"Referral Rewards Points"

[hello..]

Hello,

I just had a question on the legality of referral programs/rebating.

can I start up a website that every time you send me a referral you get X points on the site (which equates to $10) and allow people to save them up for movie passes, concepts, etc.?

Seems like it would be a better value than a crappy $10 subway card. But i'm not sure if it is legal...

 

[ShannonO]

It will depend on your state rules - best way to find out for sure is to contact your insurance department and get them to clarify. I know here in Washington they are trying to dig deeper to make sure they have a rule that makes referral rewards OK (right now the language is very vague) - so I have it in writing from them the way I work my program is OK with them unless or until they say differently.

 

[sdmillar]

It will depend on your state rules - best way to find out for sure is to contact your insurance department and get them to clarify. I know here in Washington they are trying to dig deeper to make sure they have a rule that makes referral rewards OK (right now the language is very vague) - so I have it in writing from them the way I work my program is OK with them unless or until they say differently.

Shannon,
Can you tell us how you work your referral program?

 

[Guest]

You can do whatever you want, wether its legal or not is another thing.

Wouldnt this be hard to track,

What if 1 person sends you 1 referral, basically, you never rewarded them if they dont put out some effort to collect something....You dont reward the referral, they dont send you anyone....

I dont like the idea....

 

[1manshow]

How are you going to track the referrals?

And...as long as there is no requirement to buy, I've never heard of a referral reward program being illegal

 

[ShannonO]

Shannon,
Can you tell us how you work your referral program?

The current referral promotion program is a gift card for each referral who calls me (and gives the person's name that referred them). Then for every referral I also enter their name into a semi-annual drawing for a $100 gift card.

Other agencies also do a gift card for each referral and then a monthly drawing for a $50 gift card.

The key is that person must get a quote - they do not have to buy. I do not send out anything for people who call me and start to get a quote but don't provide all the information for me to be able to give them a quote. In those situations I will usually let the person who sent me the referral know that person contacted me but didn't get a quote (so that they don't stop giving referrals and/or follow up with their friend to finish getting the quote).

Shannon

 

[AgencyEquity]

Hello,

I just had a question on the legality of referral programs/rebating.

can I start up a website that every time you send me a referral you get X points on the site (which equates to $10) and allow people to save them up for movie passes, concepts, etc.?

Seems like it would be a better value than a crappy $10 subway card. But i'm not sure if it is legal...

A good idea, but it won't work. Selling just takes old fashioned hard work, you really need to pound the pavement, meet people and make contacts with centers of influence. The reason why agencies make what they make is because it's not easy.