Referral Program

The referral program turns your customers into advocates by rewarding them for bringing new riders. Both referrers and new customers receive rewards when referrals are successful.

How Referrals Work

The Referral Flow

1. Share — Every rider has a unique auto-generated referral code in their app
2. Sign Up — A new rider creates an account and enters the code
3. Qualify — The new rider completes their first ride; the referral flips from pending to qualified
4. Reward — Both the referrer and the new rider receive wallet credit, and the referral is marked rewarded

Rewards are paid as wallet credit in cents (not points, not free rides, not discount codes). Wallet credit applies to the rider's next ride automatically.

Referral Codes

Each rider's referral code is:

• Auto-generated when their customer record is created — there is no UI for custom codes
• Unique across all riders (database-enforced)
• Shareable from the Referrals screen in the mobile app (copy, share sheet, etc.)
• Stored on the new rider's customer record as referred_by, so attribution is permanent

Configuring the Program

There is no separate "enable referrals" toggle. The referral system is active as soon as you have at least one referral tier defined. If you have no tiers, no referrals will pay out.

Referral Tiers (Dott Surfers model)

Referral rewards are configured as tiers based on lifetime referral count. As a rider racks up successful referrals, they move up tiers and their payouts get richer. Configure these in Loyalty → Referrals.

The base tier (min referrals = 0) is what every new rider starts on.

Example Tier Structure

A rider with 0 referrals who brings in their first new rider earns $5. Once they hit 5 lifetime referrals, they jump to Big Wave: they get a one-time $10 bonus on promotion, and from then on every referral pays them $7.50 instead of $5.

Qualifying Action

The qualifying action is fixed: the new rider's first completed ride. There is no picker for sign-up-only or spend-threshold qualification — this is intentional, because first-ride qualification balances reward velocity against fraud prevention.

Customer Experience

Finding Referral Code

Customers access their code:

1. Open app
2. Go to Profile/Loyalty
3. Tap "Refer Friends"
4. See unique code

Sharing Options

Built-in sharing methods:

• Copy code to clipboard
• Share via SMS
• Share via email
• Share to social media
• QR code (optional)

Using a Referral Code

New customers enter code:

1. Download app
2. Create account
3. Enter referral code
4. Code is stored
5. Reward triggered after qualifying action

Tracking Referrals

Referral Dashboard

View program performance:

• Total referrals
• Successful conversions
• Pending referrals
• Rewards issued

Per-Customer Tracking

For each customer, see:

• Referral code
• Referrals made
• Successful conversions
• Total rewards earned

Referral Status

Each referral row has one of these statuses:

Referral Analytics

Key Metrics

Top Referrers

Identify your best advocates:

• Leaderboard of top referrers
• Reward top performers
• Feature in promotions
• Build ambassador program

Referral Trends

Track over time:

• Daily/weekly/monthly referrals
• Seasonal patterns
• Campaign effectiveness
• Channel performance

Fraud Prevention

What's enforced automatically

• First-ride qualification — referrals only pay out after the new rider completes a ride, not on signup
• One referral per new rider — referrals.referee_id is unique, so the same new rider can't be referred twice
• Verified payment method — the new rider needs a working payment method to start their first ride at all, which gates most signup-only fraud

What's not automated

Velocity limits (max referrals per day / per month / per device) aren't built in. If you see a rider racking up suspicious volume, set their referral to cancelled directly and reach out to the support team to investigate the pattern.

Promotional Campaigns

Boosted Referrals

Run limited-time referral promotions:

• Double referral rewards
• Bonus for X referrals
• Holiday specials

Referral Contests

Gamify referrals:

• Monthly top referrer prize
• Milestone rewards (10, 25, 50 referrals)
• Team challenges

Partner Referrals

Special codes for partners:

• Business partnerships
• Influencer codes
• Event promotions

Communication

For Referrers

Keep them motivated:

• Remind of referral code
• Notify on successful referral
• Show earnings
• Suggest sharing

For Referees

Welcome new customers:

• Explain reward earned
• Show how to unlock
• Guide first ride
• Introduce loyalty program

Notifications

Best Practices

Reward Balance

• Make rewards meaningful but sustainable
• Referee reward should encourage first ride
• Referrer reward should motivate sharing
• Track cost per acquisition

Easy Sharing

• One-tap sharing
• Pre-written messages
• Multiple channels
• QR codes for in-person

Clear Terms

• Explain when rewards apply
• Be transparent about limits
• Clear expiration if applicable
• Easy to understand

Fraud vs. Friction

Balance security with ease:

• Don't over-verify legitimate users
• Focus on highest-risk patterns
• Allow manual review/override
• Monitor, don't over-restrict

Troubleshooting

Referral Code Not Working

1. Confirm the code matches a real customers.referral_code value (case-insensitive)
2. Confirm the new rider applied it before their first ride completed — codes can't be retro-applied after a ride is over
3. If the new rider already has a referred_by value set, they were already attributed to someone else and can't be re-referred

Missing Rewards

1. Check the referral row's status. If it's still pending, the new rider hasn't completed their first ride yet
2. If status is qualified but no wallet credit appeared, check the rider's wallet transactions — the credit will be there as a referral payout
3. If a referral is cancelled, no payout was made
4. If everything looks correct but the rider is missing wallet credit, use a manual wallet adjustment with a clear reason (referrals are not "redone" automatically)

Duplicate Referrals

The unique constraint on referee_id prevents the same new rider from being referred twice. If you see two referral rows for the same new rider, something is off — flag it to support to investigate.

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