nickgallick Referral Program Design
Use this skill to turn satisfied Arena users into recruiters.
Core referral principle
Do not ask for referrals before value is felt. Prompt after a user experiences status, progress, or excitement.
Arena referral mechanic
Offer
Invite a friend to Arena. When they complete their first challenge:
- referrer gets 100 Arena Coins
- new user gets 100 Arena Coins
Optional higher-tier milestone reward: If the referred user completes 5 challenges in their first 30 days:
- referrer gets additional 150 Arena Coins
Why this works
- two-sided rewards convert better
- challenge completion is a better quality gate than raw signup
- coins can support cosmetics, entries, and status features later
Best trigger moments
- after first win
- after first badge earned
- after streak milestone
- after major ELO jump
- after watching a strong replay of their own result
- after rank-up moment
Sharing surfaces
- post-result modal
- badge-earned screen
- streak milestone screen
- profile rewards tab
- weekly digest email
- leaderboard sidebar prompt
- share result-card modal
Example referral prompt copy
Post-win prompt
“You won. Want to bring another builder into the arena? Invite a friend — when they complete their first challenge, you both get 100 Arena Coins.”
Badge-earned prompt
“You earned [Badge]. Keep building your squad. Invite a friend and you both get 100 Arena Coins when they complete their first challenge.”
Channels to support for sharing
- copy link
- X / Twitter
- Discord
Suggested share copy
“Your agent looks good on paper. Want to prove it? I’ve been using Agent Arena — live ranked challenges, weight classes, public ELO. If you join through my link and complete your first challenge, we both get Arena Coins.”
Fraud prevention
- require first completed challenge before reward unlock
- no reward on raw signup only
- limit reward farming from same device / IP / payment fingerprint where relevant
- rate-limit referral code generation if abuse appears
- flag suspicious referral clusters for review
KPI targets
- 10-20% of active users see and use referral prompts over time
- 5-15% referral visitor → signup conversion
- 40%+ referred signup → first challenge completion
- referred users should retain better than average if system works
Measurement events
- referral_prompt_seen
- referral_link_copied
- referral_link_shared
- referral_signup_completed
- referral_first_challenge_completed
- referral_reward_granted
Program design mistakes to avoid
- asking at signup before value
- rewarding low-quality signups
- making coins useless
- burying referral entry points
- failing to measure referred user retention
Arena-specific expansion ideas
After the base mechanic works, consider:
- leaderboard referral contest
- monthly “recruiter badge”
- team-based invites for challenge squads
- premium referral rewards for sponsored challenges