15 Amazing Referral Page Examples [+ What They Do Well]

Creating the perfect referral page is the first step in getting people to share you with their friends, turning customers into brand ambassadors, and driving customer acquisition and retention through the power of word-of-mouth marketing. If you don’t properly optimize a referral page, you may miss out on potential referral opportunities. So, if you are wondering how to create an effective, high-quality referral page, you’re in for a treat. 

Before we review some of our favorite referral page examples, let’s cover the key components needed to make this page successful. Our best practices will help you understand why each one of the referral page examples below works so well.

What is a referral page?

There are actually two types of pages that are often referred to as the ‘referral page’.

Both of these referral pages form the core of your referral marketing program – and are the motivating factor in getting people to take action. However, each page is aimed at a specific group. 

1. Referral landing page. One is the referral program landing page. This is the page used to motivate existing customers to refer. 
2. Friend landing page. The other is the friend landing page. This page is aimed to motivate the referred friend to purchase or sign up.

In either case, the referral page should clearly define your program’s referral incentives. It should also relay how to participate, and function as the first source of information for either the customer or their referred friend. 

Think of it like this – a referral page acts as the product page for your entire program, and ultimately it’s what helps ‘sell’ your program. These pages form the core of your refer-a-friend program because they convince the people involved to take action.

As you can see, the term ‘referral page’ can be loosely used. As referral campaigns begin to form, these specific pages may take on names that better suit the business creating them.

Let’s dive into each page to better help differentiate the two.

The referral program landing page

This page is all about your existing customers. It’s the page where your customers come to, or ‘land,’ to start referring. The link to this page (or the page itself) could pop up on a thank you page, an exit pop-up, within the customer’s account, or even be sent via an email campaign.  

Some people also refer to the landing page as the “referral program sign-up page” because it’s where existing customers can sign up, then start sharing. 

This referral program landing page should accomplish the following. Don’t worry, we will cover more on this when we discuss best practices later on.

1. Be convincing. The landing page convinces the customer to share your business with friends. This can be done by using the referral reward as the motivator and focal point of the page.
2. Explain processes. It should describe how the referral process works, step by step. What steps must the customer complete in order to earn the reward?
3. Prime sharing (lead to a conversion). On top of grabbing attention and explaining how to participate, this page gives customers the space to enter their friend’s information and send their unique referral link. There may even be multiple sharing options for customers to send the referral in the way that’s most convenient for them.

If this referral page is utilized properly, it can result in a lot of word of mouth, and lead to both customer loyalty and gaining a wider customer base.

The friend landing page

The second page people often call the referral page is the friend landing page. This is the page that the referred friend (or referral) lands on after they click the referral link shared with them. 

This page is very important because it can be the first impression the referred friend has of your business. Using it, you’ll need to prove why the referred friend should further engage with you.

The referral program landing page should be designed to convince the referred friend to maketheir first purchase. So, it should include any highlights relevant to them. For example, shining a light on the reward offer (that their friend sent them) could lead to conversion. 

Just as above, this page should accomplish three things: be convincing, explain the process, and ultimately lead to conversion.

Best practices for referral program landing pages

There are quite a few things you should consider when optimizing referral program landing pages for the best user experience. As mentioned, the perfect referral page should accomplish the three key things: explain, convince, and convert (or motivate the share, in this case). 

 

Here are our top 10 best practices for creating a successful customer referral page that drives high conversion rates.

1. Begin with an inviting headline. You should aim to draw in the eye with a catchy headline. This is your opportunity to grab their attention and get them to read the rest of the page. If you cannot get them to bat an eye with your headline, you should expect the rest of the page to be ignored as well. 
2. Mention rewards. Make the rewards or offer easy to spot on the page. Whether you mention the reward in the headline or not, the reward needs to be noted somewhere. The headline should draw someone in, and the reward should help lead to the desired action.
3. Explore imagery. Use relevant images to keep customers’ attention. Imagery is nice because it can make the process easier to understand and it can also give an enticing visual to any reward. Additionally, a simple image can break up text to lessen the mental load and further grasp what is being asked. If you choose imagery, keep it minimalistic – you want to keep attention, but not overwhelm the customer. 
4. Share other benefits. Share benefits of the program, including anything beyond the reward. For example, people like to feel good, so by mentioning the benefit of helping a friend (or another individual, business, or charity), you may pull enough heartstrings to get a referral.
5. Be clear. Make it clear what you want customers to do (share!) You can try everything above, but if the goal is not clear, all the work you have put in may not be enough. If you want someone to share, make it well known that is the end goal.
6. Explain processes. Customers must easily understand how the program works – explaining things in a three-step process or four-step process is best. Even if your program is super simple, explaining the steps can remove any confusion and lay out any expectations there are before providing a reward. 
7. Foster easy sharing. Make sharing easy by providing a short referral form or easy copy and paste link. Try to make the act of sharing fast. If it can be done in just a few clicks or taps, you’re golden. Additionally, you can give customers multiple options to share as well. Email, social media platforms, direct messaging, and direct referral links can all be used for easy sharing.
8. Create a custom message. Consider letting customers send a message to their friends. If you include a prewritten message on the page, consider letting customers personalize it if they want. 
9. Include an insightful CTA. Include an easy-to-spot referral call-to-action that customers click to share. This button should say the action that people should take – invite friends, share, get [reward], etc. Without this CTA, even if people understand what you want them to do, they won’t know where to start, and likely won’t continue on. 
10. Be succinct. This page should be kept uncluttered and brief. Your goal should be evident, and the process to make this happen needs to be clear. If additional information is needed, you can include a link to terms and conditions or add the other information below the fold. You can even provide additional information regarding your program via email after someone shares for the first time.

Any good referral program template will remind you that common factors, like having a clear message and having the goal well known, are the best path to success. The same is true for your referral page. The goal is to explain what you want, and what the customer will get for their time. The last thing you want is to confuse or scare off anyone before they even consider referring someone to you. 

This page does not need to be complex, and you do not need all that much to make it successful. But, if you do consider these best practices, the little time it takes to cover each point will be well worth the potential return. 

Best practices for friend landing pages

Now that you have finished your customer referral page, it’s time to focus on your friend landing page. It’s key to remember that this may be the first time this person is introduced to your business. So, it’s time to put your best foot forward.

The friend page needs to be welcoming, informative, and neither overwhelming or underwhelming. That’s why you’ll need to consider these best practices if you are planning on designing a friend landing page for your referral program.

1. Referrer information. Mention that the referrer sent the friend the reward. This page will work best if the referrer’s name is included. It creates familiarity and shows that you are a trusted brand (since someone they trust is willing to recommend it).
2. Explain essentials. Try to include the most important things that the friend should know about your brand – to build further trust. If the landing page is outside of your website, make sure at least your name, logo, and maybe even a bit about what you do is included. This is their first impression of you, after all! 
3. Use imagery. Relevant images can help you show off your products/services and capture their attention. You can also try using a video that will create a nice visual, and also explain your business or the process of the program a bit. 
4. Be convincing. Design the page to convince the friend to purchase, sign up, or subscribe. Are you this year’s top brand in your niche? Did you receive some soaring reviews? Using a little social proof may help you convince potential customers that you’re worth their time and money. You can even use enticing wording to get them to accept the offer. Sign up now before you miss out on (enter reward).
5. Mention rewards. Present any rewards for purchasing that the referrer sent the friend. Even after everything mentioned above, the reward may be the push they need. 
6. Useful CTA. Include a call-to-action button that directs the friend to the next step. Usually this directs to a product page or activates a sign-up. By making the process obvious, you can increase your chances of conversion. 

All of these practices can be used to make one supercharged friend referral page. You may even consider some A/B testing to figure out what helps you achieve the most purchases or sign-ups. Just remember that you do not have to overstuff this page – being concise, but informative, is the recipe for success.

Best referral page examples: Referral program landing pages

It’s important to remember that not all best practices need to be put in play for every referral page. For some pages, a handful of best practices will be enough to accomplish the goal.

 The key is to make sure the referral page is able to accomplish the three items we mentioned above:

1. Be convincing

2. Explain the process

3. Prime for a share

The best practices in a variety of combinations can help make those three things achievable. Here are some of our favorite customer referral page examples that utilize many of the best practices we mentioned.

GetResponse (email marketing software)

Visually speaking, this SaaS referral page example looks great. The full-frame image adds some appeal, and acts as a nice background for the text. The headline gives insight on what the customer needs to do and why they should do it. Then, filler text gives additional information to help persuade someone to use the CTA. 

If you continue to scroll below the fold, you can see they discuss all the steps needed to receive the reward (plus two more steps for bonus rewards!). If you scroll even further, they have added their referral program FAQs. This is a very nice touch for anyone who wants to further explore the program before jumping in. 

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: All the information needed is in plain sight. But if you want to learn even more about the program, all you have to do is scroll down. GetResponse allows all the program information to be available without having to click through a bunch of links. 

Suggestions: Though the CTA is evident, it would have been nice to see the blue used there instead. The shape and bold blue used for the blurb above the CTA make it look like it is also a button. We’d suggest doing a quick switch or making the button more forthright. 

Google Workspace

 

This referral landing page is very simple, but it gets the job done. The headline draws you in by mentioning ‘rewards’. Likely, the person will further explore the page or explore the program a bit to figure out what rewards are up for grabs when they refer new users. 

This page gives ample opportunity to join, and the multiple CTAs all point to joining the referral program, so there is no doubt what the person should do. Below the fold, you’ll find more information on rewards, as well as a referral FAQ section. All of which make a well rounded referral landing page.

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: You can’t tell from the screenshot, but the imagery used on their landing page is actually a GIF. This moving piece balances out the simplicity of the rest of the page.

Suggestions: Google managed to pack a lot in such a simple page. Our suggestion would be to create more definition. There is a lot of open white space, which isn’t necessarily bad – but it could be a little more visually appealing. Perhaps the top section could be placed on a solid color to give it an extra pop.

Zenni (eyewear brand)

Aesthetically pleasing, but not overly done up – Zenni’s page is simple, but draws in your eye. The headline makes it known what you need to do in order to get a reward. The pop of yellow adds a little balance to the page and complements the teal used throughout.

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Other benefits
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Easy sharing
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: The cat is actually a GIF creating a fun visual to attract the customer to stay on the page longer. It creates a visual zig-zag for the customer, too. You may notice the headline, then gaze over at the cat, and then finally bounce back to the description under the headline. 

The imagery showcasing the $5 that is up for grabs is also a nice little touch.

Suggestions: Though the cat is super fun, it’s not relevant to their product. Fortunately, this page is for an existing customer, so they already know what Zenni is all about. Not totally necessary, but adding some glasses to the cat may help tie in what they do (and make it that much more fun).

Levi’s Granfondo (mass bicycle ride)

This landing page headline mentions both the referrer and friend will receive rewards, which draws you in. But the blurb below the headline makes you feel good. The Levi’s Granfondo organizers talk about sharing the experience with new people and spreading the love. If you scroll down below the fold, there is a longer description that goes more in depth on what the rewards are. 

Best practices used: 

• Mentions rewards
• Other benefits
• Is clear
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: The page seems pretty straightforward. All of the relevant information is mentioned. For as simple as the page is, it does look appealing and does make someone want to read why a form is placed in front of them.

Suggestions: A main point of these rides is to raise money to help change the future of at-risk youth. Mentioning this could pull on some extra heartstrings and strengthen the description to get people to want to refer. A headline like “Get your friends involved: Lead change for at-risk youth”  may help coax more referrals to happen. 

Also, adding an email form directly to the page could cut out a lot of hassle. Currently, the customer fills out the form, then is sent their referral code and then has to share that out on their own. These additional steps could lose people along the way and may interfere with referrals being sent. 

Samsung

A big bold image is awesome for creating a foundation for information. By using this big image, Samsung easily fills up dead space so they don’t have to worry about adding little graphics or images sprinkled throughout. Because of this, the headline gets to take center stage and everything flows really well below, without having the customer’s gaze bounce around too much. 

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Other benefits
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Easy sharing
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: Everything Samsung needs to explain is mentioned in the headline. Plus, if you scroll below the fold, you can find all the relevant information about the program. The CTA also pops against the background image and makes the next step incredibly clear on what to do. The referral page looks nice, and that means it overcomes the biggest hurdle of all. Pretty much all of the best practices are touched on – it’s convincing, it explains the process, and it primes for the share.

Suggestions: Under the instructions for participating in the referral program, there are a set of instructions for the referred friend as well. This could be confusing, so we suggest keeping these as separate pages. If you are worried the friend may later come back and end up on this page, you can always provide a link to take the friend to the correct page.

Cricut (cutting machines for crafting)

 

 

It does not take much to create a well-formed referral page, as you can see from this one. Initially, this page is very simple, but it hits on many of the things we have mentioned a referral page needs, and accomplishes this without using many gimmicks and filler. 

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Easy sharing
• Is succinct

What works: An inviting headline starts things off, the reward is evident, imagery is used, and it’s clear and succinct. Many of the best practices we mentioned are used, which is what we like to see. 

Suggestions: We’d like to add the referral form closer towards the top. Ideally the form or CTA should be above the fold. If someone takes a quick glance, it’s not really evident how to participate. Adding a CTA or link to jump them to the form further down the page can be a quick and easy fix.

Milk Bar

Milk Bar’s referral page is fun without being overly complicated. They showcase one of their beautiful cakes. What’s that do? It helps in reminding the customer that more of this can be in your future if you share (and you won’t have to pay full price). The headline is bold and short, but gets the job done. The form is set up right in the center for easy sharing – making it known what is expected.

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Easy sharing
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: Milk Bar uses many neutral colors to not take away from their power play image. But the CTA is a nice bright color to help guide the customer to click. We love that they chose a simple referring approach. All you need to do is add your friend’s email and send. But, if that doesn’t work, they have social sharing options as well.

Suggestions: Honestly, this one is pretty great. Since the customer just has to click send, there is not an option for a custom message. That is nice to have, but simplicity is also a big winner. So if we absolutely had to nitpick, we’d suggest having the option for including a personal message right from the form. 

Shoott (photo service)

Shoott’s referral rewards program is an opt-in option. Once you opt in via the referral page, you are brought to your dashboard to start referring. The joining referral page is very nice and uses a great headline, imagery, and gives a brief description of the program. We like that the referral form (which shows up after the customer joins the program) gives some stats and offers a pre-filled email template to send. 

Best practices used: 

• Inviting headline
• Mentions rewards
• Explores imagery
• Is clear
• Explains process
• Easy sharing
• Insightful CTA
• Is succinct

What works: The referral program page looks very nice, and Shoott also gets to showcase some of their work. So it’s two-fold, in a sense. We also love that their headline is simple and enticing. “Earn rewards” is a great way to get people to stick around and share.

Suggestions: Once you are plopped into the account dashboard, a lot of the magic disappears. There is no header on the page, so customers could possibly get confused what site this is even for. It might be worth adding the form directly onto the referral page, or at least a version of it. You can cut out the sign up stage because if someone refers from the initial page, it’s evident they want to join the program.

Best referral page examples: Friend landing pages

The friend landing page also needs to accomplish three major things. As a refresher, it should be informative, explain any benefits, and ultimately prime the referred friend to become your new customer. In order to do this, the best practices we mentioned above can help make these three things achievable. 

Here are some of our favorite friend referral page examples.

Samsung

 

Samsung kept their referral page for the friend on the lighter side. But most of the necessary information is there. The friend knows they get a discount, and they know it will automatically be applied. Samsung also used some simple imagery to break up the block of text. It’s neither overwhelming nor underwhelming. 

Fortunately for Samsung, the brand is a rather big name, and they really don’t need to give a brief on who they are.

Best practices used: 

• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards

What works: Even though we are a fan of a CTA, the headline mentions the referral program so it should be known that the referred friend is tied to their referrer. Also, having the information known that the referral code has already been added to the cart is helpful. Some people may prefer to copy and paste the code during checkout, but this takes that step out to make it easier. 

Suggestions: It would have been nice to get a reminder of who invited them to this page. We also think sharing the referral code on the page would be helpful, especially if the friend decides to browse at a different time or on a different device. That way, they have the code if, for some reason, they happen to get “disconnected.”

Vegamour (hair growth products)

Upon clicking on the emailed link, the referral lands right on the Vegamour homepage and sees this popup appear. This popup gives them the referral code, and reminds them what using that code will get them. Vegamour uses their product as a nice background to tie everything together.

Best practices used: 

• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards

What works: This one is simple – the referred friend lands right on the homepage so they can begin shopping, and the basics of the program are mentioned while the code is shared. Though not mentioned on the referral landing page, the referrer information is included in the email the referred friend was sent, along with information about the business and what the rewards are. 

Since the referral link opens the homepage and triggers a popup, there really isn’t a need to further explain the business, as the image on the popup and the main website gives that information away.

Suggestions: Instead of having an ‘x’ on the pop up, we would have liked to see a ‘let’s shop’ CTA. That really drills into what the referred friend should do next. We want to push people forward – an ‘x’ sort of seems like a stopping point.

Milk Bar

Another pretty image from Milk Bar’s ecommerce site. They do a great job at showcasing their work, and that can help get someone excited to make a purchase. By adding that visual shot of what they offer, they are explaining who they are and what they do without having to say anything. 

Best practices used: 

• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards
• Useful CTA

What works: The code is placed in a neat little box (sorry, it’s been removed for this post). There is a nice description on what the referral can get if they use the code. And then, they are prompted to start shopping. 

Suggestions: Milk Bar hits pretty much every point we make, but they don’t use the referring person’s name. Instead they just say ‘someone’. Though it’s not a total loss, it would be nice to tie the referral back to how they ended up here. 

EveryPlate

The punches of color on EveryPlate’s friend landing page are visually great to look at. The imagery used here is also quite charming. Making the reward look like a virtual gift card creates a nice mental picture or even acts almost as a tangible gift.

Best practices used: 

• Referrer information
• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards
• Useful CTA

What works: EveryPlate uses every best practice we mention. If you continue to scroll below the fold, there is another section further explaining how this works. Overall, the punch of color, eye-catching imagery, and CTA are exactly what we like to see. 

Suggestions: Here is where things get a little off track. Upon clicking the ‘claim your $105 gift’, you are plopped right onto the order page. There is no mention that the referral discount has been applied, and there is no mention that that gift is split between three orders. So, the reward seems a bit deceiving, as the new customer is basically just getting three discounted boxes. We feel like this should have been known upfront.

Hulu

Hulu’s referral page is simple, yet effective. It’s clear what the referred friend is going to get and how they redeem their offer is in plain sight. Visually, everything looks well balanced, from the imagery to the pops of their signature color. Overall, we’re impressed with how this referral page looks.

Best practices used: 

• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards
• Useful CTA

What works: “Feel the love,” starts their headline. We like that the headline adds some warm fuzzies for the referral. It balances the techy feeling you get when seeing all screens and bold colors of black and green. We love to see balance. We also like how the CTA button coordinates with the green accents on the page, yet is able to catch the eye almost immediately.

Suggestions: This is a good solid page. But with referral pages, it’s really nice to be reminded of who got you to this point. We would have liked to see a mention of the referrer in some sense, so that this feels tied to the referral program and separates itself from a regular promotion the business might be running during the same time.

DoorDash

 

This one is optimized for mobile, so if someone opens it on their desktop they aren’t going to get anything like the ones we have seen previously. But, because this is a very big name, we wanted to showcase why it works (despite having the least amount of best practices in play). 

Truthfully, the company name does a lot of the work itself. Even if you have never used DoorDash, you likely have heard of it. And you are likely to get the gist of it, so adding in an “about the business” section isn’t quite necessary. The main ‘referral’ points are covered and it explains what the referral needs to do to participate (sign up). 

Best practices used: 

• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards
• Useful CTA

What works: We love that the reward is broken down so the referred customer knows what to expect. They could have easily said “sign up for $30 credit”, which technically would have been true, but is a slight stretch. Mentioning that the $30 is split into 3 orders lays out the rules from the get go. We love clear and concise messaging.

Suggestions: Though it’s already a popular company, it’s still important to be visually appealing. We would have loved to see an eye-catching image, sketch, or something other than just text. It doesn’t have to be much, but adding a little imagery would be nice to have.

First Day 

 

A nice little pop up appears on the main page once the referral clicks the referral link shared with them. This approach is smart as it accomplishes a couple of things.

1. It showcases who they are and what they do – without having to design a whole new page with the same copy.
2. It gives all the information needed for the referral to accept their invite.

The Work smarter, not harder approach works well, and we’re all for it.

Best practices used: 

• Explains essentials
• Uses imagery
• Is convincing
• Mentions rewards
• Useful CTA

What works: Let’s take a walk in the referred friend’s shoes. We love that they get to land directly on the homepage, get a taste of the customer experience, and still learn about the referral program all at once. This helps connect them with the brand and learn a bit about it before blindly signing up. The pop up is a great cue for getting them to act on the coupon. 

Suggestions: Though it should be recognized that they are linked to the referrer via the pop up, some people may be unclear. Since it is a pop up on the main homepage, it may come across as just being a regular pop up shown to everyone. By mentioning the referral program or the referrers name, you can make it very clear this pop up is shown because of the referral link that was clicked. Drawing that solid line is always helpful for avoiding any sort of confusion.

Referral software and referral pages

You’ll need the right referral software to design referral pages quickly and easily, following best practices. With referral software, it’s easy to build both types of referral pages and integrate them into your marketing and sales processes. You’ll also be able to A/B test different versions of the referral pages, track results to see which messaging, offer, and layout performs best, and then quickly apply these findings to optimize your referral program.

Referral pages can make or break you

We’ve covered numerous best practices on creating the best referral landing page possible. We also took a dive into referral page examples to see how these practices come into play. 

Learning what works and what doesn’t is essential for creating a converting referral page. Think of the big picture and as you work your way through each piece, think about your first time seeing each step (or page). What would you expect to see, and what would make you interested in continuing through with the requested action? 

Creating a successful referral program is only possible if every component makes sense. Everyone knows what a customer referral program is, but not everyone knows how yours works unless you tell them. 

Looking for even more of the best referral program examples? Browse through our list and get inspired with ideas for your own referral marketing campaign. Or, check out our ultimate guide to referral marketing strategies.