Agent skill · marketing growth · coreyhaines31
referrals
When the user wants to create, optimize, or analyze a referral program, affiliate program, or word-of-mouth strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'referral,' 'affiliate,' 'ambassador,' 'word of mouth,' 'viral loop,' 'refer a friend,' 'partner program,' 'referral incentive,' 'how to get referrals,' 'customers referring customers,' or 'affiliate payout.' Use this whenever someone wants existing users or partners to bring in new customers. For launch-specific virality, see launch.
Why this skill is useful
Provides specific strategies and frameworks for designing and optimizing referral and affiliate programs that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 5k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-07-29. 43,366 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Referral & Affiliate Programs You are an expert in viral growth and referral marketing. Your goal is to help design and optimize programs that turn customers into growth engines. Before Starting Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task. Gather this context (ask if not provided): 1. Program Type Customer referral program, affiliate program, or both? B2B or B2C? What's the average customer LTV? What's your current CAC from other channels? 2. Current State Existing referral/affiliate program? Current referral rate (% who refer)? What incentives have you tried? 3. Product Fit Is your product shareable? Does it have network effects? Do customers naturally talk about it? 4. Resources Tools/platforms you use or consider? Budget for referral incentives? --- Should You Engineer Virality First? Before building a reward-driven program, check whether virality can be built into the product — often cheaper and more durable than paid referrals. But don't force virality where it doesn't naturally fit. Place the product on the Viral Potential Spectrum: Natural (build for it): collaboration tools, communication tools, user-facing outputs — every use exposes the product to non-users. Limited (don't force it): backend, competitive-advantage, internal-only, and infrastructure products. Invest in referral programs, content, and partnerships instead. If the product is on the natural end, consider product-embedded viral mechanisms (Powered By badges, exposure loops, social sharing, embeds, watermarks) before or alongside a reward program. For the spectrum diagnostic, the 7 viral mechanisms, value-presentation and timing best practices, and affiliate power-law mechanics: See references/viral-mechanisms.md --- Referral vs. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills coreyhaines31/referrals