Whether people are searching for a new moisturiser or a hotel room for their next getaway, they have more ways than ever to research their next purchase.
Between social media, LLMs, search engines, and connected TV (CTV) ads, to name a few, there have never been more ways to discover, evaluate, and buy from brands.
But often, the most persuasive source is a recommendation from someone you know. 84% of people trust their friends and family to share accurate information about a brand, notably more than those who trust customer reviews, brand employees, and journalists, according to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer.
In the UK specifically, a WPP survey found that 63% of shoppers trust recommendations from friends and family over other sources when it comes to fashion and beauty purchases.
Against this backdrop, 73% of B2C marketers say customer acquisition costs (CACs) are rising, according to Klaviyo's 2025 State of B2C Marketing Report, and leaders are split on whether to prioritise new customer acquisition or retention to meet internal ROI goals.
That's the value of referral marketing: it serves both needs, helping you reach new customers cost effectively and recognise your biggest advocates for their support.
For B2C brands, referral programmes drive revenue by bringing in new customers and rewarding existing loyal advocates. But designing and scaling these programmes can get complicated without the right tools in place.
To create a referral experience that lowers CACs and grows customer lifetime value (LTV), B2C marketers need integrated referral marketing software.
What is referral marketing software
Referral marketing software automates and customises all aspects of your brand's referral programme, including cross-channel customer communications, link management, and referrer incentives. Different platforms support different types of referral programmes, such as:
- Friend-to-friend referrals: Referral marketing software makes it easy to equip your happy customers with referral codes and links they can pass on to their inner circle. In many cases, these platforms accommodate two-way rewards, where both the current and new customer receive incentives after the new customer makes a purchase.
- Influencer marketing: Nearly 60% of consumers have made purchases because of an influencer recommendation, according to Better Business Bureau research, making these professional creators another valuable referral source for B2C brands. Some referral marketing software helps manage influencer or creator collaborations specifically, tracking revenue driven by influencer campaigns and automating partner payments.
- Affiliate programmes: Affiliates can be bloggers or websites that recommend your products to their audience in exchange for a commission on each sale they drive to your brand. Certain referral platforms automate affiliate onboarding, payments, and reward redemption.
No matter which type of referral programme you have, connecting your B2C CRM with your referral marketing software makes it easier to increase conversions, track revenue impact, and create long-term customer loyalty.
8 of the best referral marketing software options for B2C teams
B2C referral programs boost your bottom line by accelerating both customer acquisition and retention. Here are 8 referral marketing software options that turn your happy customers into brand advocates:
Friendbuy
Friendbuy is a referral marketing software that offers flexible, customisable referral programmes for retail and ecommerce brands to:
- Design referral programme web experiences and other assets that match your brand's visual identity.
- Offer customised rewards for referral participants, from coupons and credits to points and third-party gift cards.
- Track the analytics that make the most sense for your brand and A/B test programme variables to improve referral performance over time.
With Klaviyo's Friendbuy integration, you can sync customer referral data into your CRM, and:
- Automatically welcome new advocates and friends in cross-channel flows.
- Add personalised referral links to messages, like emails, text messages, and push notifications.
- Share individual coupon codes with each customer to encourage them to refer your brand to their network.
- Trigger emails and text messages based on loyalty and referral data, like opt-in status, purchases, and rewards earned.
Mention Me
Mention Me, a UK-founded referral and influencer marketing platform, offers referral programme management, micro-influencer partnerships, and creative analytics. It surfaces which customers are driving the most referrals, helps you support customers in creating content about your brand, and optimises ads by targeting customers who are likely to convert.
With Klaviyo's Mention Me integration, you can:
- Improve referral performance through personalised, automated communications to both customers and the people they've referred.
- Grow your database of marketable contacts with opt-in prompts for referred shoppers.
- Use referral data to build more targeted lookalike audiences for your paid ads.
Premium pizza oven brand Gozney knew their customers frequently discovered them through friends and family. They identified customer champions using Advanced Klaviyo Data Platform (Advanced KDP) and incentivised them to refer friends, then pulled extended customer revenue data from Klaviyo's Mention Me integration to sharpen segmentation and engagement. This approach, along with advancements in post-purchase flows and text message marketing, contributed to a 24% YoY increase in retention.
Influence.io
Influence.io makes it easy for ecommerce brands to offer rewards in exchange for customer referrals. It lets you offer two-sided incentives, so both the referrer and new customer earn benefits after the new customer makes a purchase.
You can use Klaviyo's Influence.io integration to:
- Add loyalty programme point balance, referral codes, and referral URLs to customer profiles in Klaviyo.
- Trigger flows based on specific referral events, such as when a new customer redeems a referral code.
ReferralCandy
ReferralCandy helps ecommerce brands launch referral and affiliate programmes that grow revenue without additional ad spend. It connects with most ecommerce platforms, letting you choose referral reward options and create tiers to offer different incentives when customers hit new milestones.
On the affiliate side, ReferralCandy lets you set specific commission rules, automatically track links, and manage global payouts.
With Klaviyo's Referral Candy integration, you can:
- Automatically send referral activity and data to Klaviyo profiles.
- Trigger a flow when a customer joins your referral programme, and use custom properties to personalise enrolment messages.
- Sync ReferralCandy segments to Klaviyo to offer tailored referral rewards and messaging by customer group.
Social Snowball
Social Snowball is a word-of-mouth marketing platform for ecommerce brands. Direct-to-consumer companies use it to manage customer referral and influencer partnership management in one place.
Whenever a new customer makes a purchase, Social Snowball automatically creates an affiliate account and unique code or link so they can start referring their friends straight away. There are more than 700 reward options for referrers to choose from when redeeming their earnings, and more than 10 targeting rules for segmenting advocates, such as a VIP programme for high-frequency referrers that unlocks unique rewards like cash or gift cards.
With Klaviyo's Social Snowball integration, you can personalise customer emails and text messages based on 8 trigger events and 10 custom properties, including commission value and reward redemption status. For example:
- Send a welcome flow to new affiliates when they join the programme.
- Reward customers when they drive a successful referral.
- Share affiliate tracking links or discount codes with reminders to distribute to their network.
LoyaltyLion
LoyaltyLion is a customer loyalty platform that helps merchants automate their referral programmes and reward advocates for bringing in new customers. It offers omnichannel loyalty and rewards programme management, referral programme management, AI-powered loyalty features, and loyalty analytics empowering you to:
- Trigger referral requests after specific moments, like after a purchase or when a customer posts a positive review.
- Nurture top referrers with points, rewards, and personalised thank-you communications.
- Customise the types of rewards available to referrers and access performance data to refine your incentives.
With Klaviyo's LoyaltyLion integration, you can quickly identify, engage, and reward your top referrers. Referral events sync directly to Klaviyo so that you can send relevant, cross-channel communications (like congratulating a loyal customer when someone redeems their referral).
Use LoyaltyLion with Klaviyo to manage and grow your referral program by:
- Sending contextually relevant messages based on loyalty tiers and cart data
- Segmenting consumers using LoyaltyLion's advanced loyalty data and messaging them accordingly, like inviting high-value customers to a secret sale
- Automatically rewarding customers based on real-time behaviors, like hitting a referral milestone or reaching a new loyalty tier
- Using pre-built flow templates to welcome new loyalty members, celebrate birthdays, and remind customers of their rewards
JeriCommerce
The percentage of consumers using mobile wallets jumped to 31% in 2025, up from 14% the year before, according to a PYMNTS study. JeriCommerce is banking on this trend, offering loyalty cards for Apple Wallet and Google Wallet that unify the online and in-person shopping experience.
Here's how it works for referrals:
- Customers invite friends directly through their mobile wallet, no separate app or form needed.
- The referrer and the referred each earn points or discount rewards, tracked through the wallet.
- Every customer can access their own referral dashboard from their wallet to see referrals made, points earned, and progress toward their next reward.
With Klaviyo's JeriCommerce integration, you can:
- Send mobile push notifications about referrals and rewards through the wallet pass, alongside emails and text messages.
- Launch wallet campaigns based on Klaviyo events, like abandoned basket notifications or birthdays.
- Include wallet download links and referral information in flows like your welcome flow and post-purchase flow.
impact.com
impact.com is a partnership management platform that lets you manage influencer, affiliate, and referral programmes in one place, simplifying internal processes so you can drive more conversions. Use the platform to:
- Configure your referral programme to reward events beyond purchases, like email sign-ups.
- Offer bonus incentives for multiple referrals made in a specific timeframe.
- Give customer advocates access to referral activity, status, and history tracking through referral dashboards.
With Klaviyo's impact.com integration, you can automatically segment advocates who have been active or inactive within the past 30 days, then send them personalised referral reminders, and embed referral programme CTAs across your customer communications.
Drive more revenue from your referral programme with Klaviyo
When it comes to spending money, people trust the people they already know. That means you already have a dedicated customer base ready to co-sign your brand and bring in more sales.
By connecting referral marketing software to your B2C CRM, you can personalise outreach, increase the volume and value of customer referrals, and reduce CACs.
Klaviyo integrates with top referral marketing software so you can:
- Centralise referral data to identify patterns and reward your best customers.
- Improve referral programme performance with smarter targeting.
- Convert new customers and increase their LTV.
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