How the Referral System Works

When someone signs up for your waitlist, Spynra automatically generates a unique referral link for them. That link is tied to their signup record. If another person signs up using their referral link, their referral count increments by one.

The referral count determines position on the leaderboard. A higher referral count means a higher (better) leaderboard position. Participants are motivated to share because sharing moves them toward the front of the line.

The mechanics work like this:

  • Person A signs up and receives their unique link: spynra.com/w/your-slug?ref=abc123
  • Person A shares the link with their network
  • Person B visits the link and signs up — Person A's referral count goes from 0 to 1
  • Person A moves up the leaderboard relative to others with fewer referrals
  • Person B also gets their own unique referral link and can start referring too
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The referral system is enabled by default on all plans. If you want standard referral behavior — unique links, leaderboard, referral counts — you don't need to configure anything. It works out of the box from the moment your first signup comes in.

Accessing Referral Settings

All referral configuration lives in Project Settings → Referral tab. Open your project, click Settings in the left sidebar, then select the Referral tab.

Referral Settings
Configure how referrals work for this project
Reward Text
Refer 3 friends to jump to the front of the line
Referral Share Copy
I just signed up for early access — use my link to skip the line!
Milestone Threshold
3 referrals
Leaderboard Visibility
Public
Private
Show referral count on leaderboard
Save Changes

Configuring the Referral Reward Text

The Reward Text field controls the incentive statement shown to participants on the confirmation screen and in the welcome email. This is the single most important piece of copy in your referral funnel — it tells people why they should share.

To set it: go to Project Settings → Referral → find the Reward Text field and enter your copy. This field supports plain text only (no HTML). Keep it to one sentence that clearly states the benefit of referring.

Example reward text options:

  • "Move up the waitlist for every person you refer."
  • "Refer 3 friends to unlock early access."
  • "Every referral moves you closer to the front of the line."
  • "Earn a founding member badge for 5+ referrals."
  • "Share with friends — the more you refer, the earlier you get in."
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Specificity converts better than vague promises. "Refer 3 friends to unlock early access" outperforms "share to move up" because the threshold and reward are concrete. If you have a defined reward, state it explicitly.

Customizing Referral Copy

Beyond the reward text, you can customize the full referral prompt — the block of text shown to a new signup that explains their referral link and encourages them to share.

Post-signup referral prompt

This is the text displayed on the confirmation screen immediately after someone joins. It appears above their referral link. The default reads something like: "You're on the list\! Share your link to move up:" You can replace this with anything that fits your brand voice and reinforces the reward you've defined.

Share call-to-action

The Share CTA field controls the label on the copy-link button shown next to the referral link. Default: "Copy your link". Alternatives: "Copy my referral link", "Get my share link", "Copy and share".

Setting a Referral Threshold (Optional)

A referral threshold is a target referral count you communicate to participants — for example, "refer 5 friends to unlock your reward." You can set this number in the Referral tab under Threshold.

When a threshold is set, participants see a progress indicator showing how many referrals they've made toward the threshold goal.

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The referral threshold is informational only. Spynra tracks whether a participant has crossed the threshold and can trigger a milestone email (see Email Automation), but Spynra does not automatically fulfill any reward. If you promise early access, a discount code, or a physical item — you are responsible for delivering it. Use the Signups export filtered by referral count to identify who qualifies.

Managing the Leaderboard

The leaderboard shows participants how they rank relative to everyone else on the waitlist. It creates competitive social proof: seeing that others are getting referrals motivates new participants to share.

Public vs. Private leaderboard

By default the leaderboard is public — anyone visiting your hosted page or confirmation screen can see the top referrers. If you want to keep referral rankings private (visible only to the individual participant, not the broader audience), switch the leaderboard to Private in the Referral settings.

Private leaderboards still show each participant their own position and referral count — they just can't see other people's names or counts.

Leaderboard title and description

Customize the heading and subtext displayed above the leaderboard table. The Leaderboard Title defaults to "Top Referrers". The Description field is optional — use it to reinforce the reward or add context. For example: "The top 10 referrers will receive founding member access and a lifetime discount."

Display name format

Participants appear on the leaderboard by their first name and last initial by default (e.g., "Sarah M."). This is intentional — it provides social proof without fully exposing personal information. This format is not configurable.

How Participants See Their Position

Participants encounter their position and referral link in two places:

1. The confirmation screen

Immediately after signing up, participants see a screen that shows their current waitlist position, their unique referral link, and the referral prompt copy you configured. This is the highest-intent moment — they just signed up and are most likely to share right now.

2. The welcome email

The automated welcome email (sent immediately after signup if you're on Growth plan or above) includes their position and referral link. See the Email Automation article for full details on configuring welcome email content.

Participants do not have a login or dashboard. Their position is surfaced to them at signup and in the welcome email. If they lose their referral link, they can use the Look up my spot flow on your hosted page (or embedded widget) to retrieve it by entering their email address.

Getting the First Referrals: Seeding Your Waitlist

A referral leaderboard with zero activity is not compelling. Before you go public, seed initial momentum by getting a small number of real signups and referrals through your own network.

  1. 1
    Sign up yourself and grab your referral link
    Use your own hosted page to sign up with your personal email. You'll get a referral link like everyone else. Use this link when you share in the next steps.
  2. 2
    Share in your direct network first
    Send the link to 10–20 people who know you and your product idea personally. A direct message converts significantly better than a public post. Get your first real signups before broadcasting publicly.
  3. 3
    Post in relevant communities
    Share in communities where your target users already gather — subreddits, Discord servers, Slack groups, Facebook groups, niche newsletters. Be genuine about what you're building. Attach your referral link.
  4. 4
    Post publicly on social media
    Once you have early signups and the leaderboard shows activity, post publicly on X, LinkedIn, or wherever your audience lives. Include what you're building and a direct link to your hosted page. Social proof from existing signups helps convert new visitors.
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The goal of seeding is not to inflate numbers artificially — it's to get past the empty-room problem. A leaderboard showing 47 people and a top referrer with 12 referrals is far more convincing to a new visitor than a page that shows 0. Real early signups from your own network are the most honest way to seed this.