What is an In-App Referral Program?

An in-app referral program lets your users recommend your product from inside your app. A user who joins becomes an advocate with a personal referral link. When someone they referred signs up or becomes a paying customer, the advocate gets the reward you chose, and the new user can get something too. It creates a viral loop within your own application.

On Reditus the in-app referral program is part of every paid plan, next to the affiliate program, with unlimited advocates. It is not free: you can set it up during the 14-day free trial, and keeping it after the trial needs a paid plan.

How an in-app referral program works, step by step

1. Users sign up and use your product

A referral program needs users who like your product. Keep growing your user base through your other channels; the referral program turns part of those users into a channel of its own.

2. Users find your referral program inside the product

Add an entry point to your app, such as a "Refer & earn" button or a small gift icon. It opens the Reditus widget, which asks the user to become your advocate and gives them their personal referral link. They don't need to sign up anywhere else.

You open the widget with JavaScript, or straight from a link, for example in an email or an in-app message. The implementation guide and the developer docs show how. Prefer your own interface? Build it fully custom and fully branded on the Reditus API.

3. You ask at the right moment

People recommend a product after it has done something for them. Good moments to show the referral program:

• right after their first "wow" moment;
• when they renew their subscription.

4. Users share their link

They copy their link inside your product and share it wherever your ideal customers are: one to one, in communities they belong to, on social media, in a newsletter they run, on a podcast or a blog.

5. The referred person gets a benefit

Give the new user a reason to sign up: extra credits, a longer trial, a discount, or anything else you can apply in your own product. Most Reditus customers grant these benefits with webhooks: when a lead is created, their own system applies what they promised.

6. The referral becomes a paying customer

The referred user goes through your normal onboarding, and some of them convert to paid. Reditus sees the payment through your Stripe connection or the Payments API. A personal recommendation is still one of the best ways to get someone to use a product, and those customers tend to stay longer.

7. The advocate gets their reward

You decide what the advocate earns and when: credits, an extra trial period, a discount, money, or something custom. Make it big enough to matter, because tiny rewards don't make people recommend a friend. One Reditus customer pays €150 for every new paid client a user refers, and it has worked really well.

Then the loop starts again: every new customer can become an advocate.

Why SaaS companies run one

• Your users are often your best marketing channel. They already know what your product does, so they need no convincing.
• Recommendations convert. A one-to-one recommendation comes with trust built in.
• You control the cost. You decide what earns a reward, for example a new paid client, and you price the reward against what a new customer costs you through your other channels.
• It grows with your user base. More users means more possible advocates.

In-app referral program vs affiliate program

• In-app referral program: your users recommend you from inside your product and get a reward.
• Affiliate program: people outside your company, such as bloggers, newsletter writers, agencies and consultants, promote you and earn commission on the paying customers they bring.

On Reditus you run both from one platform, on one installation. We recommend launching them together and starting with your own network: see should you start with referrals or affiliates first? and SaaS affiliate vs referral program.

Two ways to build it on Reditus

• The Reditus widget: load it in your app and open it from any button, menu item or link.
• Fully custom on the API: build your own interface and flows, fully branded. Snitcher built theirs this way in days.

Both use the same tracking script, signup snippet and payment connection as the affiliate program, and a typical technical installation takes under 30 minutes. Step by step: how to set up the in-app referral program.

Examples

• Snitcher built a fully custom in-app referral program on the Reditus API in days and has enrolled 2,600+ advocates. Its advocates collect points for swag, from a gift voucher up to an iPad, instead of money. Read the Snitcher story.
• A cash reward: one Reditus customer pays its users €150 for every new paid client they refer.
• Woodpecker runs its in-app referral program and its affiliate program in one place on Reditus.

FAQ: in-app referral programs

Are referral rewards always money?

No. Credits, an extra trial period, discounts or anything custom work too, as long as the reward is worth a recommendation.

When should a SaaS launch a referral program?

Once you have paying users who like your product. Launch it together with your affiliate program and start with your own network.

Is the Reditus in-app referral program free?

No, there is no free plan. The in-app referral program is included in every paid plan, starting with Growth at €99/$99 per month billed annually, and you can set it up during the 14-day free trial, no credit card needed. Every in-app referral feature is on every paid plan: none is held back for a higher plan.

How many advocates can I have?

Unlimited, on every plan. Each SaaS company runs one in-app referral program; anything more custom you build on the API.

How are cash rewards for advocates paid out?

Exactly like affiliate payouts. If you run both programs, Reditus can put them on one invoice or send two separate invoices.

Can I run referrals and affiliates at the same time?

Yes. On Reditus both use one tracking script and one cookie, and the last click before signup decides who gets the referral. See can you run referrals and affiliates together?

How do I prevent referral abuse?

Tie the reward to a step that is worth something to you, such as a new paid client rather than a signup, and keep an eye on unusual spikes in referrals. Reditus's same-IP and same-email checks cover the affiliate program, not the in-app referral program, because Reditus doesn't always receive that information for advocates. Google paid-ads detection should cover advocates too, marking their referrals from Google ads as potential fraud.

Relevant articles

• How to set up the in-app referral program
• Benefits of a referral program for B2B SaaS
• Referral program best practices for SaaS
• Referral program vs affiliate program

For what to offer and where programs fail, see the referral strategy guide. Ready to build one? Start a 14-day free trial.