Why Should Races Use Referral Rewards?
This organic promotion generates buzz, expands your reach, and attracts fundraisers who are more likely to convert due to recommendations from trusted sources.
Repeat Registrations
Referral Rewards not only encourages fundraisers to recruit others but also strengthens their engagement with your race and builds loyalty for higher repeat registrations.
Increased Registrations
Referral Rewards provides an incentive for fundraisers to spread the word about your race. By offering rewards to individuals who refer friends, family, or colleagues to register, you tap into their networks and reach a wider audience. This boosts registration and donation numbers and helps your race grow year after year.
Cost-Effective Marketing
Referral Rewards leverages the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which is highly effective and cost-efficient. The average cost is just $0.98 per each new referred registration.
How Referral Refunds Work
1.Offer an Automated Referral Reward
Set up a Referral Rewards Program. Your program will include a threshold (the number of people a participant successfully refers) and a reward (the refund or swag a participant gets if they reach that threshold). If you set your threshold at 3 referrals for a reward, participants who refer 1 or 2 participants to your event do not get a reward.
2. Automated Tracking
GiveSignup’s referral rewards tool automates the referral tracking process, eliminating the need for manual record-keeping. The system assigns a unique referral link to each participant and includes it on their confirmation page and confirmation email for easy sharing. Then, GiveSignup accurately attributes referrals to participants and automates the rewards process to reduce administrative burdens.
3. Refund Rewards
Money talks. Refunds are the most popular reward for referrals because it’s easy to manage and motivating to everyone. Our standard recommendation is a $20 refund for 5 referrals, but you can customize the amount refunded and the threshold of referrals.
4. Swag Rewards
Beyond refunds, you can reward your fundraisers with premium swag, VIP race day experiences, and more. While you do have to manage any swag fulfillment, RunSignup’s swag rewards system makes it easy by automatically notifying the participant to select a size or variant option (as needed) when they hit the threshold for your swag rewards.
5: Track and Monitor Referral Performance
GiveSignup’s comprehensive dashboard provides real-time data on referral activity. You can track the number of referrals generated, successful conversions, and the performance of individual participants. This information helps you identify top referrers, measure the effectiveness of your referral program, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your marketing efforts.
Get More Out of Your Referral Rewards
- Customize your Social Sharing Options: Participants can seamlessly share their referral codes and race information on popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter – customize your images and messaging to sell your race.
- Stack Rewards: Offer multiple reward tiers to incentivize your super referrers to keep referring after they reach your initial reward threshold.
- Include Exclusive Swag or Merchandise: If you’re offering swag such as t-shirts, hats, water bottles, or other branded merchandise, make sure it’s high quality and something that’s not available to participants outside the referral program.
- Offer an Upgraded Race Experience: Consider a creative approach to rewarding your high performing referrers by offering a VIP experience instead of traditional swag. This could include perks like early access to next year’s registration, preferred start times, free parking, special bib numbers, access to exclusive areas, or post-race amenities.
- PROMOTE YOUR PROGRAM: Referral rewards only works if your participants know about it. Add referral program information to your website cover page, social media channels, and email communications. To automate reminders about the program, set up automated registration follow-up emails and a replacement tag with their unique referrer link.
Tips for Successful Rewards Program
Clear and Concise Communication
Promote Early and Often
Measure and Analyze Results
Actively Engage with Participants
Provide Pre-Made Promotional Content
Offer Attractive Incentives ($15+)
High Enough Threshold
(3-5 referrals)
Create a Sense of Competition
Other Rewards Programs to Motivate Registrations
Beyond referral rewards, GiveSignup offers a range of pricing options and rewards programs you can implement to encourage your participants to sign up fast and invite their friends.
Donation Discounts
Focused on raising more for your cause? Automatically reduce the registration fee for fundraisers who donate above a certain amount to your charity of choice.
Age-Based Pricing
Create a family-friendly event with automatic price discounts for your youngest (or oldest) fundraisers.
Club Discounts
Connect with your local community with discounts for clubs that promote your event. Automatically discount GiveSignup clubs based on their current membership list while encouraging more runners to join their club.
Promote your Referral Rewards Program on your Cover Page, Website, or Social Media
Some of our favorite examples of promoting a referral rewards programs
