👥 Invite a friend

But do it creatively

Hey there, it’s Jacob at Retention.Blog 👋

I got tired of reading high-level strategy articles, so I started writing actionable advice I would want to read.

Every Tuesday I share practical learnings you can apply to your business.

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Want more organic acquisition? Try adding an Invite a Friend feature

Will it change the trajectory of your growth? Unlikely.

(I know, now you really want to keep reading…)

Could it give you a little boost? Very possible.

So how do you do it well?

First, think about your product - does it lend itself to social features?

You have a much better chance at success if you can make your Invite a Friend feature feel like a natural part of the core experience.

A lot of apps add a button at the bottom of the home screen that says “Invite a friend”

This may get you a 1-2% lift in new users, but consumers are smart. Most will ignore it, and only your super fans will invite people.

What are some more interesting approaches?

Uptime uses an incentivized Invite a friend

• Get 80% off your premium subscription if your friend signs up for the app

  

Calm promotes scarcity with their Invite a Friend feature

• They have a “gift” icon in the upper right of the home page so everyone is exposed

• When you tap the gift you see “0/5 invites claimed” - do you get anything for the invites? I don’t think so, but this makes the invites seem more appealing

Finch has social features in the app, so they allow you to interact with your friend once they join

• Real social features will always be way more impactful for organic acquisition than a simple “Invite a friend” button, but they are also way more work.

• Don’t force social features if they don’t make sense for your product. Ideally, you plan the app around social or sharing from the very beginning, even if it’s a feature that won’t be added until later

I wanted to check out Paired since the whole concept of the app is based on using it with a partner

• Paired uses a “pre-permission” concept to explain why you should invite your partner. This is similar to what some apps do before requesting push opt-in

• Then, they ask you to upload a profile picture if you haven’t already. Why? Wouldn’t this add more friction and decrease the invites?

• The profile picture likely improves the partner signup conversion rate.

  • They show that picture right after sign up from the partner

Fabulous has my favorite invite and social sharing features

• My favorite referral/invite feature of Fabulous is their “Super Powers” connected to the challenges

• These “Super Powers” are positioned to increase your chance of completing the challenge.

• Pay Challenge: “Have a friend hold you accountable for this challenge.” Essentially, you promise a friend you’ll pay this money if you don’t complete the challenge

• Challenge a friend: Invite a friend to compete with you on the challenge

• These are not separate requests to share on social or to invite a friend, they feel like a natural part of the core experience

• They also use stats to explain why it makes sense: “Fabulous users who invite friends are 30% more likely to succeed.”

I didn’t find an Invite a Friend feature in Breeze, but they did have some social sharing

• Instead of an invite a friend, they show a Daily Motivational quote

• They have a CTA for you to share this quote

• This is nice because it’s giving value back to you vs. asking you to invite your friends

• It also has the added benefit of changing every day, so you’re not going to see it once and ignore it every time after

Referrals and invite programs aren’t what they used to be, but they can still be a valuable tactic to give your growth a boost.

We’ve all read case studies on the Paypal or Dropbox viral refer-a-friend programs and how this supercharged their growth.

A more recent example was Cash app.

This was an impactful tactic early in their growth, but these types of programs just don’t work like they used to.

Law of shitty click-throughs and diminishing returns over time with any strong tactic. Every product started using these “Give $X, Get $X” programs and now it’s seen as annoying.

Moral of the story: Figure out how you can make social and sharing features a natural extension of your core product and people will be delighted to use them.

Don’t expect to add a single “Invite a friend” button to your app and suddenly, it’ll be a hit.

The bar is constantly being raised for consumer products, so you need to think differently to stand out.

Or copy someone else thinking differently…

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Check out the Whimsical board here to see all my research

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