Referrals · Randomized field experiments manipulating online referral incentive mechanisms.
Impact of Incentive Mechanism in Online Referral Programs: Evidence from Randomized Field Experiments
Journal of Management Information Systems · 2021
Summary
The incentive mechanism and allocation between referrer and referred customer materially affect online referral performance; incentive design is not one-size-fits-all.
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Use it as a behavioral mechanism or experiment-design reference, not a direct forecast for a SaaS funnel.
Reported result
What the study found
The incentive mechanism and allocation between referrer and referred customer materially affect online referral performance; incentive design is not one-size-fits-all.
Research question
What the authors investigated
How does the design/allocation of online referral incentives affect referral outcomes?
Design
Randomized field experiments manipulating online referral incentive mechanisms.
Sample and setting
Customers participating in an online referral program; referral initiation and downstream referral outcomes under alternative incentive allocations.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
The focal program and customer population are firm-specific; field results do not establish effects for every SaaS pricing model or incentive cost.
Research sources
The PMC accessible paper’s reference identifies the exact article and DOI as evidence from randomized field experiments; DOI landing page confirms bibliographic details. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; this profile uses publisher metadata/abstract and does not claim independent review of unavailable full text.