A Free Referral Rewards Program for Races That Turns Participants Into Ambassadors

Word of mouth marketing that runs itself

Personalized Referral Links
Automated Referral Tracking
Refund or Swag Rewards
Real-Time Referral Reporting

Create Your Race How To: Referral Rewards

Why Races Use Referral Rewards

A recommendation from a friend is the most trusted marketing there is, and referral rewards put it to work for your race automatically.

Participants Become Race Ambassadors

Every registrant gets a personal link to share, turning your field into promoters.

Reach New Runners Through Participant Networks

Most referred registrants are new to your race, so every share reaches a new audience.

Grow Without Increasing Ad Spend

Rewards only go out after a referral threshold is hit, so you pay for results.

Build Loyalty and Repeat Registrations

Participants who recruit friends are more invested in race day and likelier to return.

Key Features for Referral Rewards

Personalized Referral Links

Unique link for every registrant
Delivered on the confirmation page and email
Referral pop-up prompts sharing right after registration

Referral Rewards Program for Races

More Ways to Motivate Registrations

Go beyond the basics with referral add-ons and pricing incentives that encourage participants to sign up and bring friends.

How it Works: Setting Up Referral Rewards

Set it up once, and RunSignup handles the tracking and rewards for you.

Step 1: Set Your Threshold and Reward

Choose how many referrals earn a reward and whether it’s a refund or swag.

Step 2: Participants Get a Unique Link

Every registrant receives a personal link on their confirmation page and email.

Step 3: Participants Share Your Race

Runners send their link to friends, family, and social media followers.

Step 4: RunSignup Tracks Every Referral

Registrations through each link are counted automatically, with no spreadsheets.

Step 5: Rewards Go Out Automatically

Refunds issue and swag prompts send as soon as a participant hits the threshold.

Referral Rewards Results by the Numbers

A review of 100 races using referral rewards shows how much word-of-mouth adds to registration totals.

8.1%

Of registrations from referrals

4.5%

Of registrants make a referral

$1.38

Average cost per acquisition

Resources to Build Your Referral Rewards Program

Videos, how-to guides, and related tools to help you set up and promote your program.

How-To: Set Up Tracking

Set Up Tracking

How-To: Set Up Refunds

How-To: Manage Codes

Manage Referral Codes

Start Your Race Referral Program

Turn your participants into promoters with a free, automated referral program.

Create Your Race Schedule a Call

FAQ: All About Referral Rewards

What types of events use a referral rewards program?

Any event on RunSignup can run a referral rewards program, including 5Ks, turkey trots, marathons, trail and ultra races, triathlons, and virtual races. Referral programs work especially well for events with an active community or a higher entry fee, since participants have more reason to share. Nonprofit ticket events on TicketSignup can use referral refunds too.

Do referral rewards programs actually work for races?

Yes. In a review of 100 races using referral rewards, 8.1% of registrations came from referrals. Those races collected $2.4 million in registrations while paying out $59,662 in refunds. Most referred participants are new to the race, and races that actively promote their program can see up to 20% of registrations come from referrals.

How much should a race referral reward be?

The default setup on RunSignup is a $20 refund for 5 referrals, which consistently returns 5% to 10% of registrations from referrals at a low cost. In general, rewards of $15 or more with a threshold of 3 to 5 referrals work best. Higher-priced events can offer larger refunds to drive more sharing, and races that want to keep costs low can start with a smaller reward and a higher threshold.

What’s the difference between a coupon code and a referral link?

A coupon code gives a discount to the person registering and works best for controlled, one-time offers. A referral link tracks each registration back to the participant who shared it and rewards that participant once they reach your threshold. Coupons lower the price of entry, while referral links turn participants into ongoing promoters.

How do participants find and share their referral link?

Every registrant gets a unique referral link on their confirmation page and in their confirmation email, along with a sharing prompt right after registration. Participants can also find their referral links and see who has signed up through them in their RunSignup profile. You can add each participant’s link to automated follow-up emails with a replacement tag so they’re reminded to share.

Does it cost anything to run a referral rewards program on RunSignup?

No. Referral Rewards is a free, built-in RunSignup tool. The only cost is the refunds or swag you choose to offer, and those only go out after a participant reaches your referral threshold. When referral refunds are enabled, RunSignup holds a refund reserve in your race account to cover payouts

The Lastest Blogs on Referrals

June 8, 2026

Race Registration Discounts: When to Use a Coupon Code vs. a Referral Link

If you’ve ever wanted to offer a race registration discount or incentivize word-of-mouth sign-ups for your race, you’ve probably run into two options in RunSignup: coupon codes and referral links. They might seem interchangeable at first, but they serve different purposes —…

June 2, 2026

What Referral Program Works Best?

We know referral programs work. But, if you’re investing time and money into a referral program, it makes sense that you’ll want to maximize the results. But the truth is, there isn’t really a one-size fits all referral program that works best…

June 2, 2026

Do Referral Rewards Programs Work?

We first released automated referral rewards in 2016. A decade later, it’s still consistently one of the best ways a race can boost registrations and reach new runners. Because of that, we incorporate referral rewards into our setup recommendations. However, not all…

October 6, 2025

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July 8, 2024

Reaching New Runners Through Referral Rewards

Referral rewards have been a favorite marketing tool for RunSignup customers since their introduction in 2016. Referrals work like this: How Well do Referral Rewards Work? We know referral rewards work: we’ve seen individual races get as much as 20% of their…

June 12, 2023

Referral Rewards to Increase Registrations

Referral reward programs empower participants to become the ambassadors for your race and allow you to reach a broader audience with minimal investment. RunSignup offers events an easy way to set up and run an referral effective program to help bring in more registrations. Below provides guidance on how to set up a successful program using the free tools within your race dashboard.

June 27, 2022

Increase Registrations with Pricing and Referrals

Events across the country are looking for ways to help increase registrations in the midst of an uncertain economy and lingering effects of pandemic challenges. One of the most effective ways to help increase registrations is through pricing strategies and offering rewards…

May 2, 2020

Virtual Race Referral Rewards

As you go to open up your virtual race – whether it is a brand new idea, or a virtual version of your traditional race or fundraiser – you will need to learn some new things. We give you a ton of…

June 26, 2018

Swag Rewards!

We released a new Swag Rewards capability, allowing race directors to give participants swag for reaching specific milestones. In V 1.0, race directors can choose to issue swag to participants once they refer a specified number of participants to register for their…

June 21, 2018

Referral Names in Participant Profiles

We have added a way for referrers to view the names of their referrals through their RunSignup profile. Registrants/Referrers can view this information by going to their PROFILE and selecting the MY REFERRALS tab: From there, the referrer will be able to…

May 4, 2018

Passing Referral Codes to MailChimp

RunSignup Referral Rewards Program is one of the best ways to increase viral participation. You can reward participants to promote your race by offering them partial or full refunds when they get X number of their friends to sign up for your…

February 3, 2017

The Mighty Mud Dash Encourages Referrals

Referrals can be one of the single most powerful marketing tools for your race, making up 7-13% of total registrations for races with referral rewards activate. To maximize the program, your runners have to: The Mighty Mud Dash in Texas (www.mightymuddash.com) is…