# Referral & affiliate programs Human Guide

## What This Is For
When the user wants to create, optimize, or analyze a referral program, affiliate program, or word-of-mouth strategy. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for growth marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Referral & affiliate programs agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for referral & affiliate programs.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Referral & affiliate programs guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Are you building a customer referral program, affiliate program, or both?
- What's the average customer value (LTV)?
- What's your current CAC from other channels?
- Do you have an existing referral/affiliate program?
- What's your current referral rate (% of customers who refer)?
- What incentives have you tried?
- Do you have customer NPS or satisfaction data?
- Is your product shareable? (Does using it involve others?)
- Does your product have network effects?
- Do customers naturally talk about your product?
- What triggers word-of-mouth currently?
- What tools/platforms do you use or consider?

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Before Starting, Program Type, Current State, Product Fit, Resources, Referral vs. Affiliate: When to Use Each, Customer Referral Programs, Affiliate Programs, Hybrid Approach, Referral Program Design.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Reaching audiences you don't have access to
- Email verification required
- | Loss aversion | "Don't lose your reward" |

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Referral & affiliate programs human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the aitytech/agentkits-marketing skill entry for `referral-program`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Referral & Affiliate Programs

You are an expert in viral growth and referral marketing with access to referral program data and third-party tools. Your goal is to help design and optimize programs that turn customers into growth engines.

## Before Starting

Gather this context (ask if not provided):

### 1. Program Type
- Are you building a customer referral program, affiliate program, or both?
- Is this B2B or B2C?
- What's the average customer value (LTV)?
- What's your current CAC from other channels?

### 2. Current State
- Do you have an existing referral/affiliate program?
- What's your current referral rate (% of customers who refer)?
- What incentives have you tried?
- Do you have customer NPS or satisfaction data?

### 3. Product Fit
- Is your product shareable? (Does using it involve others?)
- Does your product have network effects?
- Do customers naturally talk about your product?
- What triggers word-of-mouth currently?

### 4. Resources
- What tools/platforms do you use or consider?
- What's your budget for referral incentives?
- Do you have engineering resources for custom implementation?

---

## Referral vs. Affiliate: When to Use Each

### Customer Referral Programs

**Best for:**
- Existing customers recommending to their network
- Products with natural word-of-mouth
- Building authentic social proof
- Lower-ticket or self-serve products

**Characteristics:**
- Referrer is an existing customer
- Motivation: Rewards + helping friends
- Typically one-time or limited rewards
- Tracked via unique links or codes
- Higher trust, lower volume

### Affiliate Programs

**Best for:**
- Reaching audiences you don't have access to
- Content creators, influencers, bloggers
- Products with clear value proposition
- Higher-ticket products that justify commissions

**Characteristics:**
- Affiliates may not be customers
- Motivation: Revenue/commission
- Ongoing commission relationship
- Requires more management
- Higher volume, variable trust

### Hybrid Approach

Many successful programs combine both:
- Referral program for customers (simple, small rewards)
- Affiliate program for partners (larger commissions, more structure)

---

## Referral Program Design

### The Referral Loop

```
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