---
title: "Referral Program: Getting set up, sharing, and monitoring"
updated: 2025-10-31
---

# Referral Program: Getting set up, sharing, and monitoring

> Available on **paid beehiiv** plans.

The beehiiv Referral Program is an organic way for you to continuously market to engaged audiences by offering rewards to your subscribers as incentives for referring your newsletter to others. The best part is, once you set it up, it’s fully automated and all you have to do is review the results and fulfill the rewards. 

Before diving in, please review this quick glossary of terms:

-   **Referrals** are any subscribers who sign up to your newsletter from a subscriber referral link associated with your publication.
-   **Milestones** are represented by the number of referrals needed to unlock the reward for that milestone.
-   **Rewards** are the gifts received by your subscribers for meeting each milestone.

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## Watch and learn: How to create a Referral Program in beehiiv

This video covers getting started with your Referral Program including, adding your rewards and setting their milestones, creating a milestone email, selecting the look of your referral card, and adding your referral block to a post. These directions are also written out below. 

[Embedded video](//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NiptW-APWgg)

> **Disclaimer**
>
> The beehiiv platform has evolved since the filming of this video so parts of the user interface featured in the video will be slightly different than what you see in your account.

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## How to set up your Referral Program 

When initially setting up your Referral Program, you’ll need to create the rewards and then set the milestones for those rewards (both are done using the **\+ New Referral** button). Once your Referral Program is active, you can monitor it easily from your dashboard, as explained in the next section.

1.  From the left panel dashboard, go to **Grow > Referral** **Program**. Click on the **\+ New Referral** button found in the top right corner.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250645761047)
2.  You'll be taken to a new rewards form, divided into three steps with a summary displayed on the right. Step 1 will be open and ready for you to complete.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250688356247)  
    **In Step 1: Set Up Reward, you’ll be able to:**

-   Enter the **Reward Name** (required). 
-   Select the **Reward Type** from the dropdown menu (required).
    -   **Physical**: Ideal for sending tangible items like merchandise (e.g., t-shirts). We’ve partnered with Slingshot to help you dropship products directly to readers without managing inventory.
    -   **Promo Code**: Best used for offering discounts or trial codes for redemption.
    -   **Digital**: Great for delivering files, URLs, or access to digital products like virtual courses, eBooks, or PDFs.
    -   **Paid Subscription Gift**: If you have [Paid Subscription Offers enabled](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/20533265842967), you can use this option to add a subscription as a reward.
-   Under **Number of Referrals Needed for Milestone** (required), specify how many referrals are needed to unlock this reward.
-   Add a **Description** (required) to give subscribers a clear understanding of the reward.
-   Include a **Disclaimer** (optional) if needed.
-   Add a **Prefixed Article** (optional) to describe and differentiate your reward. This will be reflected in a live preview to show how it might appear. Any text entered in the **Prefixed Article** field will be previewed in real-time below.
-   Add an **Image** for the reward. (Optional) 

3.  Once you’ve entered all the required information, the **Continue** button will become active, changing from gray to black. Take a moment to review your selections, then click **Continue** to proceed.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250645766551)
4.  In **Step 2: Set Up Milestone Email**, you’ll create the email that will be sent to subscribers who reach the specific milestone. The process is similar to creating any other post in beehiiv.  
      
    Start by adding a **Subject Line** (required) and any **Preview Text** (optional). In the **Content** area (required), begin typing or use the **/** command to access the post editor tools you're already familiar with.  
     
5.  You may also want to toggle on the **Send Email After Review** option located above the Subject Line. Activating this option allows you to manually review each referral as they come in. If left off, the email will automatically be sent as soon as a subscriber reaches the milestone.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250645768599)
6.  After drafting your Milestone Email, use the **Preview** option to see how the email will appear to your subscribers. Once you're satisfied with the content and design, click **Continue** to proceed to the next step.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250645776791)
7.  In **Step 3: Additional Settings**, you have the option to **Auto Fulfill** achievements by toggling the setting on or off. This feature is helpful when your Milestone Email includes the actual reward, as it ensures accurate tracking and fulfillment.  
      
    Once you've made your selections, click the **Save** button to complete the setup, and you'll be returned to the **Referral Program** overview page.  
      
    ![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/27250688373783)

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## Monitoring your Referral Program

After you have created some rewards and milestones, the Referral Program dashboard is where you can monitor the progress of everything.

Up top, you’ll see three boxes with your current stats for **Subscribers with referrals, Total readers referred**, and **Referrals per subscriber**.

![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/23876462807063)

Below the stats on your **Referral Program** dashboard, you’ll see three tabs: **Overview**, **Fulfillment**, and **Configuration**. Click on each tab for more details about what they offer.

**Overview Tab**

Below your current stats, on the **Overview** tab you’ll see a list of all of the rewards that have been added. Each reward also shows whether it gets auto fulfilled, what type of reward it is, and its milestone number. 

Click on the **3 dots menu** for any of the rewards to reveal options for **Edit, Delete**, and **Manage Promo Codes**.  
  
![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/23876462808855)

**Fulfillment Tab**

The **Fulfillment** tab is where you can see all of your subscribers who have reached milestones and have redeemed their rewards.

You can search and sort through your rewards and milestones as well as click on **Download Referrals** to save a CSV file of the data to your device. 

Click on **Actions** for any of the listings to reveal options for **Manage Referrals, Mark as Ignored**, and **Mark as Pending**.  
  
![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/23876425428759)

**Configuration Tab**

The **Configuration** tab allows you to customize how the referral block appears in your posts.

Under **Referral Block Configuration**, the **Referral Program** toggle is enabled by default. You can disable it, but doing so will remove all Referral Program merge tags from availability in your posts. For more details, refer to this [article on using merge tags in your posts](https://www.beehiiv.com/support/article/25846316892055-how-to-personalize-a-post-using-merge-tags).

If the toggle is enabled, make sure to add an **Email Description** — this text appears at the top of the referral block within your posts.  
  
![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/31439925163543)

Under **Referral Template Shown in Post**, click the arrows to choose from a handful of templates, all of which will display your milestone rewards differently.

-   **Default:** Shows basic text, a sharing button, and their unique sharing link.  
-   **Upcoming Milestone Only:** Shows default content, and a preview of an upcoming milestone. 
-   **Reward Program Only:** Shows up to 3 upcoming rewards and their unique sharing link.  
-   **Upcoming Milestones and Reward Program:** Shows default content, the next milestone, and up to 3 upcoming rewards.

Above the template options, you can also add an **Email Description**, which will be displayed in the referral block within your posts.  
  
![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/23876425434775)

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## How to add your referral block to your post

Once you’ve set up your Referral Program and configured your referral block, you can easily add your referral block to any of your posts directly from the post editor.

From an open post, start to type **/Referral Program** to access the block in the editor and place it in your post accordingly. Then be sure to **Preview** your post to see your **Referral Program** block designed to your publication settings. 

Note that the information you see in the block and what each of your subscribers see will differ depending on how many referrals they have, but each will also include their unique referral link.

![](https://beehiivhelp.zendesk.com/hc/article_attachments/23876425437207)

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