Why word of mouth is worth organising
Word of mouth is already working for you. What's missing is a way to see it, and a way to thank the right person. Asking at the till doesn't do it: staff forget when there's a queue, and nothing gets written down.
Research supports it. In one large study of a bank's customers, people who came through a referral were worth at least 16% more than similar customers, and stayed longer. A 2007 study by Ryu and Feick found that a reward makes people more likely to recommend, especially to acquaintances and for brands that aren't well known yet, which describes most new local shops. And Nielsen's 2013 trust survey ranked recommendations from people you know as the most trusted form of advertising.
How a word-of-mouth program works on Muchsy, in four steps
1. You set it up.
A discount for the friend, a reward for the person who shares, and an end date.
2. People take their own link.
Anyone with a personal Muchsy account can take a link for your business from the public Earn by sharing page. A creator you collaborate with gets one automatically.
3. The friend claims a single-use code.
It lands in their phone as a QR code and holds its spot for 48 hours.
4. You redeem it.
At your counter, or when they order online or by message. Either way, your side scans or types the code, and that visit is counted against the sharer's name.
The buttons to press are in the Help Centre: Word of mouth and the counter.
What does a referral program cost a small business?
Using Muchsy is free. Your costs are the ones you choose:
- What the friend gets. A fixed amount, such as CA$10 off a first visit, is easier to stand behind than a percentage, which brings a burden of proof about your previous prices.
- An end date. Always required, and shown to every friend before they claim.
- A limit on how many people can claim. Optional with a store-credit reward, required with a cash one.
- The sharer's reward. Store credit from your own counter (a coffee, a pastry, a trim) or cash. Cash starts at 20 in your currency, because research on referral rewards finds that small cash amounts can work worse than a gift of the same value.
- How many friends earn it. The reward repeats at every multiple: on a three-friend target, someone who brings nine earns it three times.
Repeats don't raise your ceiling. Every served friend uses one spot of your limit, so the most you can owe is the limit divided by the target. With a limit of 50, a target of 5 and CA$25 cash, the worst case is ten rewards, CA$250, and the form shows that figure before you publish. Nothing is owed until a real customer has been served. You can end it early at any time.
Three referral program examples for local businesses
These are illustrations of the settings above, not results from Muchsy.
- A café. For example: friends get CA$5 off a first visit, and the sharer gets a free pastry for every three friends served. A store-credit reward, so no limit is required; the end date closes it.
- A hair salon. For example: friends get CA$10 off a first cut, and the sharer gets CA$20 cash for every five friends served, with a limit of 50 claims. The form shows the worst case before publishing: ten rewards, CA$200.
- A yoga or fitness studio that books by message. For example: friends get CA$15 off a first month, and the sharer gets a free class for every two friends who sign up. Redeemed "online or by message": the friend gives the code, the studio types it in.
Who brought whom: what you see afterwards
Each sharer gets a row with two numbers: codes taken, and friends who walked in. Only the second one counts toward a reward.
Muchsy counts arrivals, never spend: it never sees your prices or your takings. It also counts only people who used a code, so someone who heard about you and paid full price is invisible to it. Read the number as a floor. More on reading it in How to tell who actually sent you a customer.
Paying the reward
Store credit becomes a code the sharer shows at your counter, valid for 60 days.
Cash you pay directly, in person or by transfer. Muchsy never holds or moves money. A cash reward is closed by the person who receives it, when they confirm it arrived or show their reward code at your counter, never by a button on your side. If they say it never came, the dispute reaches Muchsy. There are no points and no balance that carry from one business to another.
What stops fraud, self-referral and mix-ups at the counter
- Nobody can claim through their own link.
- One claim per person per discount, whoever shared it, so two links can't count the same friend twice.
- Only your side redeems. A customer can't scan a sticker on your counter to count themselves in.
- Staff don't need your password. Give the till or a staff phone a redeem-only link (up to ten) and switch any of them off when you like. See How the counter code works.
- The terms are frozen on each link when it's taken, so a target can't move under someone who is close to reaching it.
Do sharers have to say they get a reward?
Yes, and you share the responsibility. In Canada, the Competition Bureau counts payment, free products and discounts as a connection that must be disclosed clearly, on every platform where the post appears. Ad Standards' guidelines share the responsibility between the brand and the person posting. In Quebec, leaving out an important fact in advertising is a prohibited practice, and advertising must be in French. In the US, the FTC's Endorsement Guides set the same principle.
Muchsy builds the sentence in: every message a sharer copies ends with "I get a reward if you use this link.", and that line can't be edited in the box. It isn't enforced, though. A plain "copy link" button exists, and nobody checks where people post. So ask your sharers to keep the sentence, and write your discount in French if you're in Quebec. The sharer's side is explained in Do I have to tell people I get a reward?
Four ways to get customers talking, compared
| - | Asking "how did you hear about us?" | Paper referral cards | Referral software for online stores | Word of mouth on Muchsy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Works without an online store | Yes | Yes | Usually built for one | Yes, a phone at the counter |
| Knows who sent whom | Rarely written down | Only if cards are kept | Yes | Yes, by name |
| Counts only people who came | No | Yes | Counts online orders | Yes, redeemed codes only |
| Limits what you can owe | — | By hand | Varies | End date always; limit required for cash; worst case shown |
| Staff need your login | — | No | Varies | No, redeem-only staff links |
| Disclosure line built in | — | No | Varies | Yes, in every copied message |
With creators, or without them
You can attach word of mouth to a collab offer, whether it's a gifted collab or an offer for UGC content files: every creator you accept gets a link, and you see who brought customers in, not just who got views. Or run it on its own, with no creators involved, one standalone word-of-mouth discount at a time; each collab offer can carry its own. Collabs are explained in How it works.
For the people who share
Here to recommend places rather than run one? You don't need followers. Pick a business on the Earn by sharing page, send your link to people who'd genuinely go, and earn what the business named once enough of them are served.
Limits, said plainly
- Friends need a Muchsy account to hold a code. That will cost you some of them. It's also what makes each code single-use and countable.
- A claimed code holds for 48 hours, then lapses.
- Ending your word of mouth stops new claims. A code someone already holds still works until its 48 hours are up. Codes already used and rewards already earned stay as they are.
- At the counter, friends need your address: a counter discount needs a public address on your profile. "Online or by message" needs none.
Start with your regulars
Add a discount, name the reward, set an end date. The first name on your list appears the day a friend walks in.
Free to post. Muchsy never handles your money.
Word of mouth running on Muchsy
Your word of mouth here
Your regulars bring their friends, and you see who sent whom.
Questions business owners ask
›How big should the sharer's reward be?
Something your counter gives easily works well: a coffee, a dessert, a trim. Cash starts at 20 in your currency, because small cash amounts tend to motivate less than a gift of the same value.
›Can someone refer themselves, or fake customers?
No. Nobody can claim through their own link, each person can claim a discount once, and a code counts only when your side redeems it.
›Do my staff need my login?
No. Give the till or a staff phone a redeem-only link. It can redeem codes and nothing else, and you can switch it off at any time.
›I don't have an online store or a till system. Does it work?
Yes. Your phone's camera opens the redeem page from the customer's QR code, or you type the code. If friends order online or by message, they give you the code and you type it in.
›What if a friend comes in without using the code?
Then the visit isn't counted, and nothing is owed for it. The code stays in their account until it expires, so they can open it at the counter.
›Is the reward taxable?
That depends on where you are and what you give. Muchsy gives no tax advice and produces no tax documents, so keep your own record of what you give and pay, and ask your accountant.
Free to post. Muchsy never handles your money.