Case Study: Dukaan Referral Program
Overview
In this case study, I’m going to share insights on the design decisions we made while designing a referral program for sellers who have their stores on Dukaan, to motivate them to buy subscription plans, which in-turn increased the conversion rates.
According to Nielsen research, 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know. They are four times more likely to buy when referred by a friend.
Why referral program?
The effectiveness of referral programs in business has been substantiated, as they lead to notable increases in conversions and drive a significant influx of new subscriptions. This highlights how referral programs can instigate a positive transformation in customer engagement and acquisition.
As a result, we came to the decision to incorporate a referral program into our marketing strategy.
Objectives
A well-designed referral program serves as a strategic tool with multiple objectives.
- Encourage more sellers to buy Dukaan’s subscription plans.
- Attract new sellers to onboard on Dukaan and buy subscription plans.
- Make this feature as discoverable as possible, and easy to understand and use.
- Leverage the cost-effectiveness of referral marketing compared to traditional advertising methods.
- Utilize the referral program to increase brand awareness through word-of-mouth marketing.
User target
Competitive analysis
Findings
- Both the referrer(one who referes) and the referee(one who is referred) should receive benefits from participating in the referral program.
- Referral should bring value and fulfill the purpose of the product.
- The rewards in the referral program should offer value and benefits that are meaningful to the users.
- Referral programs should be designed to be compatible and be easily accessible to users.
- Referral and rewards should be pinched when the user is at the peak of their emotions. Like after enrolling, after getting an order, etc.
User flow
Wireframes
Design explorations
We tried different variations for the first screen of the referral flow — which opens up after clicking on the refer & earn touchpoint.
This screen includes the information about how the flow works.
Final design
1. Referrer flow
Logics behind design decisions:
Feature touchpoints — we decided to have two major touchpoints for this:
- Account page — Due to its relevance to subscription plans, we decided to place this feature within the ‘account’ section, where users can conveniently access and manage their plan settings.
- Homepage — Since this is the first page that the seller lands on after logging in, it was important to highlight the feature here.
2. Referee flow
After the referee clicks on the referral link that they received from their friend, they land on the ‘Subscription plans’ page that lists all the membership plans that Dukaan has to offer.
Each plan includes features in a tabular format, which the users can go through to figure out which plan works best for them.
Coupon verification
We want to provide the referee with the ability to input a referral code. One approach we’ve formulated is to integrate this feature into a bottom sheet interface. Another option under consideration is to guide users to the Razorpay payment gateway directly.
Outcomes
After implementing this feature, we observed the following outcomes:
- 10% more sellers bought subscription plans compared to earlier.
- Since existing sellers started referring people, we got approx 20% new sellers who opened their stores on Dukaan.
- Dukaan credits were a bonus for new sellers — since credits can be used for various purposes like marketing campaigns and integrating third party plugins.
Learning
- Gained a lot of insights into how to design keeping in mind about the growth of the product.
- We learned about all the motivations that can drive users to refer the product to their friends.
- Always try to give the value first and then ask users to do a specific action.
- Adding delight in the design makes the user experience far better and engaging.
🙌 Thanks for reading.
