Customer referrals: your regulars become your best sales team
Word of mouth is the most effective acquisition channel a local business has, and the only one you do not pay for. Kyvo makes it systematic: automatic referrals, an invitation link to share on your social channels, and a sign-up QR code to display in store.
- Automatic validation
- Fully configurable
- Turn it on when you want
Why acquisition starts with the customers you already have
When a business goes looking for new customers, the instinct is to look outward: local advertising, leaflets through letterboxes, discount offers. Those levers are expensive and often attract people who came for the discount and leave with it.
Your existing customers are a very different channel. They know your business, they come back, and their recommendation is worth far more than a poster: it arrives carrying the trust of someone the future customer knows personally. A customer who comes on a recommendation arrives already convinced.
The obstacle was never willingness, it was opportunity. Your regulars do talk about you, but nothing prompts it, nothing rewards it, and you never see a trace of it. Referrals solve all three at once: they create the prompt, they reward both sides, and they show you exactly what it brings in.
- A new customer arrives carrying the trust of whoever sent them
- No advertising budget: the reward is only due when it works
- The referrer gains one more reason to come back
- Every new customer becomes a potential referrer in turn
How Kyvo referrals work
Once switched on, everything runs without you. There is no code to check and no reward to hand out manually.
You turn referrals on
Program by program, with the rewards of your choice for the referrer and the referred friend. Nothing is imposed, and you can switch it off at any time.
Your customer shares their code or link
Each customer has a friend code in their profile, plus a unique link they can send to several people at once.
The referred friend visits you
They join your program and come into the shop like any other customer.
Everything validates on the first visit
From their very first scan, the referral is validated automatically. Both people receive their points on their own side, with no extra QR code and nothing to do at the counter.
Three ways to bring new customers in
Customer referrals work within the circle of your regulars. To reach beyond it, Kyvo gives you two other front doors, built for two different grounds: your online presence and your physical one.
The merchant invitation link is made to be shared. You drop it in your Instagram bio, in a Facebook post, in your email signature, in a message to your customer list or on your website. Anyone who opens it joins your program directly, without having to go through an existing customer.
That link is not a plain redirect, it is configurable. You decide how many welcome points it grants, and those points are credited straight onto the loyalty card created at sign-up. In other words, the person discovering you does not land on an empty card to fill from scratch: they already have a head start, and therefore a reason to come and finish what has been started. That is what separates a link that gets clicks from a link that gets footfall.
The setting stays editable at any time, and you can bring it down to zero if you would rather everyone started from the same place. Tracking shows you what the link actually brought in, which lets you compare your channels: an Instagram post, an email to your list and a poster in the window do not recruit at the same pace.
The sign-up QR code plays the same role, but in store. It is a ready-to-print QR with a welcome message, to sit on the counter, on the tables, in the window or on the back of your receipts. The customer scans it, downloads the app and joins your program, with the same welcome points, editable from the marketing kit. A customer information flyer, available in French and English, completes the kit for anyone who prefers something to hand out.
- Invitation link to share on your social channels, your emails or your website
- Welcome points credited straight onto the card created at sign-up
- Point amount editable at any time, down to zero if you prefer
- Tracking of the sign-ups generated, so you can compare your channels
- Printable sign-up QR code for your window, your tables or your counter
- Ready-to-print customer flyer, in French or English
What stays under your control
Referrals run themselves, but every setting remains yours.
Enabled per program
You choose which loyalty program referrals are active on, and you can switch them off whenever you like.
Separate rewards
The referrer and the referred friend do not have to get the same thing. You set what each of them earns.
Code or link
Customers refer with their friend code or with a unique link they can send to several people at once.
Welcome points
The head start given at sign-up is yours to set, and can be brought down to zero if you would rather not.
Result tracking
You can see the referrals that went through and the new customers they brought you.
Fail-proof validation
The referred friend's first visit triggers everything, with nothing to do at the counter and nothing to forget.
Frequently asked questions about customer referrals
The simplest and clearest approach is points for both sides, with a little more for the referrer: they are the one who made the effort to recommend you. Keep an amount that stays profitable even if the referred friend only comes once, and raise it only if referrals fail to take off.
No. The referral is validated automatically on the referred friend's first visit, and both people receive their points with nothing for you to do at the counter. That is what prevents the misses at peak time, exactly where manual systems always break down.
Yes. Their invitation link can be sent to several friends at once, so an enthusiastic customer can bring in more than one person without starting over each time.
No. They are enabled program by program and can be switched off whenever you want. Some owners prefer to launch loyalty on its own first, then turn referrals on once they have a base of regulars to draw from.
Referrals start from your customers and reward both sides. The merchant invitation link starts from you: you share it on your social channels or in your messages to get people who are not customers yet to join your program. It is configurable too: you set the welcome points it credits straight onto the card created at sign-up, and you can track the sign-ups it brought you.
Wherever the customer has a moment of waiting: the counter during payment, restaurant tables, the window for passers-by. The QR code can be downloaded and shared, so you can also put it on your menus, your business cards or your bags.
Turn on referrals in your business
Your regulars are only waiting for a reason to talk about you. Two months free, no commitment.