ReferralKit Platform Help

Step 1 — Gather context

If references/learnings.md exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

1. What are you trying to do?
   - A) Decide between the Free 10K-lead tier and Premium tiers
   - B) Set up a milestone-based referral program (rewards at 3 / 10 / 25 referrals)
   - C) Integrate with your ESP (Mailchimp, ConvertKit/Kit, MailerLite, AWeber)
   - D) Workaround for a not-yet-supported ESP (Drip, Ghost, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign)
   - E) Compare ReferralKit to SparkLoop, ReferralHero, Viral Loops, or GrowSurf
   - F) Debug referral counts or unique-link merge tags not rendering in email
   - G) Pipe referral data into a CRM despite no API

2. What's your current ESP? (Drives whether ReferralKit's native integration applies or you need a workaround.)

3. What's your subscriber count and program goal? (Drives tier choice and reward tier design.)

Skip-ahead rule: if the user's prompt already contains enough context, skip to Step 2.

Step 2 — Route or answer directly

If the question is ReferralKit-specific, continue to Step 3.

Step 3 — ReferralKit platform reference

Read references/platform-guide.md for the full platform reference — feature gating, ESP integration flow, milestone reward design, comparison with alternatives, and CRM-without-API patterns.

Answer the user's question using only the relevant section. Don't dump the full reference.

Step 4 — Actionable guidance

Focus on the user's specific situation:

• Under 10K subscribers: ReferralKit's free tier covers you completely. No reason to pay for SparkLoop ($99/mo) or GrowSurf until you scale past the free allowance.
• Native ESP user (Mailchimp, Kit, MailerLite, AWeber): ReferralKit's strength is direct merge-tag insertion of the unique referral link into your existing email — no separate landing pages, no JavaScript widget. If your ESP is one of these four, set up takes minutes.
• Non-native ESP (Drip, Ghost, Campaign Monitor, ActiveCampaign): ReferralKit lists these as "planned." Until live, your workaround is to copy a generic referral URL with manual UTM tagging, or switch to a tool with broader ESP support (SparkLoop covers 25+ ESPs).
• Wrong domain: If you fetched referralkit.io and got connection refused, the live site is referralkit.co. The .io domain is dead — don't bookmark it.
• No API: ReferralKit has no public API, no webhooks, no Zapier. If you need referral data in your CRM, export from the dashboard manually and import to HubSpot/Salesforce, or pull tagged subscribers from your ESP downstream.

If you discover a gotcha, workaround, or tip not covered in references/learnings.md, append it there.

Gotchas

> Best-effort from research — review these, especially items about plan-gated features and integration gotchas that may be outdated.

1. Wrong domain everywhere. The platform is referralkit.co — .io returns ECONNREFUSED and may be a stale or squatted variant. Always paste the .co URL.
2. No public API, no webhooks, no Zapier/Make/MCP. Confirmed via WebSearch — no developer documentation. Pipe referral data via manual CSV export or via your ESP's subscriber-level integrations.
3. Pricing model uncertainty. Homepage shows "100% free for your first 10,000 leads" but /pricing returns 404 and older third-party sources mention "$19/mo for 3K subs." The pricing model appears to have changed; verify current tiers with ReferralKit support before quoting numbers to stakeholders.
4. Only 4 ESP integrations are live. Mailchimp, ConvertKit/Kit, MailerLite, AWeber. Drip, Ghost, Campaign Monitor, and ActiveCampaign are listed as "planned" — don't assume they work.
5. Merge-tag-driven, not landing-page-driven. ReferralKit injects unique referral links via ESP merge tags. If your ESP strips merge tags in certain campaign types (broadcasts vs sequences), the links won't render. Test in a sample audience before launching.
6. Built by Copyhackers — strong copywriting credibility but a small product team. Feature velocity is steady but support response time may be slower than enterprise SLAs.
7. Morning Brew / The Hustle case studies are marketing examples, not feature parity. Those programs used custom-built referral systems; ReferralKit gives you the same mechanics in no-code form but won't match the bespoke polish.

Related skills

• /sales-audience-growth — Newsletter audience growth strategy (referrals, cross-promotion, lead magnets across all platforms)
• /sales-newsletter — Newsletter monetization (paid subs, sponsorships, ad networks)
• /sales-sparkloop — SparkLoop (paid recommendations + free recommendations + partner network, 25+ ESPs)
• /sales-lettergrowth — Lettergrowth (free newsletter cross-promotion directory)
• /sales-collabmatch — Collab Match (niche Web3/tech cross-promo)
• /sales-inboxreads — InboxReads (5,600+ newsletter directory + Opportunities Board)
• /sales-mutualgro — MutualGro (creator collaboration with AI matching + scheduled posting)
• /sales-refind — Refind (CPA newsletter ads + cross-promo)
• /sales-kit — Kit (formerly ConvertKit) platform help — primary ESP integration target for ReferralKit
• /sales-mailchimp — Mailchimp platform help
• /sales-mailerlite — MailerLite platform help
• /sales-do — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code

Examples

Example 1: Free tier vs SparkLoop decision

User says: "I have a 5,000-subscriber newsletter on Mailchimp. Should I use ReferralKit's free tier or pay for SparkLoop?"
Skill does: Recommends starting with ReferralKit Free — first 10,000 leads are covered, Mailchimp is natively supported, and the merge-tag flow gets a referral program live without leaving the ESP. SparkLoop's $99/mo only pays off if you want paid recommendations revenue or the partner network — not pure referrals. Suggests upgrading to SparkLoop only after hitting the 10K free cap or wanting monetization beyond list growth.
Result: User launches ReferralKit free, validates the referral mechanic, considers SparkLoop only when they need post-opt-in monetization.

Example 2: ESP not natively supported

User says: "I'm on Ghost. Can I use ReferralKit?"
Skill does: Notes Ghost is listed as a "planned" integration but isn't live yet. Suggests two workarounds: (1) use ReferralKit's generic referral URL with manual UTM tags and embed the link in Ghost newsletter sends via Markdown, accepting that ESP-side merge-tag automation won't work; or (2) switch to a tool that natively supports Ghost — SparkLoop does. Recommends checking ReferralKit's roadmap for Ghost timing before committing.
Result: User chooses SparkLoop for Ghost-native support, or accepts the manual-link workaround if Free tier is critical.

Example 3: Pulling referral data into a CRM without an API

User says: "How do I get ReferralKit referral counts into HubSpot for sales segmentation?"
Skill does: Confirms ReferralKit has no API, no webhooks, no Zapier. Workarounds: (1) export referral data from the ReferralKit dashboard manually (weekly batch CSV → HubSpot import), or (2) tag subscribers in your ESP as "referred" at signup using ESP-side automations, then sync ESP → HubSpot via the ESP's existing CRM integration. Caveat: ESP tagging conveys referred-status only — the numeric referral count lives in ReferralKit, so if HubSpot needs the count, carry it via the CSV export or write it into an ESP merge field and sync that. Notes ReferralKit's roadmap doesn't mention API plans publicly.
Result: User builds a manual weekly CSV export → HubSpot upsert flow.

Troubleshooting

Unique referral link not rendering in email

Symptom: Merge tag for the referral link shows as plain text or empty in the sent email
Cause: ESP merge-tag context mismatch — ReferralKit's merge tags require the subscriber-level context, which some broadcast templates strip
Solution: Use ReferralKit's merge tags in subscriber-targeted sends (sequences, automations) — not in unsegmented broadcasts where the subscriber context isn't bound. Test with a small audience first. If still failing, ensure the ReferralKit integration is connected to the correct ESP account and audience.

Free tier counting feels off

Symptom: Approaching the 10K free-lead cap but unsure what counts
Cause: Pricing terminology has changed between historical content ("subscribers") and current homepage ("leads") — definitions may differ
Solution: Contact ReferralKit support to confirm what counts toward the 10K cap (signups? referrals? both?). Don't trust third-party sources for current pricing — verify directly. Plan tier upgrades with a 20% headroom buffer.

Domain confusion — referralkit.io vs referralkit.co

Symptom: Bookmarks, old guides, or AI search results point to referralkit.io which returns connection refused
Cause: The live platform is referralkit.co. The .io domain appears stale or unrelated.
Solution: Always use referralkit.co. Update any internal docs/bookmarks. The previous skill backlog entry had .io and was wrong — corrected in this skill.

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