-KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "YOUR-CAMPAIGN-ID",
    "email": "[e-mail]",
    "fName": "Alex",
    "lName": "Johnson",
    "referredByCode": "AFFILIATE-CODE"
  }'

# Step 2: Qualify after first payment (server-side, in your billing webhook)
curl -X POST 'https://app.referralrocket.io/api/v1/qualifyParticipant' \
  --header 'x-api-key: YOUR-API-KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "id": "YOUR-CAMPAIGN-ID",
    "email": "[e-mail]",
    "amountPaid": 500.00
  }'

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Community / Newsletter — Free Tier Upgrade

Scenario: A newsletter or community platform rewards members who refer new subscribers with an upgrade to a premium tier.

Setting	Value
Campaign type	One-Sided Referral
Referrer reward	1 month premium access (manual or custom reward)
Referee reward	None
Qualifying event	New subscriber confirms email (sign up)
Integration method	JS SDK on sign up confirmation page

How it works:

1. Member shares their referral link in their own newsletter or social profile.

2. New subscriber clicks the link and signs up — both addParticipant and qualifyParticipant are called on the confirmation page (sign up is the qualifying event).

3. Referrer's reward is queued immediately — no payment step needed.

// On sign up confirmation page — sign up IS the qualifying event
const campaign = window.Rocket.getCampaign();

campaign.addParticipant({
  email: '[e-mail]',
  fName: 'Sam'
}).then(function() {
  return campaign.qualifyParticipant({
    email: '[e-mail]'
  });
}).then(function() {
  console.log('Referral complete — referrer reward queued.');
});

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Ways to Display Your Referral Program

Regardless of campaign type, you have three options for how users interact with the referral widget:

1. Hosted page — share a Referral Rocket-hosted URL directly in emails or social posts. No code required.

2. Embedded widget — place the widget inside your site or app so users never leave your product.

<div id="referral-rocket-widget"></div>
<script
  type="text/javascript"
  campaign-id="YOUR-CAMPAIGN-ID"
  participant-email="LOGGED-IN-USER-EMAIL"
  defer
  src="https://app.referralrocket.io/widget/widgetIndex.js">
</script>

3. Custom UI powered by the API — build your own referral UI and use the REST API or JS SDK to power it behind the scenes.