Cited by 267Digital Marketing and Social MediaCustomer Service Quality and LoyaltyConsumer Market Behavior and Pricing

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A Penny for Your Thoughts: Referral Reward Programs and Referral Likelihood

Ryu, Gangseog, Feick, Lawrence·2007·Journal of Marketing

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Abstract

Because referral reward programs reward existing customers and build the customer base, firms use them to encourage customers to make recommendations to others. The authors report on four experiments in which they find that rewards increase referral likelihood. More specifically, they find that rewards are particularly effective in increasing referral to weak ties and for weaker brands. It is also important who receives the reward. Overall, for weak ties and weaker brands, giving a reward to the provider of the recommendation is important. For strong ties and stronger brands, providing at least some of the reward to the receiver of the referral seems to be more effective. The authors discuss the implications of the results for the design of reward programs.

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Free and paid word-of-mouth from physical to digital, AI and beyond
Pauwels, K. H., & Aksehirli, Z. (2026) · Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science · doi:10.1007/s11747-026-01151-7 · Cited by 7
Exploring the Moderating Effects of Incidental Emotions on Rewards for Encouraging Hotel Guests’ Towel Reuse Behavior
Wong, P., & Wan, C. (2024) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/00139165241298063 · Cited by 5
“Previous studies have investigated the role of rewards in motivating customer behaviors that often focus on customer loyalty (Nastasoiu & Vandenbosch, 2019), and referrals (Ryu & Feick, 2007) and reviews on products/services (Q. Wang et al., 2018).”
The role of risk preference in referral reward programs
Wang, T., Song, C., & Hu, M. Y. (2024) · The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice · doi:10.1080/10696679.2023.2291709 · Cited by 3
“The only reward scheme we investigated centered on referrers, but potential fairness concerns can be resolved if the reward gets split between a referrer and the recipient (Ryu & Feick, 2007).”
The Impact of Domestic Companies’ CSR Targets on Consumer Post-Purchase Responses: The Moderating Effects of Brand Reputation
Park, K. (2024) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/21582440241302872 · Cited by 4
“Brand reputation was measured on a scale of ‘‘low quality/low reputation (1)’’ to ‘‘high quality/high reputation (7)’’ (Cronbach’s a = .75; Ryu & Feick, 2007).”
Customer Engagement as an Approach to De-Commoditisation
Nauen, A., & Enke, M. (2022) · Management for professionals · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-90657-3_13 · Cited by 5
Impact of Message Design on Online Interactions
Sun, T., Viswanathan, S., & Zheleva, E. (2014) · doi:10.1145/2617848.2617858 · Cited by 3
“…a few prior studies have highlighted the importance of pre- versus post-purchase context (for instance see, Jing and Xie, 2011), as well as the nuances of referral rewards in stimulating referrals (for instance, see Ryu and Feick, 2007; Biyalogorsky et al 2001), our focus is markedly different.”
Background
Impact of altruism preference difference on the optimal reward structure in online referral marketing
Jiang, F., Zhu, S., & Zhang, Y. (2023) · Managerial and Decision Economics · doi:10.1002/mde.3987 · Cited by 5
Rating with Confidence: How Rating Scales Affect Future WOM BehaviorPreprint
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Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., Roldán, J. L., & Cepeda, G. (2015) · University of Twente Research Information · doi:10.3990/2.319 · Cited by 3
Effects of Social Connectedness on the Sharing of Employee-Created Content
Zhang, X., & Chen, M. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.782304 · Cited by 2
“In practice, many firms offer promotional content to promote consumer engagement and sales (Ryu and Feick, 2007).”
BackgroundInfluential
The effect of power states on negative word‐of‐mouth sharing: The role of interpersonal closeness
Jin, F., Zeng, Z., & Liao, J. (2024) · Psychology and Marketing · doi:10.1002/mar.22134 · Cited by 3
Understanding the Effectiveness of Rewarding Recipients on Online Referral Behavior
Dimoka, A., Hou, J., Li, X., & Pavlou, P. A. (2025) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2024/17039 · Cited by 2
The influence of reward qualifying conditions on participation in online referral programs
Zhang, J., Lu, Q., Zhang, L., & Harness, D. (2025) · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2025.104689 · Cited by 2
Retail Customer Engagement
Tartaglione, A. M., & Granata, G. (2019) · Advances in marketing, customer relationship management, and e-services book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7856-7.ch001 · Cited by 2
Determinants of word-of-mouth communication and purchase intention of trade offices in kish Island (Case of Mica Mall)
Mobasserian, A., & Jafari, A. (2016) · New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences · doi:10.18844/prosoc.v2i2.416 · Cited by 2
Different receiver responses to rewarded referrals: The moderating effect of styles of thinking
Yu, Z., Zeng, H., & Hao, L. (2023) · Managerial and Decision Economics · doi:10.1002/mde.3949 · Cited by 2
The effect of referral tasks on customers’ referral likelihood on social platforms
Ma, S., Xie, Q., Wang, J., & Jingjing, D. (2024) · Nankai Business Review International · doi:10.1108/nbri-03-2023-0027 · Cited by 2
Be Social! The Impact of Online Referral Program on Referrer Purchase Behavior
Liu, X., Ge, C., Shen, Y., & Jiang, J. (2024) · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management · doi:10.1109/tem.2024.3374422 · Cited by 2
From a Penny to Self-Disgust: How Cashback Rewards for Favorable Comments and Relationship Norms Affect Consumers’ Post-Purchase Behavioral Intentions
Guo, Q. (2024) · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research · doi:10.3390/jtaer19020056 · Cited by 5
Sender in focus: Impact of tie-strength of the service provider-sender and sender-receiver on word of mouth
Bhatnagar, S. B., & Chakraborty, D. (2025) · Journal of Marketing Communications · doi:10.1080/13527266.2025.2462257 · Cited by 2
Do social media fans walk their talk? The impact of advocacy and criticism on own purchasing
Weiger, W. H., Moe, W. W., Wetzel, H. A., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2025) · International Journal of Research in Marketing · doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2025.04.003 · Cited by 4

Authors: Ryu, G., & Feick, L.
Affiliations: Korea University (KR)
University of Pittsburgh (US)
Corresponding author: Ryu, Gangseog
Feick, Lawrence
Venue: Journal of Marketing
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2007-01
Volume: 71
Issue: 1
Pages: 84-94
ISSN: 0022-2429 (ISSN-L)
1547-7185
DOI: 10.1509/jmkg.71.1.084
OpenAlex: W4253164461
Cited by: 257
References: 42
Citations by year: 2026: 9 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 2
FWCI: 7.88
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations: Journal of Marketing (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Digital Marketing and Social Media
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing
Keywords: referral reward programs, word-of-mouth recommendation, weak ties, brand strength, reward allocation, referral rewards, customer referral programs

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A Penny for Your Thoughts: Referral Reward Programs and Referral Likelihood

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