firstthousandusers
  1. Idea and validation
  2. Waitlist
  3. Private beta
  4. Launch
  5. First 100 users
  6. First 1,000 users
Direct outreach

Ask your users for referrals

Ask users who got value from the product to introduce it to one specific person, right after they got that value.

What's requiredUnder an hour a week.
Accounts
Your email or support chat.
Assets
A two-sentence description of the product that users can forward, and a list of users who hit their first success.
Time
Under an hour a week.
Cost
Free, or the cost of a small credit if you offer one.
Prerequisites
Users who are getting value from the product.

What to do

  1. Define your “aha” moment in one sentence. It is the point where a user gets the result they came for: the first report sent, the first booking made, the first bug caught. Pick one event you can see in your database or analytics, so you know exactly who has reached it.
  2. Ask within a day of that moment, not at signup. At signup nobody knows if the product works. Right after the first success, or right after a user replies “this is great”, the feeling is fresh and the ask feels natural. Also watch for:
    • a thank-you email or a positive support chat,
    • a renewal or an upgrade,
    • a user telling you on an onboarding call that they showed it to a colleague.
  3. Ask for one specific kind of person, not “anyone”. “Know anyone who might like this?” gets a polite no. “Is there one other agency owner you know who still does client reports by hand?” makes them picture a face. Name the role and the problem, and ask for one person.
  4. Write the forward message for them. Most people who want to help stall at “what do I say”. Give them two or three sentences in their voice that they can paste into Slack, WhatsApp or email, with your link already in it. Also offer the alternative: “Or just cc me and I’ll take it from there.”
  5. Offer a double-sided reward once manual asks work. Give both the referrer and the new user something that costs you little and matters to them: a free month, extra credits, a higher limit. Double-sided rewards feel like a gift to a friend, not a sales commission. Skip cash at this stage.
  6. Add a share point inside the product, at the success screen. Once you know the ask works by email, put it where the aha happens: “Report sent. Know another team that does this by hand? Send them this link, you both get a month free.” Pre-fill the message and give a copyable link with a referral code.
  7. Close the loop with the referrer. When the person signs up, tell the referrer: “Thanks, Maria signed up this morning, I’ll look after her.” People who see their intro was used tend to refer again.
  8. Track who referred whom in a spreadsheet. Referrer, referred person, date, did they activate. After 20–30 asks you will see which kind of user refers and at what moment. Ask those users first next time.

Templates

The personal ask, sent the day after a user’s first success:

Hi Sam, saw your first weekly report went out yesterday. Glad it worked. Quick question: is there one other freelancer you know who still builds these reports by hand? If so, I’ve written two lines below you can forward. No pressure either way.

The forward message you give them:

Hey, I’ve been using [Product] for my client reports. It pulls the numbers from [tool] and sends the report automatically, saved me about two hours last week. Free to try: [link?ref=sam]

The in-app share prompt at the success screen:

Done. Your report is on its way. Know one person who still does this by hand? Share your link and you both get a month free.

Why it works

A recommendation from a peer carries more trust than anything you can write, and people who have a problem usually know others with the same problem. Asking at the moment of success catches people when they are most willing to say something good. Asking for one specific person and handing them the words removes the two things that stop most people: not knowing who to pick and not knowing what to say.

How it gets users

Most users will not refer anyone, even happy ones. Expect roughly one to three introductions per ten well-timed personal asks, over a few weeks. Referred users usually activate and stay better than users from other channels, because a friend already explained the product. An in-app share prompt at the success screen adds a small, steady trickle once you have enough active users, but it rarely makes a product grow on its own. At the first-100 stage, treat referrals as a source of your best-fit users, not your biggest channel.

Common mistakes

  • Asking at signup or in the welcome email, before the user has had any result.
  • Asking for “anyone who might be interested” instead of one specific kind of person.
  • Making the user write the recommendation themselves.
  • Offering one-sided or cash rewards before the product is worth recommending.
  • Building a referral system with codes and dashboards before trying ten manual asks.
  • Never telling the referrer what happened with their introduction.

Next steps

This guide is connected to these guides on the map. Numbered ones come next; faded ones come before it.

01 Idea02 Waitlist03 Beta04 Launch05 First 10006 First 1kOnboard every beta user on a callEmail every new signup personally1Cross-promote with adjacent products2This guide03 Beta04 Launch05 First 10006 First 1kOnboard every beta user on a callEmail every new signup personally1Cross-promote with adjacent products2This guide
  1. 105 First 100 users · Direct outreachEmail every new signup personallySend each new user a short personal email asking why they signed up, and reply to every answer.
  2. 206 First 1,000 users · PartnershipsCross-promote with adjacent productsAgree with a non-competing product that serves the same users to mention each other in emails, docs or onboarding.