Simple Study of AIRBNB's Friend Referral Program
It was important that each invite appear as a gift, not a promotion.
Gustaf Alströmer, Growth Product Manager at Airbnb
Each Referral is Customized and Personalized with the receiver picture and message
Reciprocity principle
According to Reciprocity principle, if somebody does a favor to us, we tend to return in kind. Businesses leverage it by giving something to the customer for free — before asking anything from them. For example, free food samples in grocery chains or freemium businesses in SaaS, a free e-book in exchange for sharing personal information.
What AIRBNB Does well
- Multiple touch-points to increase user adoption.
- Most companies “hide” the referral in the profile page section.
- Airbnb prompts people to invite their friends in multiple steps of the core booking experience.
- example, if you go to your trips page, you can invite your friends to get travel credit before paying.
Personalization in the sign up page of mobile app
Upon accepting an invite you are redirected to the app store to download the Airbnb app.
Instead of showing the regular sign up page, they show a personalized version of it with a picture of your friend.
This helps the user feel as if a guide is there and to be reminded of the context that he is in.
Reciprocal gift
Both Parties receive an incentive upon the completion of the referral.
This encourages users to engage in the referral program as they will not be missing out on any incentives.
Nilsen Report
According to a Nielsen report, 84% of people go by recommendations from friend and family. If we observe it carefully, word-of-mouth via mobile app referral follows the same trend.
First determine if you are going to function on a code or a link basis. Options could be posting on Facebook with their referral link or code, posting on Twitter, Email, copy & paste, or SMS. This decision may be based on your audience or other integrations with your app.
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- Have the Referral be a Prominent feature in the first page
Give incentives to both parties
Make the Referral Personalized if Possible
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Make the Referral option available with Multiple reach option
Conclusion
First determine if you are going to function on a code or a link basis. Options could be posting on Facebook with their referral link or code, posting on Twitter, Email, copy & paste, or SMS. This decision may be based on your audience or other integrations with your app.
+ Have the Referral be a Prominent feature in the first page
+ Give incentives to both parties
+ Make the Referral Personalized if Possible
+ Make the Referral option available with Multiple reach option