Referral Programs

Today I'm going to talk about referral programs.  These are easy ways to make money or earn rewards for products and companies you already know and love!  If you've read a lot of my blogs, you've probably already seen some links for referrals from the things I really like but I'm going to explain a little more about these and how they can be useful for you.

What are referral programs?  Referral programs are where companies reward you, one of their customers, for bringing in more business to them.  Quite often they also give an incentive for the new customer as well.  It's a win-win-win situation in that case!  With referral programs made much easier with the internet and social media, there have been a lot more popping up within the last few years and much bigger rewards as well.

How do they work?  If a company has a referral program, you will need to be logged into their site under your account.  Then you find the section of their website about referrals and there should be a spot that either lets you directly share your specific link to social media or through emails or a link that you can copy and paste.  It's important that you make sure that you are logged in and get your specific link so they can track who joined because of you and you can get rewarded!

It's as simple as that!

Here's a list of all my favorite companies/products with referral programs by category:

Cell Phone Carriers

Ting Wireless - This is an offshoot of Sprint that works on a pay for what you use concept.  My husband and I have a bill together of about $50 - $60 a month for talk, text, and data.  You can read more about Ting in my post: Cut Cell Phone Bill in Half: Switch to Ting. 

  

Referral Bonus: Offer friends $25 off a new device or as Ting credit. For each successful referral, we'll credit your account $25 to say thanks. 

Credit Cards

Chase Freedom - 1% back on purchase with 5% back on rotating categories.  Read more about it on my post: Make Money With Credit Cards, Part 2: My Favorite Cards. 

 Referral Bonus: Invite your friends before 11/1/2015 and get up to $500 cash back. That's $50 cash back for each friend (up to 10) who gets and uses Chase Freedom.  Each friend can earn $100 bonus cash back after they are approved and spend $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Discover - 1% back on purchase with 5% back on rotating categories.  Read more about it on my post: Make Money With Credit Cards, Part 2: My Favorite Cards. 

Referral Bonus: Enjoy $50 Cashback Bonus for both if they apply and become cardmembers, and make a purchase in the first 3 months. And it works for up to 10 new cardmembers you refer per year.

Entertainment

 Amazon Prime - Amazon Prime not only gives you the free shipping, it is a video and music streaming service as well!  You can read more about it on my post: Amazon Prime: A Great Deal!

Referral Bonus: When they join and make a $5 purchase, we'll give you $5 towards your next Amazon purchase.

 

Search Engines

 Bing - This search engine gives you rewards points for using it that you can redeem for prizes like gift cards.  You can read more about it in my post: Bing Rewards.

Referral Bonus: You’ll get 150 credits for each of your friends who join and reach Silver Status in their first 60 days, up to a maximum of 5 friends.

Shopping

 Amazon Prime - If you do a lot of shopping online like me, you should look into getting Amazon Prime.  Amazon has basically everything and with Prime you get free 2 day shipping on Amazon sold products.  You can read more about it on my post: Amazon Prime: A Great Deal!

Referral Bonus: When they join and make a $5 purchase, we'll give you $5 towards your next Amazon purchase.

Groupon - Great deals on items, restaurants, things to do, etc.

Referral Bonus: You can earn $10 in Groupon Bucks whenever you refer a friend to Groupon and they buy their first deal.

Living Social - Just like Groupon.  Great deals on items, restaurants, things to do, etc.

Referral bonus: When someone signs up for LivingSocial using your personal link, they’ll get 10 Deal Bucks to spend on a purchase of $20 or more. And once they do, you’ll get 10 Deal Bucks too!

Travel

 Orbitz - This is my preferred travel search engine.  They offer rewards for using their site and I also have their credit card that I use only for booking vacations through them to make the most of the rewards.

Referral Bonus: When friends join, they'll get a $25 promo code for their first hotel stay.  You'll get $25 in Orbucks once they complete their first hotel stay of $50 or more.

 Airbnb - Another great way to find places to stay when traveling.  I just talked about this in a couple recent posts: Traveling Cheaply, Part 3: Vacation Houses and Top 10 Places to Stay on Airbnb for Under $140.

Referral Bonus: Send a friend $25 Airbnb credit. You'll get $25 when they travel and $75 when they host.

Groupon - Find vacation packages on Groupon Getaways, deals on hotels, and activities to do.

Referral Bonus: You can earn $10 in Groupon Bucks whenever you refer a friend to Groupon and they buy their first deal.

Living Social - Just like Groupon.  Find vacation packages on Living Social Escapes, deals on hotels, and activities to do.

Referral bonus: When someone signs up for LivingSocial using your personal link, they’ll get 10 Deal Bucks to spend on a purchase of $20 or more. And once they do, you’ll get 10 Deal Bucks too!

 Uber - Need a ride but a taxi's too expensive?  Try ridesharing!  Read about it on my recent post: Ridesharing.

Referral Bonus: Every new rider who signs up with your code will get their first ride free, and you'll earn a free ride (up to $20) for spreading the word.





Now if any of you signed up through these links, we both get the bonuses!

Are there any companies that you love that have referral programs?