Playbook · Scale
Scale × Spread
Run a two-sided referral where the reward is more of the product, put brag buttons only at major wins, and shorten the viral cycle. Group goals that need participation beat invite counts.
- M3 Scale
- Can we scale acquisition, conversion and loops without leaking?
- Spread
- Does normal use bring in other people?
M3 × Spread
The playbook
Goal. K and the referral share of activated new users rising, with referred users retaining at least as well as organic ones.
Moves. A two-sided reward that is more of the product CASE-M15 (How Dropbox grew 3900% with a simple referral program, Viral Loops (secondary)); brag buttons only at major win moments GT#57 (Actionable Gamification Ch.9, p.216); group quests that need participation, not just invites GT#22 (Actionable Gamification Ch.9, p.219); voluntary testimony and sharing of wins; a shorter viral cycle by tying invites to frequent actions HK-MON04 (Hooked Ch.1).
Guardrails. Referred-user day-30 retention versus organic; refunds of referred users; invite spam reports.
Lead with these moves
- TechniqueEvidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.
Brag Buttons (GT#57)
share prompt at a real win
A prominent, explicit way to broadcast something the user is proud of, placed at Major Win-States and absent elsewhere. Most share buttons are ignored because they sit on every screen with nothing worth sharing behind them.
- TechniqueEvidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.
Shorten the viral cycle through daily use
faster invite loops
Put social actions inside the daily loop (tag, mention, share a result, collaborate) so frequent users invite others sooner, make use visible and joinable where people gather, and measure the days from sign-up to first invite and from invite to acceptance.
- TechniqueEvidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.
Anchored Juxtaposition (GT#69)
pay now or earn it
Show two routes to the same reward side by side: pay now, or complete Desired Actions that help the system (invite friends, finish a profile, stay active). Many users start on the effort path, tire, and some pay, so the business gains either way; Dropbox's storage offer is Chou's example.
Also in season
- Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.Invites that carry value to the person invitedvalue-carrying invites
- Evidence grade B. Moderate evidence: solid studies with some limits.Ask through someone they knowfriend or founder as the asker
- Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.Referral page that names the referrerinvite page from a named friend
- Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.Ask right after successask at the high point
- Evidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.Group Quests (GT#22)goals that need group participation
- Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies.Voluntary testimony from current usersask every user how they use it
- Evidence grade C. Limited evidence: few or small studies."We" language and shared creditcredit users as part of the team
- Evidence grade D. Practitioner framework or anecdote: plausible, untested.Ask for invites and ratings after the first major winshare ask at the moment of success
Not now
- Cash bounty per inviteSmall cash rewards can backfire; make the reward more of the product.
- Pre-checked contact importInvites nobody chose inflate sends and spam reports, not activated users.
How to measure it
Questions to answer first
- How long from a user's sign-up to the sign-up of someone they invited, and which everyday actions naturally involve other people?
- Are share and invite buttons placed right at users' biggest wins, and are they easy to see there?
- Do referred users refund or churn more, or less, than users who found you on their own?
- Is there a goal users can only reach together, one that needs others to take part, not just sign up?
- Does the page an invited person lands on name the friend who invited them and put that friend's ask first?
- Are your invite and share flows fully voluntary, with no contacts or boxes pre-selected?
- When someone uses your product, does it deliver something useful to people who don't use it yet?
Cases at this stage
Dropbox · 2010
Dropbox: a referral reward that is the product
Sign-ups reportedly about 60% higher with two-sided storage rewards, and about 2.8M referral invites in one month of 2010 (secondary sources; grade D). Retellings disagree on the endpoints, so avoid the “3,900% in 15 months” headline.
M3 ×SpreadCase grade for the number: D. Evidence grade for the mechanism link: D.Anecdote
Limits
What we don’t claim
- The Hook Model is a practical design tool, not a validated or complete theory of behavior.Hooked, Introduction
- Octalysis is a practitioner framework built from observing games, not a validated scientific model.Actionable Gamification Ch.15, pp.399-400
- Seasons are defaults for the cell. Evidence from your own product can move a technique in or out of season.
- A playbook names candidate moves; which one goes first depends on the binding constraint in your product.
Sources
Hooked · Nir Eyal
Ch.1
Influence · Robert Cialdini
Ch.4, p.91 · Ch.5, p.148
Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou
Ch.9, p.216 · Ch.10, p.250 · Ch.9, p.219
How Dropbox grew 3900% with a simple referral program · Viral Loops (secondary)
Case grade D. Anecdote or unverified secondary sources.
Source IDs: GT#57HK-MON04GT#69GT#22CASE-M15INF-T-SP-11INF-T-LK-25
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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