The disciplines that matter
- Test one thing at a time. Change a single variable, such as imagery, copy or incentive, so you can attribute any change to it. Don’t change the reward and the imagery in the same test.
- Prioritise by impact, ease and volume. Favour changes that are likely to move results, quick to make, and where you have enough traffic to reach a conclusion.
- Always be testing. Treat it as continuous optimisation: when one test concludes, start the next.
- Give both variants equal exposure. Promote referral across post-purchase, homepage and email so the test gets enough traffic.
Common pitfalls
- Testing too many things at once.
- Stopping a test before it concludes.
- Acting on incomplete results, or cherry-picking the data.
Which metric to use
Decide the winner on Conversion rate for higher-volume audiences (it tracks purchasing directly) or Share rate for lower-volume audiences (it measures share behaviour and concludes sooner). See how A/B tests work.Proven test ideas
Real results from live referral programmes, and good starting points for your own tests:| Test | Typical result |
|---|---|
| Reduce the number of share methods | +43% share rate |
| Remove Facebook / Messenger sharing | +14% share rate, +18% conversion rate |
| Add WhatsApp sharing on mobile | +24.5% share rate |
| Frame the reward as “Give” rather than “Get” | +12% share rate |
| Remove the minimum spend | +45% share rate |
| Shorten offer validity (3 days versus 7) | +28% purchase rate |
| Product imagery versus lifestyle imagery | +21% share rate, +5% conversion rate |
| Percentage off versus money off | +20% share rate, +100% purchase rate |