Issue 02
Nathan Gibson · about seven minutes
Referral marketing is simple. A customer invites someone else to the same company. The company pays the customer who sent the invite after the new person completes the steps that company listed.
The company does not pay for telling a friend the product exists. The company does not pay because someone clicked the link. The company pays after the new person does the required work. For a bank, that work is opening the account, putting money in the way the bank asked, and turning on the card. For Starlink, that work is ordering the kit, paying for service, and staying subscribed. If those steps are not finished, the company has no referral to pay.
Two payments, two people
Most offers show two amounts. They are easy to mix up, and mixing them up is why people think the offer failed.
The welcome bonus goes to the new customer. That is the company’s payment for opening the account or starting the service and completing the new-customer steps.
The referral reward goes to the person who sent the invite. That is the company’s payment for bringing in a new customer who completed those same steps.
A click does not trigger either payment. Sharing the link on Monday and checking for money on Monday night is too early. The new person still has to finish the steps. Until then, the company owes nothing to either side.
Before you send a link, read the company’s steps and be able to repeat them. If you tell a friend only “use this and you’ll get paid,” they do not know what to do after the page opens. Tell them the actual steps. Then they can decide if they will do them.
Chime: a bank account
Chime pays both people up to $100. The new customer has to open Chime through the invite, receive a qualifying direct deposit of $200 or more, and activate the physical card. Money the new customer sends from another bank usually does not count. Venmo and Cash App usually do not count. The invite has to be used at signup. Opening the account first and adding a referral later does not work.
Read the Chime steps on the offer page before you send that link.
Starlink: a service you install
Starlink works the same way, with different steps. The new customer orders through the invite, pays for the kit and the first month, and stays subscribed. Their reward is usually one month of service credit, often applied on month two, not cash on the day the kit arrives. The person who sent the invite may receive about $100 after that new customer has stayed subscribed. A kit bought in a store usually does not count. An old account coming back usually does not count.
This one takes longer because the new customer has to buy hardware and keep the service. Read the Starlink steps, then decide whether that person is likely to place the order.
Send the company’s link, and name the steps
Copy the invite from the company’s own page after your account is open. Do not rebuild the link, and do not add your own code at the end. A changed link can still open a website and still fail to record you as the person who invited them. If the company cannot see who sent the new customer, the company has no one to pay the referral reward to.
For Chime, the message is: open the account from this invite, receive a direct deposit of at least $200, and activate the card. For Starlink, the message is: order from this invite, pay for the kit and the first month, and stay subscribed. Each breadcrumb below opens that offer only.
Word of mouth · Passive income · All articles · Sign up free