Dropbox rewarded people with more of what they already valued: storage.
How Products Found Their Customers — 01 Dropbox
Dropbox could help people sync, back up and share files. But explaining every benefit wasn't necessarily the best way to attract each new user.
An existing customer often knew what a friend actually needed.
Someone in a band might recommend it for sharing recordings. Someone else might care about keeping files available across computers.
Dropbox noticed that word of mouth was already its fastest route to new users.
It strengthened that behaviour with a simple offer:
Refer a friend who installs Dropbox, and both of you receive extra storage.
The customer had a reason to recommend it. The friend benefited from accepting.
And the reward helped both use the product more.
The useful lesson is deeper than “start a referral programme.”
Find out why people already recommend your product. Then make that exchange more valuable for everyone involved.
A referral can bring someone through the door. Continued adoption still depends on whether the product helps them do something useful.
As I study distribution and adoption at Sriram Advisory, this is one question I'm taking forward:
What does your customer gain by helping someone else discover you?