A list of free boxes to work through
Your referral scheme is popular: when a friend subscribes with your code, you get a free box. Each month before renewals, someone exports the list of orders using referral codes, works out who referred whom, checks the friend actually paid and did not cancel straight away, then goes into the subscription app and skips a charge or applies a discount for each referrer.
Some referrers email to ask where their free box is. Some had two referrals in a month and got one reward. A friend cancelled after the first box, but the referrer had already been credited. One subscriber has referred so many people that nobody is sure how many free boxes she is owed.
Why referral rewards end up manual
Referral tools exist, and many subscription apps have one built in. They often stop short of what a box scheme needs.
- The reward is a free box or a skipped charge, not a percentage discount the tool can issue.
- The reward should only apply once the friend's first box is paid and not refunded.
- Multiple rewards need to stack across future renewals, not collapse into one.
- Referrers on prepaid plans need the reward applied differently.
- Codes are shared in ways that break the tracking, such as typed from memory.
So the scheme's rules live in someone's head, and the ledger lives in a spreadsheet.
What manual rewards cost
Missed rewards upset your best advocates, who are exactly the people you want to keep happy. Rewards given for referrals that cancelled cost a box for nothing. The time spent reconciling the list each month is time taken out of the week before renewal, which is already busy.
Most importantly, the scheme becomes hard to change. You would like to try a different reward, but reworking the manual process for it feels like too much.
The referral ledger we build
- Each referral is recorded when a friend subscribes using a referrer's code or link, captured from your shop or subscription app.
- The referral is marked pending until the friend's first box is paid and your qualifying period has passed.
- Qualified referrals add a reward to the referrer's balance: a free box, a credit or a bonus item, depending on your scheme.
- Before each renewal, the referrer's balance is applied in the subscription app, for example by skipping the charge while still shipping the box.
- Multiple rewards stack and are used one renewal at a time, with the balance visible on the referrer's manage page.
- Referrals that do not qualify, such as refunds or self-referrals, are listed with the reason for a person to review.
| Referral state | What happens | What the referrer sees |
|---|---|---|
| Friend subscribed | Pending | Referral recorded, reward pending |
| Friend's first box paid | Reward added after your qualifying period | Free box added to balance |
| Friend refunded or cancelled early | Does not qualify | Referral shown as not qualified |
| Referrer renewal due | Reward applied | Free box used this month |
The scheme rules are yours: what qualifies, how long to wait and what the reward is. The ledger applies them the same way every time.
A referral scheme that runs itself
Referrers see their pending and earned rewards on their manage page, so they stop emailing. Before each renewal, rewards are applied automatically, and the packing plan shows those boxes as normal because they still ship. The exceptions list holds the few doubtful referrals for you to decide.
If you decide to test a different reward, it is a rule change rather than a new manual process.
Signs your referral scheme needs this
- Rewards are applied by hand before each renewal.
- Referrers email to ask where their free box is.
- Rewards have been given for friends who cancelled straight away.
- Multiple referrals in a month earn one reward by mistake.
- You avoid changing the scheme because of the admin.