Referral Program
The Referral Program turns satisfied customers into a structured lead source. Every customer gets a unique referral link they can share — by text, social media, or word of mouth. When someone new contacts your business using that link or mentions the referring customer's name, the referral is logged and tracked. When the referred job closes and is invoiced, the original customer automatically receives a reward: a credit toward their next service, a discount on a future invoice, or a gift card — whichever your business has configured.
Word-of-mouth is the highest-converting lead source for most contracting businesses, but it usually goes untracked and unrewarded. The Referral Program creates a feedback loop: customers who refer others get recognized and rewarded, which makes them more likely to refer again, which brings in more high-quality leads who already trust you because someone they know vouched for you. The system handles all the tracking and communication automatically — your team doesn't need to remember who referred whom.
The program is designed to be visible but not pushy. Referral invitations are sent automatically after a job is marked complete and the customer's satisfaction score is positive (filtered through the Review Funnel scoring). Customers who were unhappy don't receive a referral ask — only satisfied customers are enrolled.
How It Works
- Job completes — project moves to Complete or Invoiced status
- Satisfaction confirmed — review funnel score is 4 or 5 (configurable threshold)
- Referral invitation sent — automated SMS with the customer's unique referral link
- Customer shares the link — link includes a tracking parameter tied to the referrer's contact record
- New lead arrives — new contact created with the referral source attributed to the referring customer
- New job closes — referred project moves to Invoiced status
- Reward issued — referrer receives automated SMS notification and reward credit
- Thank-you sent — personalized thank-you message with the reward details
Referral Link Format
Each customer's unique referral link points to the business's website or a dedicated landing page. The link includes a unique tracking code that ties any form submission or callback request back to the referring customer. Links are permanent — a customer's link doesn't expire, so a referral can arrive months after the link was shared.
Reward Configuration
Rewards are configured in Settings and apply to all participants unless individual exceptions are set:
| Reward Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Service Credit | Dollar amount credited to the customer's account, applied to their next invoice |
| Discount Code | Percentage or flat discount applied to a future invoice |
| Gift Card | Third-party gift card (e-delivery); requires gift card provider integration |
| Custom | Free text reward description; manually fulfilled by office staff |
Reward amounts can be tiered. A business might offer $25 for the first referral, $50 for the third, and $100 for the fifth — incentivizing customers to refer repeatedly.
Leaderboard
The Referral Leaderboard shows the top-referring customers ranked by number of closed referrals. The leaderboard is visible to CRM users and optionally shareable with customers (as a publicly visible page on the website, for competitive motivation). Leaderboard data feeds the Reporting module under Customer Reports.
CRUD Operations
| Operation | Available | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| View | Yes | Referral dashboard shows all active participants, their referral link, number of referrals sent, number closed, and total rewards earned |
| Create | Yes | Referral records are created automatically when a new contact is linked to a referral code; can also be manually attributed from the Contacts module if a customer mentions a referrer by name |
| Update | Yes | Reward status (pending / issued / redeemed) is updated automatically on job closure; manual override available for office staff |
| Delete | Yes | Referral attribution records can be removed by admins if a referral was logged incorrectly; associated reward is automatically reversed |
Include the referral program in your post-job follow-up sequence, not just the automated SMS. A brief mention in the technician's close-of-job conversation ("Hey, if you know anyone who needs this work, we have a referral program — I'll text you a link") significantly increases referral link shares compared to the automated message alone.