Turn Loyal Users Into Growth Engines With an In-App Referral Program

What is an in-app referral program?
An in-app referral program allows your existing users to refer others directly from within your SaaS product. Each user receives a unique referral link they can share, after opting in to the referral program. When someone signs up through that link and becomes a qualified user (e.g., signs up or pays), a reward is automatically triggered (for both).

What makes it different from an affiliate program?
Unlike affiliate programs — where rewards typically go to the promoter only (cahs) — referral programs often use double-sided rewards. This means both the person referring and the new user can receive an incentive. As these are often more personal recommendations, it would have a higher conversion rate as well. Rewards can be fully customizable to match your product and growth goals.

Typical referral rewards for B2B SaaS could be:

• Account credits or subscription discounts
• Extended free trial periods
• Swag or branded merchandise
• Cash rewards or gift cards
• Free seats or user licenses

Why do in-app referral programs work so well for B2B SaaS?
At Reditus, we focus exclusively on B2B SaaS companies. Referral programs are especially effective in this space because:

• They build on trust: Your users refer people in their professional network, resulting in high-quality leads which convert better.
• They're seamless: Sharing and tracking happen inside your product — no external tools required.
• They're cost-efficient: You only reward when a successful referral is made, keeping CAC predictable and low. You decide when to reward (on sign up, first payment or on recurring basis).

When is a referral program a good fit for your SaaS?
If your SaaS product has satisfied users, a self-serve signup process, and a simple value proposition, you're likely in a great position to benefit from referral marketing. It's especially powerful for fast growing product-led growth (PLG) SaaS companies.

With Reditus, you can launch a free in-app referral program tailored for B2B SaaS — and start growing through word-of-mouth in just minutes.

How does a SaaS in-app referral program work?
An in-app referral program makes it easy for your existing users to start recommending your SaaS product directly from within your platform — with no friction and no need to leave the app.

Here’s how it works step by step:

1. Sign up for Reditus and complete the technical installation (tracking script + conversion snippet).
2. Embed referral triggers in your UI — for example: “🎁 Refer a Friend”, “Share & Earn”, or a simple text button inside your dashboard.
3. The user opts in to become an advocate by clicking the CTA.
4. They receive a unique referral link tied to their account.
5. They share the link with friends, colleagues, or their network.
6. Reditus tracks who signs up via the referral link — in real time.
7. We also track who becomes a paying customer (e.g., based on your Stripe or Paddle connection).
8. Rewards are triggered based on the event you choose — such as sign-up, first payment, or recurring revenue milestones.

So how does it actually drive growth?
By embedding Reditus into your app, you give every user a unique referral dashboard. This turns your SaaS into a viral loop — where satisfied users naturally promote your product to others. It’s user-driven growth, powered by performance-based rewards.

And best of all?
This is designed specifically for B2B SaaS companies. You can start with a free in-app referral program and launch in minutes — no manual tracking or spreadsheet headaches needed.

What are the benefits of using an in-app referral program for SaaS companies?
If your users love your product, an in-app referral program can turn that satisfaction into a scalable growth / revenue engine. Reditus helps B2B SaaS companies harness the power of word-of-mouth by making it easy for users to refer others — directly within your own app.

Key benefits of an in-app referral program for B2B SaaS:

• 🚀 High-quality user acquisition: Referred users convert better and stay longer because they trust the person referring them.
• 📉 Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): You only pay out when results happen — no upfront ad spend required. You control the rewards.
• 🔁 Better customer retention: Referred users are often more loyal, because they arrive with stronger intent and context.
• 💬 Built-in virality: In-app referrals create a viral loop that drives organic growth, straight from your existing users.
• 📈 Easy to track and scale: Everything is automated and measurable from your Reditus dashboard.

Why now?
Referral programs are increasingly powerful in a world filled with AI-generated content and paid ads. People will always trust real recommendations from real people — and that’s what makes this channel so effective for B2B SaaS.

And the best part?
You can start completely free with Reditus. Our Free Plan lets you launch an in-app referral program and generate up to $1,000 in MRR before paying us anything.

Start your in-app referral program for free with Reditus

What are the best rewards for a SaaS referral program?
The best rewards are those that motivate your users to keep sharing your product — while attracting leads who are more likely to convert. In a SaaS referral program, you can offer rewards to the advocate (the person referring) or use double-sided incentives to also reward the lead (the person signing up).

Examples of advocate rewards:

• 💸 Account discount or Stripe credit for each successful referral
• 💰 Commission based on subscription payments from the referred user
• 🔓 Unlock premium features after reaching a referral milestone
• ➕ Extra account credits for each new paying lead
• 🎁 Gift cards or swag per verified referral

Examples of lead rewards:

• 🏷️ Sign-up discount through a referral link
• 🆓 Extended trial, bonus features, or extra usage credits

Flexible reward logic with Reditus:
At Reditus, we offer a flexible Rewards API so you can define when and how rewards are triggered. While cash payouts are fully automated, other reward types (like credits or product perks) will require implementation on your side — powered by our API.

Best practice: Choose rewards that align with your product’s value and customer behavior. Focus on rewards that reinforce usage, increase retention, and motivate ongoing advocacy.

How do you track referrals in a SaaS product?
Referral and affiliate tracking in Reditus follows the same simple but powerful structure. Once the technical setup is complete, tracking runs automatically for both programs— with no manual work needed.

To enable referral tracking inside your SaaS product, you’ll need to:

1. Install the Reditus tracking script – This places a cookie when someone clicks a referral or affiliate link. View intro into installation
2. Add the signup snippet – This line of code fires when a user successfully signs up, allowing us to capture referral attribution. View full installation guide
3. Connect your payment processor – You can link Stripe or Paddle directly, or send payment data via our API. See Help Center

Once these three steps are completed and tested, Reditus will automatically:

• Track which users signed up via an affiliate or advocate link (referral)
• Identify which referral started paying you
• Monitor refund events and automatically reject commissions or rewards accordingly
• Create commissions / rewards for the person referring you

If you've already set up tracking for your affiliate program, there's no need to do it again for referrals — Reditus uses the same tracking setup across both channels.

Sign up to Reditus and start tracking referrals automatically

Should you build or buy a referral program for your SaaS?
If you're considering launching a referral program for your SaaS product, one of the first decisions you'll face is whether to build it in-house or use an external platform like Reditus. Here’s what to consider:

Why buying is faster and more cost-effective:
With Reditus, you can get a fully functional in-app referral program live in under an hour — and you can start completely FREE for the first $1k MRR. Building your own tracking system, dashboard, logic for rewards, and fraud prevention takes significant time and developer resources. Reditus handles all of that for you in the free plan.

Future-proofing: from referrals to affiliates
Once your referral program is up and running, you probably want to expand to include affiliates — partners who are not yet users of your product. With Reditus, the tracking you’ve already implemented for referrals works seamlessly for your affiliate program too. All you need to do is define the program details, and you’re ready to go.

Benefits of managing both referral and affiliate programs in one platform:

• ✅ One-time tracking setup — no need to install new code
• ✅ Avoid duplicate referrals and misattribution
• ✅ Manage both advocates and affiliates in a single dashboard
• ✅ Built-in fraud detection across both programs
• ✅ No duplicate costs — pricing is based on combined MRR generated

You can launch today at no cost
Reditus offers a Free Plan that allows you to run a full in-app referral program and generate up to $1,000 in MRR before paying anything.

Sign up to Reditus and launch your referral program today — for free

How can I prevent fraud in my SaaS referral program?
Even though in-app referral programs are only offered to your SaaS users, there's still potential for fraud — especially if your rewards are valuable or easy to exploit. Here are some practical strategies to help reduce referral fraud before it starts.

1. Choose who gets access to your referral program
If you run a freemium model, consider limiting access to the referral program to paying users only — or to users who have been active for a certain number of days. Offering rewards to newly signed-up or inactive users increases the risk of low-quality or fake referrals. When implementing our feature, you could choose to whom you show the widget.

2. Use a platform that detects and flags suspicious activity
With Reditus, we track common fraud patterns — such as users trying to run Google Ads (on your brand name) using their referral link. This is a known tactic especially in affiliate programs, where users try to hijack existing branded search traffic. Our platform helps you detect and prevent this kind of behavior. We will show you in the UI if they do this when generating referrals.

3. Set smarter reward triggers
Fraud is more likely when rewards are triggered at low-effort actions like sign-ups. Instead, tie your rewards to more meaningful outcomes like:

• First successful payment
• Activation of a key feature
• Customer reaching a usage milestone

By doing this, you're rewarding actual value — not just clicks or sign-up spam. Don't make it too easy for people to cheat the system.

Bonus tip: Reditus gives you full flexibility with reward timing and offers fraud prevention tools built-in — helping you maintain a high-quality referral program from day one.

Start your referral program with fraud protection built in — start for free

What’s the difference between a referral program and an affiliate program for SaaS?
While both programs drive new users to your SaaS, they serve different audiences and use different reward mechanics. At Reditus, we support both in-app referral programs and affiliate programs for SaaS companies — and they can even run side by side! (we even recommend this)

• Referral programs run inside your product and are offered to your existing users.
• Affiliate programs are run on external platforms and open to anyone — such as creators, consultants, or content partners.

Key differences between referral and affiliate programs:

• 👥 Audience: Referral = your users; Affiliate = external promoters who sign up to a 3rd party platform.
• 💰 Reward type: Referral programs often offer non-monetary or double-sided rewards; Affiliate programs are typically commission-based (recurring payouts) for affiliates
• 🎁 Incentive style: Referral programs can reward both the user and the person they invite; affiliate programs usually reward the promoter only

Reditus makes it easy to run both models in one platform, with a shared tracking setup and unified dashboard.

🔗 Learn more about SaaS referral programs
🔗 Learn more about SaaS affiliate programs

Start for free and choose the growth model that fits your SaaS best

How do I set up an in-app referral program for my SaaS product?
Setting up an in-app referral program is fast and frictionless with Reditus. It's designed specifically for B2B SaaS companies — especially those with a product-led growth (PLG) motion — who want to activate their user base and drive scalable, low-CAC growth.

Here’s how to launch your referral program in a few simple steps:

1. Sign up for Reditus – Create your free account and choose the referral setup option.
2. Install the Reditus tracking code – Add our tracking script and sign-up snippet to your product. Follow our technical guide.
3. Embed referral CTAs in your app – Add a “Refer a Friend” button or widget inside your dashboard or onboarding flow. See examples here.
4. Define your rewards – Choose what your users (and optionally their referrals) receive. Options include credits, discounts, trial extensions, or swag.
5. Go live and track performance – Your users will receive their own unique referral links. Reditus will automatically track signups, payments, and reward triggers.

Bonus: Once your tracking is installed, you can later enable affiliate features using the same setup — no extra code required.

Launch your in-app referral program today — free up to $1,000 MRR

When should a SaaS company launch a referral program?
The best time to launch a referral program is when your SaaS product has reached a certain level of product-market fit — meaning your users are happy, engaged, and already talking about your product organically. At this stage, a referral program doesn’t force word-of-mouth — it amplifies it.

We typically recommend launching a referral program when:

• ✅ You have a predictable stream of paying customers
• ✅ You’ve established product-market fit (PMF)
• ✅ You have a self-serve or product-led signup flow
• ✅ You’re seeing users refer others informally (without rewards)
• ✅ You want a low-CAC, scalable growth loop that complements other channels

For most B2B SaaS companies, this usually happens around or after the $1M ARR mark — especially if you're operating with a Product-Led Growth (PLG) motion.

Why wait until PMF?
Referral programs work best when your users love your product. If you're still refining positioning or user activation, launching too early may lead to low referral rates or incentivised spam. Timing it right ensures quality growth and higher ROI.

Ready to launch? Start your SaaS referral program for free with Reditus