Affiliate vs referral program
Same tracking. Different people. Different reward.
An affiliate program pays partners who promote you for income: publishers, creators and other businesses. A referral program pays your own customers for recommending you. The tracking is identical. What differs is who you recruit, how large the reward is, and whether it is paid in cash or in credit.
- Affiliates promote for income
- Referrers recommend what they bought
- Both run in one Referly program
Who does the promoting
One is in the business of sending traffic. The other liked your product. Recruit them differently.
- The affiliate
- A publisher, creator or business
- The referrer
- A customer who already bought
- How you reach them
- One by one vs all at once
Compares your rate against every other program before saying yes
Not looking for a job. The reward is a reason to mention you.
Affiliates are recruited. Referrers see the offer inside the product.
In Referly
Both programs, one set of plumbing
The customer widget and the partner portal issue the same kind of tracked link and settle through the same payouts. The only difference is the group a partner lands in.
See the referral widgetHow the reward differs
Affiliate rewards are priced against a market. Referral rewards are priced against goodwill, which is cheaper.
Affiliates: cash, sized to compete
A percentage of the sale, often recurring, paid through real payouts with tax forms.
Referrers: credit or a flat amount
A free month or account credit keeps the money in the business.
Two-sided works here
The friend needs a reason to use the code as much as the customer needs one to send it.
Try it
Four questions, no email address
1.How do most new customers find you today?
2.What does a customer pay you?
3.Do your customers have audiences of their own?
4.Who is going to run this?
0 of 4 answered
Answer all four and this becomes a recommendation. Nothing is submitted anywhere.
Which one you should run
Start where your growth already comes from. Most programs eventually run both, and there is no reason to build them twice.
Found through reviews and creators?
Affiliate program first. The work is recruitment.
Customers already recommend you?
Referral program first. The work is making the offer visible in-product.
Both, later
Same links, same attribution, same payouts. Only the group and the plan differ.
Related terms
All ten termsReferral program
A program that rewards your existing customers for bringing you new ones.
Affiliate vs influencer marketing
Affiliates are paid for the sales they cause; influencers are usually paid for the post.
MLM vs affiliate marketing
MLM pays for recruiting people; affiliate marketing pays for referring sales.
Affiliate network vs affiliate program
A network is a marketplace that hosts many programs; an in-house program is only yours.
Go deeper
Three places this continues