Referrals: your best salesperson is already a customer
The cheapest advertising is still a happy customer with a reason to talk about you. The referral system gives them that reason — and pays them in rewards, not in discounts that hurt.
The maths that makes word of mouth win
An ad costs the same whether it brings you customers or not. A customer brought in by another costs exactly two rewards, and you only pay them if the friend actually turns up.
Run it with your own numbers. You reward anyone who brings 3 friends with something that costs you €2 in product, and you give each newcomer a welcome worth €0.80:
- Inviter’s reward: €2 across 3 friends = €0.67 per friend.
- Friend’s welcome: €0.80.
- New customer: €1.47, and they arrive recommended by someone who vouches for you.
Divide what you spent on advertising last month by the new customers you can attribute to it. If it comes out above €1.47, you know where to start.
How it works in etlas
Every member who joins through your sign-up form has their own link from the very first minute, something like yourdomain/r/A7KD2X9.
Whoever opens that link sees your sign-up form with the name of the person who invited them at the top. When they sign up, they’re tagged with the origin Referral in your Customers list and the friend is credited to whoever brought them.
You decide two things: when a friend counts (at signup or on their first purchase) and every how many friends a reward is paid out (from 1 to 100; 3 by default). And the two rewards: the inviter’s, and the newcomer’s — your club’s normal welcome, a special reward that replaces it, or nothing.
You don’t hand over the inviter’s reward yourself: it lands on their card and is redeemed at the counter like any other.
How to switch it on
- Have at least one reward created in Set up → The rewards: with no rewards to choose from, there’s nothing to give out.
- Go to Loyalty → Referrals and open the Settings tab.
- Set the switch to On.
- Answer “When does a friend count?”: At signup or On their first purchase.
- Under “Every how many friends?” adjust the number with the buttons.
- Choose the Reward for the inviter and what the friend gets.
- Click Save referrals. From then on, The list tab shows you who brought whom.
At signup or on the first purchase
This is the decision that can ruin the programme, and it hinges on one thing: how much it hurts you when a member signs up and never comes back.
| At signup | On their first purchase | |
|---|---|---|
| What you reward | The contact | The customer |
| Fits | Café, bakery, ice-cream shop | Restaurant, high ticket, appointment-based business |
| Risk | Courtesy signups who never set foot inside | The inviter waits too long to collect and loses interest |
| Every how many friends | 3 | 2 |
With a reward every 2 or 3 friends, a chatty customer collects within weeks. At 5 or more almost nobody gets there: you’re asking for more effort than fits in a chat at the counter.
The mistakes that kill it
- Switching it on and telling no one. The link lives on the customer’s card, and if nobody mentions it, they won’t open it. A “for every 3 friends you bring, dessert’s on us” at the till does more than any poster.
- Leaving the inviter’s reward unselected. It saves anyway, and then friends are counted but nothing is paid out. The list spells it out: “No reward set for the inviter”.
- Rewarding only one of the two. With no reward for the inviter there’s no reason to share; with no reward for the friend, the inviter feels like a salesperson.
- An expensive reward and five friends. That way nobody gets there, and you end up believing word of mouth doesn’t work.
Frequently asked questions
What reward should I give people who bring friends?
One you’ve already created, and make it a product rather than a percentage: a dish, a drink, a dessert. It has to be something they want to talk about, not a 5% nobody remembers. And every two or three friends, so they earn it quickly.
Should a friend count when they sign up or when they buy?
At signup if your average ticket is low: you get more invitations, and a new member costs you little even if they take a while to come in. On their first purchase if your ticket is high: you reward customers, not contacts, even though the inviter waits longer to collect.
What if I switch referrals on after the link is already out there?
The link isn’t lost —the member is still tagged as Referral— but the credit happens at signup or on the first purchase, not retroactively. Switch it on and choose the rewards before you ask people to share.
How do I know if it’s working?
In The list tab you can see how many members have invited, how many friends they’ve brought, how many already count and how many rewards have been earned and redeemed. Open any inviter to follow each friend’s journey: whether they count yet, how many visits they’ve made and whether they’re cooling off.