# Customer referrals

URL: /workflows/plays/customer-referrals · Id: `play:customer-referrals`

> Customer referrals invite a Customer’s peers after a delivered outcome and pay the reward only on the peer’s paid, unrefunded Order.

Customer referrals invite a [Customer](/business/nouns/customer)’s peers right after a delivered outcome, when the Customer has something true to say. The reward pays only on the peer’s paid, unrefunded [Order](/business/nouns/order).

## Ratings
| Dimension | Rating | Reads |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scalability | 3 of 5 | medium: higher grows further with spend or automation |
| Cost | 2 of 5 | low: lower costs less per Customer |
| Latency | 3 of 5 | medium: lower answers sooner |

## Budget
| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tier | $0 |
| Minimum effective budget | $0 a month |

## How it runs
The invitation fires on the Customer’s own success [Event](/business/nouns/event), not on a calendar. Rewards are scheduled after the refund window, and a change to the reward schedule waits its delay window.

## Processes
Runs as [Retention](/workflows/processes/retention), accountable to the [Marketing Team](/agents/marketing).

## Fits
| Fits | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Family | demand |
| Shelf | Compound: builds an engine that keeps growing (Grow) |
| Moves | [Referral share](/agents/marketing#referral-share) |
| Motions | [b2b](/business/motions/b2b), [b2c](/business/motions/b2c), [b2d](/business/motions/b2d) |
| Venues | [Gmail](/workflows/plays#gmail), [Outlook](/workflows/plays#outlook), [Yahoo Mail](/workflows/plays#yahoo-mail), [LinkedIn](/workflows/plays#linkedin), [X](/workflows/plays#x) |
| States | [Repeatable](/business/lifecycle/states/repeatable), [Scale](/business/lifecycle/states/scale) |

## Loop
| Step | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Hypothesis | Inviting peers right after a delivered outcome raises referral share more than inviting at signup. |
| Measure | [Referral share](/agents/marketing#referral-share) over 90d, at least 30 observations |
| Learn | The learn step reads the Readout, records Evidence and a Decision, and drafts the next Variant. |

## Example
A [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) selling tax filing as a service asks each Customer for a [Referral](/business/nouns/referral) the hour their return is accepted. Referred filers make up 23 percent of new Customers in the second season.