Ask any owner where their new customers come from and you get the same answer: friends telling friends. Ask which friends, and you get silence.
Your best marketing is invisible. You cannot see it happening, you cannot thank anyone for it, and you cannot make it happen more often. This is Problem 3 in The 10 Problems Every Local Business Has With Loyalty.
Give every customer a share link
With Lekka referrals switched on, every customer gets a personal share link on their card. They send it to a friend on WhatsApp, the friend joins, and when the friend visits, both people get rewarded.
You decide what each side gets, separately. Bonus stamps for the friend, a free item for the referrer, or whatever fits your margins. Your regulars become a sales team, and you only pay them on results.
The fraud protection is the clever part
Any referral scheme invites the obvious cheat: made-up signups. Lekka closes that door by letting you choose when the reward actually lands. You can pay out on the friend's first visit, or when the friend earns their first full card, or give the friend a welcome reward at signup while the referrer only earns once the friend physically walks in.
That last option means a fake signup pays nothing to anyone. Generosity goes to real recommendations that put real people through your door.
A worked example
A coffee shop sets it up like this: the friend gets two bonus stamps for joining through a share link, and the referrer gets a free coffee once the friend makes their first visit. The friend starts their card already moving, the referrer gets thanked properly, and the owner can see every single referral in the dashboard, by name.
Word of mouth, with receipts.
What it costs
Refer a Friend is an add-on at R99 a month on Starter and Growth, and included on Premium. It pays for itself the first time a regular brings you a new regular.
Create your free loyalty programme first, then switch on referrals when you are ready. Free for your first 50 customers at lekkacard.co.za/vendor/signup.
