Best Referral Software Tools To Use For Customer Referral Programs

Referral marketing is an incredibly effective way to grow your business.  By incentivizing your current customers to refer their friends and family to your business, you can reach new customers and grow your business in the most sustainable way. In fact, studies have shown that referred leads are 2x more likely to convert than leads acquired through paid marketing channels, and referred customers are more loyal than customers acquired through other marketing channels.

“With a data for more than 28,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries, it has been seen that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising.” – Source : Going Viral: The Epidemiological Strategy of Referral Marketing by Sayantari Ghosha, 2018.

To make the most of your referral marketing efforts, you’ll need the right tools. There are a variety of referral software options available, each with its own unique features and capabilities. These platforms offer an easy set-up of your referral engine, page builders to create your actual referral program landing pages, tools to prompt and ask your customers to refer, connections to your CRM so you can generate referral links for your existing contacts, a wide range of rewards and inventives, and detailed analytics to help you track the success of your referral program.

Below we’ve listed a breakdown of the top referral software on the market right now, including their pricing ranges and review scores on Capterra and G2. The referral software comparison below is by their average reviews scores, showing which tools are most loved by real customers. 

Now let’s dig a little deeper. Here’s an in depth look at each platform that offers referral program software. There are many platforms on the market right now, but these are the top 14 that customers are buying… 

1. Referral Factory

Capterra Rating – 4.9 

G2 Rating – 4.8 

Software Advice Rating – 5.0

Google Rating – 5.0 

Pricing Range – $95 to $1400 / month

Description – Plug and play software to build and track your referral program. Easy to use and built for marketing and sales teams that want to get more referrals. 100+ referral program templates, designed by experts. 100% customisable. Integrates seamlessly with your CRM, or internal workflows. Advanced referral tracking and analytics. Many tools to promote your referral program. Voted the #1 referral software to host your customer referral program by Influencer Marketing Hub and Growth Marketing Pro. 

Most popular features – one click sync with your CRM to generate referral links for your contacts (works with most CRMs), the ability to 100% customize your referral program, widgets to add to your website, and email tools to ask your customers for referrals. Also offers advanced referral analytics, and rewards automation (with a nifty way for you to issue your own rewards too). HubSpot certified referral app.

Limitations – Free trial is only 15 days, doesn’t offer a Shopify integration. 

Free trial without demo – Yes

2. Everflow

Capterra Rating – 4.9

G2 Rating – 4.8

Software Advice Rating – 4.87

Google Rating – N/A 

Pricing Range – Starting from $750 / month

Description – Cloud-based performance marketing platform designed to help businesses track, manage, and optimize their affiliate programs. The software allows users to set up and run multiple campaigns across various channels, track clicks, conversions, and revenue in real-time, and manage payments to affiliates. The platform also provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, giving businesses actionable insights to help them optimize their campaigns and drive better results. With features like anti-fraud protection, customizable dashboards, and integrations with popular marketing tools, Everflow provides a comprehensive solution for managing affiliate marketing programs.

Key features – Flexible commission structures, including multi-tiered and fixed fee options; API integrations with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce; real-time analytics and insights to track campaign performance and optimize campaigns accordingly

Limitations – Limited customer support options for users on lower-tier plans; limited customization options for referral program landing pages; steep learning curve for users who are new to the platform.

Free trial without demo – No

3. Talon One

Capterra Rating – 4.7 

G2 Rating – 4.6

Software Advice Rating – 4.73

Google Rating – 4.7 

Pricing Range – Custom pricing

Description – API-first software that enables businesses to create and manage custom referral campaigns, offering a drag-and-drop interface and advanced segmentation tools that allow businesses to target their campaigns to specific customer groups. Talon.One also integrates with other marketing tools and e-commerce platforms via API integration. 

Key features – Offers advanced segmentation allowing targeting of referral campaigns to specific customer groups based on factors such as demographics, purchase history, and location; advanced API integration that allows businesses to connect the software with other marketing tools and e-commerce platforms. 

Limitations – Steep learning curve and may require significant technical expertise to use effectively; users report that customer support can be slow to respond, which can be frustrating when issues arise; integrations with other business tools require development resources.

Free trial without demo – Limited time free trial for developers

4. Affise

Capterra Rating – 4.6

G2 Rating – 4.6

Software Advice Rating – 4.55

Google Rating – N/A 

Pricing Range – $500 – $1500

Description – Performance marketing platform that offers solutions for managing and optimizing referral marketing campaigns. Affise has a range of features including customizable dashboards, real-time reporting, and an open API. Affise also integrates with a wide range of third-party services and platforms, making it a versatile and scalable solution for businesses of all sizes. 

Key features – Flexible commission management system, advanced targeting and tracking capabilities, customizable dashboards, and real-time reporting

Limitations – Steep learning curve due to its extensive feature set, limited customer support options outside of business hours, occasional technical glitches or bugs, and the need for manual adjustments to ensure accurate tracking and reporting. Some users have also noted that the software’s user interface could be more intuitive and streamlined.

Free trial without demo – No

5. Invite Referrals 

Capterra Rating – 4.9 

G2 Rating – 4.5

Software Advice Rating – 4.94

Google Rating – 4.0 

Pricing Range – Starting from $99 / month

Description – With InviteReferrals, businesses can create customizable referral campaigns that reward existing customers for referring their friends and family. The platform also provides analytics and reporting to track the success of campaigns and optimize them for better results. Additionally, InviteReferrals offers integrations with popular tools like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce to make it easy for businesses to implement referral campaigns on their e-commerce sites. The software has a user-friendly interface, making it simple for businesses of any size to set up and run successful referral campaigns.

Key features – Supports multiple languages, making it accessible to businesses operating in different regions; integrates with many popular e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and more.

Limitations – Setting up campaigns in InviteReferrals may be complex and require technical expertise; some users have reported that InviteReferrals’ campaign types may not offer enough flexibility to meet their specific needs; lower-tier plans of InviteReferrals may not offer all the features they need for their referral program.

Free trial without demo – Yes

6. Extole

Capterra Rating – 4.7 

G2 Rating – 4.8 

Software Advice Rating – 4.73

Google Rating – 3.7

Pricing Range – Starting from $3000.00 / month

Description – Extole aims to help businesses acquire new customers and increase sales through word-of-mouth marketing. The software offers a range of features such as customizable referral campaigns, A/B testing, advanced analytics, and personalized incentives. The platform integrates with various marketing tools and allows businesses to track and measure the success of their referral programs. Extole also offers comprehensive reporting and provides insights into customer behavior, engagement rates, and referral sources.

Key features – A/B testing, which allows users to test different referral program variations to identify the most effective design and incentive options; enterprise-grade security.

Limitations – Users have mentioned that the customization options require some technical knowledge, which could be a limitation for non-technical users; few integrations, especially with CRMs; limited integration options with third-party platforms and tools

Free trial without demo – No

7. Growsurf

Capterra Rating – 4.7 

G2 Rating – 4.1

Software Advice Rating – 4.67

Google Rating – N/A 

Pricing Range – Starting at $775 / month

Description – Designed primarily for tech companies, GrowSurf offers a range of customizable referral program templates and campaign management tools, as well as features like automatic fraud detection and built-in email notifications. GrowSurf integrates with popular e-commerce platforms and other marketing tools, making it easy to set up and launch referral campaigns. 

Key features – Customizable referral program templates; automatic fraud detection and built-in email notifications

Limitations – Limited customization options; reporting features could be improved; expensive in comparison to competitors that serve tech companies

Free trial without demo – Yes

8. Referral Candy

Capterra Rating – 4.5 

G2 Rating – 4.4 

Software Advice Rating – 4.53

Google Rating – N/A

Pricing Range – Starting from $47 / month, billed annually, as well as a 3.5% commission fee

Description – Cloud-based referral marketing platform designed to help businesses increase customer acquisition and retention through referral marketing campaigns. The software enables businesses to create and launch customizable referral campaigns, track the performance of these campaigns, and incentivize customers to refer their friends and family. Referral Candy supports a range of referral reward options, including cash, discounts, and exclusive content. The platform integrates with a variety of e-commerce and marketing tools, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Mailchimp, making it easy to set up and manage referral campaigns.

Key features – Subscription app integration with ReCharge, PayWhirl and Bold; timed prompts to ask customers for referrals for e-commerce businesses. 

Limitations – Limited customization options for referral program design; limited support for non-e-commerce businesses; integrates mostly with e-commerce platforms. 

Free trial without demo – Yes

9. Mention Me

Capterra Rating – 4.6

G2 Rating – 4.3

Software Advice Rating – 4.60

Google Rating – 3.5 

Pricing Range – Custom pricing

Description – Described as advanced referral engineering for your ecommerce business, Mention Me offers a host of data-driven referral tools to help you grow your Shopify or Magento store. Mention Me powers referral & customer retention marketing for 400+ ecommerce brands worldwide, including Farfetch, Ted Baker and Charlotte Tilbury. The platform offers a fully customisable customer journey with a choice of 20 languages, 15 reward types and 16 sharing methods including unique name share feature.

Key features – A/B testing functionality that allows businesses to test different elements of their referral program, such as messaging, incentives, and referral channels; fraud detection tools that help prevent fraudulent activity and protect businesses from fake referrals.

Limitations – Lacks integration options with other software tools, which can make it difficult to integrate with existing workflow; the setup process can be complicated and time-consuming because of all the customisation options.

Free trial without demo – No

10. Ambassador 

Capterra Rating – 4.1 

G2 Rating – 4.4 

Software Advice – 4.12

Google Rating – 5.0 

Pricing Range – Starting at $1000 / month

Description – Referral marketing software that provides businesses with tools for managing their referral campaigns, tracking referrals, and rewarding customers for successful referrals. The software allows businesses to create customized referral programs that align with their unique goals and needs. Additionally, Ambassador integrates with popular e-commerce platforms and marketing tools, streamlining the setup and launch of referral campaigns. 

Key features – Integration with e-commerce platforms Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce; integration with popular email marketing tools such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact, making it easy to send referral program-related emails and communications to customers. 

Limitations – Lack of flexibility in terms of designing and customizing referral program workflows; some users find that it takes time to get familiar with the platform and its features, especially for those with no prior experience in referral marketing; on the expensive side compared to other referral marketing solutions, especially for small businesses with limited marketing budgets.

Free trial without demo – No

11. Friend Buy 

Capterra Rating – 4.2

G2 Rating – 4.4

Software Advice – 4.20

Google Rating – N/A 

Pricing Range – Starting at $249 / month

Description – Referral marketing software that helps businesses create and manage referral campaigns. FriendBuy’s website highlights the ease of use, flexibility, and powerful analytics of the platform. Referral programs can be integrated into a business’s website or app, and they provide tools for tracking referrals, analyzing data, and optimizing the program’s performance. The software supports integration with several popular eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce, and enables businesses to track referrals across multiple devices and platforms.

Key features – 10+ integrations to marketing tools and e-commerce stores; automated A/B testing; built-in fraud detection to prevent referral fraud and ensure fairness in the referral process.

Limitations – Limited integrations with CRMS; inflexible customization; complex and time consuming setup.

Free trial without demo – No

12. Referral Rock

Capterra Rating – 4.5 

G2 Rating – 4.0 

Software Advice Rating – 4.52

Google Rating – 4.0 

Pricing Range – $200 to $800

Description – Referral Rock is a cloud-based referral marketing solution that helps businesses of all sizes design, launch and manage their referral programs. The software offers a variety of features including a customizable dashboard, email automation, reward fulfillment, and analytics. Referral Rock provides customers with tools to manage all aspects of their referral programs, from designing the program to tracking customer engagement and reward fulfillment. Referral Rock integrates with other marketing tools and e-commerce platforms, making it easy to set up and launch referral campaigns.

Key features – Automation of the reward process for referrals, ensuring that customers receive their incentives quickly and easily; integrates with a variety of popular marketing and e-commerce platforms, such as Shopify and Mailchimp; detailed analytics on referral program performance.

Limitations – Email templates are limited in terms of customization options; platform UI can be difficult to navigate without a success managers help.

Free trial without demo – Yes (15 days)

13. Refersion

Capterra Rating – 4.2 

G2 Rating – 3.4 

Software Advice – 4.22

Google Rating – 3.4 

Pricing Range – Starting from $119 / month

Description – With Refersion, businesses can create personalized referral links for their customers to share and incentivize them with rewards for each successful referral. The platform offers robust reporting and analytics to help businesses track their referral program’s success and make data-driven decisions to optimize their campaigns. Additionally, Refersion integrates with a variety of popular e-commerce platforms and tools, making it easy to set up and manage referral programs alongside existing sales and marketing efforts. Refersion has a simple integration process that allows businesses to get started with affiliate marketing quickly. It offers integration with various platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Amazon.

Key features – The ability to create customizable affiliate portals that allow them to create unique pages for their affiliates; advanced commissioning options, such as commission tiers and rate schedules.

Limitations – Refersion’s customization options are limited compared to some of its competitors, which can make it difficult for businesses to create a unique affiliate program; some users have reported difficulty in setting up certain features, such as conversion tracking.

Free trial without demo – Yes (14 days)

14. Viral Loops

Capterra Rating – 4.5

G2 Rating – 3.5 

Software Advice – N/A

Google Rating – 1.0

Pricing Range – $35 to $399

Description – Cloud-based referral marketing software designed for businesses to launch and manage referral, affiliate, and loyalty programs. The software offers pre-built templates and drag-and-drop editors to create personalized referral campaigns with a variety of reward options, such as cash, discounts, and free products. Viral Loops also integrates with popular e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as marketing automation tools such as Zapier and Mailchimp. 

Key features – Simple interface; templates based on integrations; ability to create customizable referral rewards, which can help incentivize customers to refer others.

Limitations – Limited customization options compared to other referral marketing software; reporting feature are also limited, making it difficult to get detailed analytics on the success of referral campaigns.

Free trial without demo – Yes (14 days)

Feature comparison of these top referral software tools

Below we’ve charted the features of these referral program software tools, to help you compare platforms based on the features you need to build and launch your referral program. These features listed on the table below showcase what you get on the ENTRY LEVEL plan of each of these tools.

If you’re looking to supercharge your growth, then launching a referral program could be the most valuable form of marketing you try this year. And using referral software can make it easy to create and manage your own customer referral program – no coding required, and no experience with referral marketing needed.

The verdict is out. “60% of marketers say that referral programs generate a high volume of leads into their pipeline” – Source : forbes.

With referral software, you can easily create a variety of different referral programs to suit your business’s needs. In the past businesses had to design and code their referral programs from scratch, often meaning it took weeks or months to get up and running. Fast forward to 2023 and you can now get your referral program up and running in just a few days!

You can use referral software to build many types of customer referral programs…

5 Types Of Referral Programs You Can Build Using Referral Software

There are many different types of referral programs to choose from when launching your customer referral program. Based on the data collected from over 1000 referral marketing campaigns run in 2022, the double sided program is most likely to drive results. This is because both parties participating in your referral program will be rewarded, which makes the person referring more comfortable to share their referral link with friends, and the person invited more likely to accept their friends offer because they will be rewarded for taking action too.

1. Double sided referral programs 👇

As its name suggests, two-sided or double-sided referral programs reward both existing customers and newly referred customers. These are the most popular type of referral programs because they provide extra motivation for both parties to complete the desired action. The person referring gets a reward, and they get the opportunity to offer their friend a special deal. The person invited gets a special offer from their friend to accept, giving them more motivation to take action right now.

2. Single sided referral programs 👇

In a one-sided or single sided referral program – only one of the participants gets rewarded. This could be the person referring or the person invited.

3. Refer to win competitions 👇

This is a competition style referral program where people can refer their friends for entries into a competition. The more they refer, the higher their chances of winning. This type of campaign is particularly popular in the crypto industry and for e-commerce stores.

4. Tiered referral programs 👇

In a tiered referral program, customers are incentivized to refer multiple people for various different rewards. The more referrals they make, the greater the reward they receive. These programs have often been criticised for being more complicated to businesses to manage, and more difficult for users to understand. So we would suggest avoiding a tiered structure in your referral program – keeping it simple is often a better solution for everyone involved. One referral = one reward.

5. Influencer referral programs 👇

While this blog post is largely referring to customer referral programs, it’s important to note that you can also use the same software to manage your influencers and brand ambassadors. Influencers register to get a unique referral link to share with their followers (just like your customers), and they receive a commission for every sale made through their link. Your referral software should be able to effectively track how many referrals each influencer generates, and how many of those referrals convert.

Can I use referral software to run my partner program?

Yes, you can use referral software to run your partner program. Partner programs are similar to referral programs in that they incentivize non-competing businesses to refer new customers to your business. Most companies don’t realise that they can use the same referral software they use to manage their customer referral program, to also manage their partner program.

This is because the main goals are the same :

• Create referral links for your promoters (this could be your customers or your partners)
• Ask these people to refer and generate new referred leads (from your customers or partners)
• Track which of those referred leads convert
• Reward the customer or partner for that successful referral
• Provide referral analytics to track the success of your program

Your referral software really will pay for itself if you use it to run your customer referral program, your influencer referral program, and employee referral program, and even your partner program.

Some customer referral software even includes features specifically designed for partner programs, such as joint marketing materials, customizable landing pages, cash payouts, and the ability to send your new referred deals straight into your pre-existing deal pipeline on your CRM.

What factors should I consider when choosing referral software?

With the help of good referral program software, managing your referral program becomes easier and more efficient. Every business may have different marketing needs, but there are certain features that all of the best referral software tools offer.

When choosing your referral tech, make sure it offers all of the below features as minimum requirements:

1. Simple to use

The referral software you choose should be easy to use, even if you don’t have technical experience. Out of the box and without writing any code, you should be able to create a referral program (either from a template or from scratch), email your customers to ask them to refer, setup your tracking to monitor your referrals, and offer your users a simple way to track their own referrals. All these elements are standard for any customer referral program, so make sure the solution you choose ensures they are simple to do.

2. 100% Customizable (so your program looks and feels on brand)

Your customer referral program should be tailored to your business’s needs and branding. When your customers interact with your referral program you must insure the styling, fonts, messaging, and visuals all look and feel 100% on brand. This means you need a lot of customization options in the referral software you choose – make sure there is an advanced campaign builder If you’re in marketing and you want to control as much as possible of this process (without having to hire a developer), then you should look for no-code referral program software with advanced customization.

3. An easy way for your customers to register to refer, or be automatically added to your referral program

You want to find referral software that is not only easy for you to use, but also easy for your customers to use. They should be able to generate their referral links by joining your referral program, or you should be able to generate your customers referral links for them.

See below how this contact record in HubSpot has a referral link attached.

Your customers should also be able to track their own referrals in an easy way – users DO NOT want to have to create passwords to see how many of their referrals have been successful, so avoid using referral software that forces users to create accounts and passwords to track the success of their referrals.

4. Deep referral analytics

It’s impossible to grow and optimize your referral program if you aren’t tracking each metric in detail. You’ll need to be able to see the following data on an analytics dashboard : how many referrals you’ve received, which referrals converted, the average conversion rate of your referrals, a leaderboard of your top referrers, a graph showing how many referrals you’re generating daily, and which social and direct messaging channels your customers are using to refer their friends.

5. A variety of reward options

The rewards you’ll offer your customers for referring friends depends entirely on what they would find valuable. Some popular options include discounts, free products or services, gift cards, cash, or swag. Make sure your referral software allows you to offer a variety of rewards – including the option to issue your own – because your journey with referral marketing will more than likely grow, so having access to many rewards and incentive options is crucial.

If you’re unsure what value to make your reward, then read our guide on calculating the value of a reward here.

6. Integration with other tools

Integrations are so important that we covered an in depth guide on this towards the end of this blog post. By integrating your referral software with your marketing tech stack, you can enhance the referral program’s impact and lower the amount of manual work required to manage your referral program. The main reasons you’d want to integrate your referral program into tools like your CRM is so that you can easily generate referral links for your contacts (using a sync), and also so that you can send your new referred leads into the workflows you already use. CRM integrations also allow you to qualify the referred leads that convert automatically based on actions that happen in your CRM.

Does referral software integrate with other marketing tools like CRMs?

Yes, the best referral software can work with other marketing / automation tools. In fact, the integration of referral software with marketing tools can boost the effectiveness of your referral program, and ensure the management of your referral program is largely automated.

Referral software helps you encourage your customers to refer their friends and family members to your business. It also tracks the referral process from start to finish, assigns rewards to successful referrers, and provides valuable analytics on your referral program’s success metrics.

On the other hand, marketing tools and CRMs automate and streamline various digital tasks such as storing your current customers data, lead capturing, lead nurturing, tracking lead conversion, email marketing, social media promotion, and more.

By integrating your referral software with your marketing tech stack, you can enhance the referral program’s impact and lower the amount of manual work required to manage your referral program. For instance, your referral software can be linked to your CRM, so that you can automatically generate referral links for all or some of your customers. This means each customers referral link is easy for anyone in your business to access, whether its a sales person manually asking for a referral, or a marketing manager including each customers referral link in an email marketing campaign.

Another reason why it’s important to integrate your referral software with your existing marketing tools is to ensure that your new referred leads go into the same workflows you already use. When referral software is integrated with your pre-existing workflows, it allows for a streamlined process that saves you time and effort. This is because your new referred leads flow directly into the funnels you already have setup.

Referral software can also be integrated with social media platforms, allowing customers to share their referral links and promote the business on social media and direct messaging channels – like Whats App, Telegram, Text, and more.

Moreover, your referral software can provide valuable customer data that can be synced to your internal systems. By integrating your referral program with your CRM you can :

• Access every customers referral link in one click
• See how many referrals and converted referrals each customer has generated (from inside your CRM)
• Send all your new referred leads directly into your CRM
• Track those referred leads through your sales cycle so you can see when they convert
• Automatically issue rewards to the customers that refer new business your way

When choosing your referral software, look for features that integrate seamlessly with other marketing tools like HubSpot, Intercom, Zoho, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Zapier, Mailchimp and more. By doing so you’ll save yourself a ton of time managing your customer referral process – as most if it can be automated in just a few clicks.

NOTE: If you use a custom built CRM in your business, or an industry specific CRM that doesn’t have many integrations – then you’ll want to choose referral software that offers webhooks, an API, or Zapier integrations. Often you can achieve the same automation results by connecting your referral program to your internal systems through methods like these.

To sum up, integrating your referral software with your other marketing and automation tools is essential for any business looking to grow its customer base through referrals. By sending your referred leads into the same funnels as your other marketing efforts, tracking the conversions of referred leads, and generating unique referral links for customers, businesses can do more with less resource. Automation can help your business streamline your customer acquisition and retention strategies, improve your targeting efforts, and make more data-driven decisions.

Let me show you an example of an integration with referral software – using HubSpot and Referral Factory as the example:

Example Of A Referral Software Integration (Using HubSpot)

Most referral softwares are designed to integrate with other tools – so we wanted to show you how that works and why it’s important. To do that we’ve used HubSpot + Referral Factory.

The integration process should be quick and easy, and once complete, your referral software should automatically sync with HubSpot (or any CRM). This will automate generating referral links for your contacts, and also ensure that your referred leads are seamlessly incorporated into your marketing workflows.

To integrate Referral Factory with HubSpot, these are the steps you would follow:

1. Build your referral program in Referral Factory 

2. Navigate to the “Integration” section in the builder 

3. Click on the “HubSpot” integration and follow the on-screen instructions to authorize the integration

4. Go into the referral campaign you want to integrate, navigate to the ‘integration’ step in your campaign builder, and setup your integration rules that let you send new referred users directly into HubSpot, and automatically qualify them when they convert. Below we’re showing all four ways you can integrate… 

5. Once the integration is setup, Referral Factory and HubSpot will automatically sync customer and lead data, ensuring that referred leads are added to your HubSpot database in real-time.

6. From there, you can sync your HubSpot contacts or leads (either all, or a specific list), so that you can sync each contacts referral link back into HubSpot.

 

By finding the best referral software tools, you can set up your referral program quickly, offer a wide range of rewards and incentives, integrate your referral program with other tools, and track the success of your program with detailed analytics. Whether you choose a double-sided referral program, single-sided referral program, or a refer-to-win competition, it’s important to make sure that the referral software you choose offers all the features you need to leverage the power of customer referrals.

If you’d like to learn more about referral marketing in general, you can read our full guide on the topic here 👉 Referral Marketing 101.