Run a fun and rewarding friend referral contest to expand your customer base and increase engagement through nominations and word-of-mouth referrals.

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Friend Nomination Contest Template

Run a fun and rewarding friend referral contest to expand your customer base and increase engagement through nominations and word-of-mouth referrals.

Trick

Use nomination-style referral contests for a limited time to drive urgency and encourage customers to refer friends before the deadline.

What This Template Does

This template helps you run a friend referral contest where users can enter and nominate friends who deserve to win a prize. Each participant gains entries for nominating someone, and the person they nominate may also be added to your email list or contacted with a unique offer—perfect for building referrals and growing your audience.

Template Features

Enables nominations with Gleam’s Bonus Entry action
Encourages users to refer friends with personal notes
Lets you manually or randomly select winners
Works well with social and email promotion
Can support physical or digital rewards like gift cards or store credits

Benefits of This Template

Increases word-of-mouth visibility through referring friends
Supports customer referral programs with a more human twist
Helps identify passionate users and brand advocates
Drives qualified leads by targeting referred customers
Improves conversion rates through trust-based nominations

Who Should Use It

This template is ideal for:

Brands looking to launch a share-driven referral campaign
Ecommerce businesses wanting to reward existing customers
Marketers seeking more successful referral touchpoints
Retailers offering referral rewards for a limited time

Integration Support

You can connect this template with:

Official Gleam Resources

Frequently Asked Questions

Referral marketing is a structured, trackable way to reward customers for sharing your brand—unlike spontaneous word-of-mouth. Click to learn how referral programs work and why they outperform casual recommendations.

Yes — referred users convert 3–5× better and have 16% higher lifetime value. Click to learn how referral campaigns beat traditional channels in ROI.

Referral programs include single-sided (reward referrer), double-sided (reward both), and tiered or multi-level systems. Click to see which structure works best for your growth goals.

Referral-enabled giveaways generate leads by turning every participant into a promoter. Click to see how Gleam turns sharing into bonus entries and new subscribers.

Use mutual incentives, easy links, automation, and clear CTAs to boost referrals. Click to get the checklist for a high-performing referral program.

Help

See all

Creating A Refer A Friend Reward With Gleam

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How to Set Up Your Friend Referral Contest

Select the Friend Referral Contest Template
Use this template to launch a referral-driven contest that encourages users to nominate friends and expand reach.
➡ Use this referral contest template
Add a Prize That Inspires Sharing
Offer gift cards, store credits, or a meaningful reward that both the referrer and nominee would love to win.
Enable Friend Nominations Using Bonus Entries
Ask users to describe why their nominated friend deserves to win using the Bonus Entry action.
➡ Set up bonus entry nominations
Customise the Contest Design and Copy
Tailor the messaging to encourage thoughtful nominations and celebrate community spirit.
➡ Customise the contest layout
Add Social Sharing to Increase Referrals
Enable Viral Share to encourage users to post the contest and get extra entries for every referral.
➡ Activate referral sharing
Embed the Campaign or Use a Hosted Page
Place the contest widget on your homepage or run it from a dedicated Gleam landing page.
➡ Install the contest widget
Pick and Announce Winners
Select winners either randomly or manually based on nomination stories, then notify participants.