Launch a Referral Program to Grow Your VTU Business

Your happiest customers already tell friends about you. A referral programme rewards them for it. On a VTU site built with our platform, it takes about a minute to switch on, and it works in a very specific way. This guide explains exactly what it does, what it does not do, and how to set a bonus you can afford.

How it works, step by step

1. Every customer gets a code automatically. When someone registers, the platform creates a unique 8-character referral code (letters and numbers) for them. There is nothing for you or them to set up.
2. The customer shares a link or the code. In the customer dashboard, the Referral tab (headed "Refer & Earn") shows their code and link. The link is your site's address followed by /?ref= and their code.
3. A friend registers. The sign-up form has an optional Referral Code field. If the friend arrives through the link, the field is already filled in. If they type a valid code, the new account is linked to the person who shared it. A code that does not exist is simply ignored.
4. The friend funds their wallet for the first time. This is the moment that counts. Registering earns nothing. As soon as the friend's first wallet funding completes, the referrer is credited the bonus in their wallet.
5. It happens once per friend. The platform marks the friend as having triggered their reward, so later fundings never pay the referrer again.

This applies to every funding route: card or gateway payments, dedicated account transfers, and manual bank transfers once you approve them. They all go through the same step, so the reward fires the same way.

Setting the bonus

Open VTU Admin, then Settings and find the Referral Bonus card. Enter a plain amount, for example 100. The platform accepts any number from 0 to 1,000,000. Leave it blank or enter 0 to switch referrals off.

The bonus is paid as wallet credit, not cash. It appears in the referrer's wallet history as "Referral bonus" with the friend's name, and it is added to the "referral earnings" total they see on their Referral tab. It is wallet credit, not a cash payout, so it costs you nothing until the referrer spends it.

What customers see

• Their own code and shareable link.
• The bonus amount they will earn per friend.
• How many friends have joined and how much they have earned in total.
• A list of the friends who signed up with their code (up to the latest 50), each marked as rewarded or not yet rewarded.

How to pick a bonus you can afford

The bonus comes straight out of your margin, so work backwards from what you earn per sale. Illustrative example: the numbers below are made up to show the arithmetic. Suppose your margin averages about ₦30 on every ₦1,000 of airtime or data sold, and you set the bonus at ₦100. A referred friend then needs to buy roughly ₦3,300 worth before you have earned the bonus back. If friends who join through referrals typically keep buying for months, that is a good trade. If most fund once and disappear, it is not.

A sensible approach is to start small, watch your results for a month or two, and raise the bonus only if it brings customers who keep buying. A bonus you can afford to pay a hundred times is better than a generous one you must switch off after ten.

What the platform does not do

Knowing the limits helps you avoid surprises.

• There is no minimum funding amount. The bonus is the same whether the friend funds a small amount or a large one.
• There is no check for fake accounts. Nothing stops one person from registering a second account with their own code and funding it. If you see a customer with many referred friends who each funded once with the smallest possible amount, look at the accounts before they cash in the credit. You can disable a customer from the admin dashboard, and our guide on managing customers and wallets covers the ledger checks.
• There is no limit on the number of referrals a customer can earn from.
• The bonus cannot be paid later. If a friend registers and funds before you have set a bonus, that friend is marked as having triggered their reward and will not trigger one later, even if you add a bonus afterwards. Set the amount before you start promoting.

Making it visible

A feature nobody sees is not a growth channel. A few things help:

• Put the bonus in your WhatsApp status and in your broadcast messages, and tell people exactly where to find their link: the Referral tab in their dashboard.
• Remind customers right after a successful purchase, when they are most satisfied.
• Show real examples ("Ada earned ₦1,000 last month") only with the customer's permission, and only if it is true.

Common questions

A friend funded but my customer was not paid. Check three things: the friend registered with the code (or through the link) and did not add it later, the bonus in Settings was above zero when the friend first funded, and the friend's first funding has actually completed rather than being a pending manual transfer awaiting your approval.

Can I change the bonus later? Yes, at any time. The new amount applies to rewards that happen after the change.

Can I turn it off? Yes. Blank or 0 switches it off. Friends who join while it is off are marked as having triggered their reward when they first fund, so they will not trigger one if you turn it back on.

Keep reading

Referrals work best next to a wider plan. Read how to get your first 100 customers for the other channels, and how to price your data plans so the bonus fits inside your margin.