State of Referral Programmes
We track 2,683 brands that run a referral programme. 70% of them (1,865) have no referral code shared by a customer yet, so anyone who wants that sign-up bonus has nobody's code to use.
How many codes each programme has
Referral programmes depend on existing customers sharing their codes. Most never get one shared. Of the brands that do, 341 have exactly one code, so a single customer is the only public way in.
Coverage by category
Share of each category's programmes with at least one member-shared code. Categories with fewer than 5 brands are left out.
| Category | Programmes | With a code | Codes shared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopping | 885 | 11% | 340 |
| Financial | 493 | 41% | 1,926 |
| Food | 225 | 21% | 874 |
| Software | 208 | 28% | 187 |
| Cashback | 201 | 61% | 812 |
| Travel | 162 | 41% | 462 |
| Electronics | 102 | 33% | 109 |
| Crypto | 99 | 42% | 403 |
| Education | 76 | 41% | 144 |
| Gaming | 67 | 19% | 122 |
| Clothing | 45 | 58% | 198 |
| Social Media | 24 | 63% | 263 |
| Money Transfer | 22 | 86% | 138 |
| Medical | 19 | 63% | 113 |
| Hosting | 16 | 75% | 90 |
| Bill Payment | 16 | 88% | 831 |
Brands with the most shared codes
Where customers share the most, which usually means the reward is worth sharing.
- FamPay · 442 codes
- Zepto · 326 codes
- Country Delight · 259 codes
- Gpay · 232 codes
- mRewards · 206 codes
- PhonePe UPI · 170 codes
- Gullak · 169 codes
- Paytm UPI · 166 codes
- CRED · 132 codes
- Amazon Pay · 101 codes
Do shared codes work?
Of 7,016 codes listed, 100% are marked active and 1% were confirmed working by a member in the last 30 days. Across 218 member votes on whether a code worked, 89% said it did.
Methodology
- "Referral programmes tracked" means every brand published on GiveRefer. Each one runs a customer referral or refer-a-friend programme.
- A "shared code" is a referral code or link a GiveRefer member has submitted. Brands where we've paused code submissions count as having none, because their pages show none.
- "Active" means the code hasn't been marked expired. "Confirmed" means at least one member voted that it worked in the 30 days before the data date. Votes are members reporting whether a code worked for them.
- Members are registered GiveRefer accounts. Reviews are published reviews of brands.
- Figures are current-state counts, recalculated about twice a day. They reflect GiveRefer's catalogue, not every referral programme in existence.
Cite this report
Writing about referral programmes or sign-up bonuses? Use any figure here, with a link back. For data in another cut, contact us.
