Referral program for SaaS: cost per customer, worked example

Oscar

Confession: in January I spent 10,000 UAH on ads in social networks. Two shops signed up.

Alex Tutor

Then you've measured your first CAC, customer acquisition cost: what you spend on sales and marketing divided by the new customers it brings.

Nina

And how did most of the others find us?

Oscar

When I ask, it's almost always “another owner told me” or “I saw it in the mechanics' Telegram group”.

Alex Tutor

So your best channel already works, for free and out of sight. The idea now is to make it visible and give happy shops a reason to speak up.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

In January Oscar spent 10,000 UAH on ads in social networks, and 2 shops signed up from them. What is the CAC of this channel, in UAH per shop?

Your answer

Units: UAH

You

But would a shop owner really recommend GarageDesk to a competitor?

Oscar

To the shop across the street? Never. His regulars are their regulars.

Alex Tutor

Then think about where recommending costs him nothing: a cousin with a shop in Khmelnytskyi, like Dennis has, a friend in another district, the owner he meets at the parts counter. There, recommending makes him look like the one who knows good tools.

Nina

So the message isn't “invite everyone”. It's “know someone in another town?”

Alex Tutor

Question 2

Dennis is happy with GarageDesk. Whom is he most likely to recommend it to?

Choose one answerThe shop across the street that competes for the same regularsHis cousin, who owns a shop in KhmelnytskyiA car owner who has never run a businessA dealership that sells new cars

Nina

From February: every shop gets its own link. When a new shop signs up through it and pays, both get one free month.

Alex Tutor

A two-sided reward suits you. The new shop gets a deal and someone it trusts to ask questions; the recommender gets thanks it can feel. That's the simplest referral program.

You

A free month doesn't cost anything, though. It's not cash.

Alex Tutor

It's money you would have received. Most recommenders are early shops at 600; new shops pay 750. So what does one referral cost?

Alex Tutor

Question 3

The recommending shop pays 600 UAH a month and the new shop 750 UAH a month. Each gets one free month. What does one successful referral cost GarageDesk in lost revenue, in UAH?

Your answer

Units: UAH

Oscar

End of May: twenty shops signed up through referral links!

Alex Tutor

Did you ask them how they first heard of GarageDesk?

Oscar

I did. Five already followed our Telegram channel and were about to sign up. The link just came first.

You

How would anyone know who'd have come anyway?

Alex Tutor

One question on the welcome call: “How did you first hear about us?” It isn't perfect, but it's far better than guessing.

Then the program paid for twenty shops but added fifteen. Divide the total cost by the shops that wouldn't have come otherwise. That's the honest price of a referral shop.

Alex Tutor

\text{cost per extra customer} = \frac{\text{referrals} \times \text{reward per referral}}{\text{referrals} - \text{customers who would have come anyway}}

Every referral is paid for, but only the customers who wouldn't have come without the program are really won by it.

Alex Tutor

Question 4

From February to May, 20 shops signed up through referral links, and each referral cost 1,350 UAH in free months. 5 of them would have signed up anyway. What is the cost per shop the program really added, in UAH?

Your answer

Units: UAH

Oscar

The Telegram channel for shop owners has about 900 subscribers now. I post almost nothing about GarageDesk.

Alex Tutor

That's why it works. Seasonal checklists, how to price a winter service, an owner telling how he keeps his regulars. People stay for the help, and they remember who brought it.

Nina

And the meetup in April at the warehouse of the distributor I used to work for: forty owners, and nobody pitched anything.

Alex Tutor

Owners met each other there, not just you. That's the difference between a community and an audience: people talk to each other, and you help them do it.

Alex Tutor

Question 5

Which practices help GarageDesk's Telegram channel grow trust among shop owners? Choose all that apply.

Choose all that applyPractical seasonal checklists for shopsStories from owners about how they keep regularsA GarageDesk discount code in every postAnswering owners' questions even when GarageDesk isn't the answerDeleting critical comments about GarageDesk

You

How do they tell existing shops about the referral links without sounding pushy?

Alex Tutor

Frame it as helping a friend in the trade, say plainly what both sides get, and make it easy to act. Want to write it?

Oscar

Go on. It'll go to every shop in Viber.

Alex Tutor

Question 6Short answer · AI-checked task

Write the Viber message (3–5 sentences) that announces GarageDesk's referral program to existing shops.

Write your answer and get a score with feedback from our AI reviewer.

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Alex Tutor

Next time, back to March: 120 shops ask questions, and Oscar answers them all. That can't last.

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

Next lesson: Support that doesn't eat the week