Campaign idea

Refer & Earn

Trackable referral links, a public leaderboard, and a reward worth chasing. Registrations you only pay for when they land.

Plan this campaign with us

What it is

Most events have a referral programme in the sense that they have a share button. That is not a programme. A programme has a tracked link per person, a visible reward, and something that reminds people it exists.

Done properly, refer & earn is the cheapest registration channel you have. A referred registration typically costs a fraction of a cold paid one, and it converts better because a person vouched for it.

When to run it: Before the event
Who does the sharing: Attendees
What it's for: Registrations
Effort: Medium effort

Timing: From the day registration opens, all the way to the door.

Why it works

People already recommend events they are excited about. You are just making it countable and rewarding it.
A visible leaderboard turns a private good deed into a public competition.
You only pay out on results, so the risk profile is nothing like an ad budget.
Referred attendees show up at higher rates than ad-acquired ones - a friend is expecting them there.

How to run it

1
Give every registrant a unique link at registration
On the confirmation page and in the confirmation email. Not buried in a portal they have to log into.
2
Make the reward specific and desirable
'A discount' is weak. 'Front row seats and dinner with the keynote speakers' is not. Non-monetary status rewards often beat cash.
3
Publish a leaderboard
Update it weekly by email. The top ten will fight over it and drag the rest along.
4
Give people something to share
A bare link gets ignored. Pair it with an avatar, a poster or a badge so there is an actual post to make.
5
Add tiers
One referral gets a small perk, five gets a bigger one, ten gets the headline reward. Tiers keep the middle of the pack engaged.

Set it up in Premagic

The steps above are the campaign. These are the clicks.

1
Set up the campaign
Define who can refer, what the tiers are and what each one earns.
2
Design the poster
The referral link on its own gets ignored. Pair it with a personalised asset so there is an actual post to make.
3
Write the social copy
Pre-write the caption. Most people post whatever is in the box.
4
Launch
Send it to every registrant at the point of registration, not weeks later.
5
Watch the dashboard
Shares, clicks and registrations per person, so you know who is actually driving sign-ups.
6
Reward the top performers
Pay out visibly and publicly. The next campaign runs on the credibility of this one.

Pro tips

The better the prize, the more competitive the sharing. Run three to five tiers so more than one person can win.
Launch 6-8 weeks out, while people still have time to invite their networks, then remind every two weeks.
Run a separate campaign for exhibitors. Their teams and networks are often bigger than any individual attendee's.
Put the leaderboard somewhere public - the event app or the site. Competition does the nudging for you.
Run attendees, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors as separate campaigns. Different networks, different motivations.