Overview
Understanding how your referral program performs compared to industry benchmarks is critical for optimizing your results. While every program may vary due to custom events and offers, the benchmarks below will give you a high-level view of how you stack up and where you may focus your optimization efforts.
Key Referral Program Metrics
Share Rate (shares / promotions clicked *100): The percentage of customers who refer a friend after clicking on a CTA to Refer.
Signup Rate (signups / share clicks *100): The percentage of referred friends who sign up like entering their email, submitting a lead, or otherwise engage after clicking a share link.
Conversion Rate (conversions / share clicks *100): The percentage of referred friends who complete a key action (e.g., purchase, account creation) after clicking a share link.
Acquisition Rate (converters / advocates * 100): The overall efficiency of your referral funnel: The likelihood an advocate leads to a friend conversion (Learn more here.)
Referral Metrics by Industry
Industry | Share Rate | Signup Rate | Conversion Rate | Acquisition Rate |
Apparel & Accessories | 5.2% | 15.2% | 15.8% | 15% |
Auto Sales & Services | 20.8% | 16.8% | 17.1% | 7.8% |
B2B | 4.8% | 7% | 1.3% | 17% |
Banks | 15.6% | 17.9% | 13.4% | 30% |
Consumer Products | 4.9% | 20.2% | 7.2% | 11% |
Credit Unions | 11.6% | 17.7% | 13.5% | 22% |
Education | 14.8% | 6.8% | 4.1% | 13% |
Entertainment | 9.9% | 33.1% | 12.1% | 18% |
Financial Services | 17% | 4.9% | 6.5% | 7% |
Footwear | 6.5% | 17.4% | 12.2% | 16% |
Health & Beauty | 7% | 13.4% | 9.1% | 14% |
Health & Wellness Services | 28% | 14.7% | 3.4% | 14% |
Home Services | 9.8% | 14.4% | 5% | 6% |
Hospitality & Travel | 7.3% | 10.6% | 2.2% | 11% |
Insurance | 26% | 8.9% | 6.6% | 22% |
Lending | 30% | 22% | 9.4% | 16% |
Pet Supplies & Services | 16% | 18.1% | 8.7% | 18% |
Retail - General | 7.7% | 16.2% | 10.8% | 21% |
Tax & Legal Services | 20.7% | 9.3% | 8% | 21% |
Telecom | 15.9% | 17.5% | 5.2% | 8% |
Tip: Benchmarks are medians based on data from each industry. Your program may vary depending on offer type, campaign age, and audience.
Finding these Rates for your Program
Share, Signup, and Conversion Rates: View these directly on your dashboard. Names or calculations may vary based on the events you’re sending; check your event mapping or contact support if unsure.
Acquisition Rate: Calculate this using the Acquisition Rate Report.
Need help? If you want more granular metrics or have trouble locating your stats, contact your CSM for personalized recommendations.
Optimizing Each Step of Your Funnel
Each rate shows a step where participants can drop off. Review your rates and focus your efforts where improvement is needed most. Some ideas include:
Boost Share Rate: Make sharing incentivizing and easy to do; test clearer calls to action.
Boost Signup Rate: Simplify signup forms; clarify friend incentives.
Boost Conversion Rate: Align offers with audience motivation; streamline the purchase experience.
Boost Acquisition Rate: Address bottlenecks in prior steps for holistic improvement.
For deeper strategies, check out our Referral Program Optimization Guide.
Final Tips
Revisit benchmarks periodically; industry averages evolve.
Track trends over time, not just point-in-time values.
Use A/B testing to see which performs better