CASE STUDY
Growth referrals journey
Redefined how users discover, share, and earn through referrals by designing a system grounded in motivation and timing — not marketing gimmicks. A data-led, human-centered redesign that turned a stagnant referral program into a self-sustaining growth engine.
Turning a referral feature into a growth engine
Every growth experiment I led started with a simple question: how do we make this feel human? The referral journey was no different. I reimagined the end-to-end experience across multiple touchpoints, designing and launching a new tiered incentives program with a real-time referral and reward tracking dashboard. Through targeted experiments, I identified new growth patterns and optimized when and how referral moments appeared throughout the customer lifecycle.
The result: a referral ecosystem that felt natural, rewarding, and drove measurable impact through increased referral leads and new customer acquisitions.
Outcomes
- +40% lift in referral leads via tiered incentives
- +8% Net ARR growth from optimized referral touchpoints
- ~3 experiments conducted per month
We we focused on
- Led a cross-functional effort to shape a North Star vision for FY26, simplifying a complex referral journey into clear, motivating progress states.
- Developed a net-new referral and rewards experience featuring layered bonuses, ready to launch during the holiday cycle for incremental conversion lift.
- Scaled the tiered incentive + tracking system to sustain engagement and transparency across the funnel.
- Layered contextual “a-ha” moments and evergreen in-app placements to keep referral activity active and visible.
- Leveraged AI to automate and augment referral insights—empowering employers with personalized, context-aware experiences, including AI-generated referral messages that became part of the future intelligent growth vision.
What helped
- Tight partnership across Product, Growth, Research, and Engineering to merge experimentation velocity with design clarity.
- Rapid iteration informed by qualitative UXR to validate comprehension, reward language, and conversion triggers.
What I learned
This project reinforced the power of designing beyond features—designing for momentum. The FY26 vision wasn’t just about modernizing Referrals; it was about turning it into a self-sustaining growth engine that balanced user motivation, business timing, and scalable platform behavior. It required more than a single experience; it called for a dynamic, AI-informed system that could adapt, reward, and evolve over time.
What I took away was simple: meaningful impact comes from aligning three things—systems that learn (AI + data), experiences people trust (clarity and motivation), and strategies that compound (growth loops). When those align, products don’t just work, they accelerate.
