@caoscompanybr/merlin 3.5.0

package/.merlin-core/skills/domain/marketing-ops/references/expand/referrals.md

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+---
+source: coreyhaines31/marketingskills (MIT) v2.0.1
+imported: 2026-05-20
+stage: expand
+upstream_path: skills/referrals/SKILL.md
+---
+
+> **Adjacency:** This skill is part of the [`marketing-ops`](../../SKILL.md) umbrella, organized by funnel stage (expand). For Brazilian direct-response methodology (3-Document Protocol, Schwartz awareness levels, Anti-AI Copy Detection, ROAS viability, WhatsApp formats), see [`digital-marketing/SKILL.md`](../../../digital-marketing/SKILL.md). For page-level SaaS copy, see [`general/copywriting/SKILL.md`](../../../../general/copywriting/SKILL.md). For email delivery use [`general/resend-email`](../../../../general/resend-email/SKILL.md), for visuals [`general/image-gen`](../../../../general/image-gen/SKILL.md), for decks [`general/blkskrn`](../../../../general/blkskrn/SKILL.md).
+
+---
+
+# Referral & Affiliate Programs
+
+You are an expert in viral growth and referral marketing. Your goal is to help design and optimize programs that turn customers into growth engines.
+
+## Before Starting
+
+**Check for product marketing context first:**
+If `.agents/product-marketing.md` exists (or `.claude/product-marketing.md`, or the legacy `product-marketing-context.md` filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
+
+Gather this context (ask if not provided):
+
+### 1. Program Type
+
+- Customer referral program, affiliate program, or both?
+- B2B or B2C?
+- What's the average customer LTV?
+- What's your current CAC from other channels?
+
+### 2. Current State
+
+- Existing referral/affiliate program?
+- Current referral rate (% who refer)?
+- What incentives have you tried?
+
+### 3. Product Fit
+
+- Is your product shareable?
+- Does it have network effects?
+- Do customers naturally talk about it?
+
+### 4. Resources
+
+- Tools/platforms you use or consider?
+- Budget for referral incentives?
+
+---
+
+## Referral vs. Affiliate
+
+### Customer Referral Programs
+
+**Best for:**
+
+- Existing customers recommending to their network
+- Products with natural word-of-mouth
+- Lower-ticket or self-serve products
+
+**Characteristics:**
+
+- Referrer is an existing customer
+- One-time or limited rewards
+- Higher trust, lower volume
+
+### Affiliate Programs
+
+**Best for:**
+
+- Reaching audiences you don't have access to
+- Content creators, influencers, bloggers
+- Higher-ticket products that justify commissions
+
+**Characteristics:**
+
+- Affiliates may not be customers
+- Ongoing commission relationship
+- Higher volume, variable trust
+
+---
+
+## Referral Program Design
+
+### The Referral Loop
+
+```
+Trigger Moment → Share Action → Convert Referred → Reward → (Loop)
+```
+
+### Step 1: Identify Trigger Moments
+
+**High-intent moments:**
+
+- Right after first "aha" moment
+- After achieving a milestone
+- After exceptional support
+- After renewing or upgrading
+
+### Step 2: Design Share Mechanism
+
+**Ranked by effectiveness:**
+
+1. In-product sharing (highest conversion)
+2. Personalized link
+3. Email invitation
+4. Social sharing
+5. Referral code (works offline)
+
+### Step 3: Choose Incentive Structure
+
+**Single-sided rewards** (referrer only): Simpler, works for high-value products
+
+**Double-sided rewards** (both parties): Higher conversion, win-win framing
+
+**Tiered rewards**: Gamifies referral process, increases engagement
+
+**For examples and incentive sizing**: See [references/program-examples.md](references/program-examples.md)
+
+---
+
+## Program Optimization
+
+### Improving Referral Rate
+
+**If few customers are referring:**
+
+- Ask at better moments
+- Simplify sharing process
+- Test different incentive types
+- Make referral prominent in product
+
+**If referrals aren't converting:**
+
+- Improve landing experience for referred users
+- Strengthen incentive for new users
+- Ensure referrer's endorsement is visible
+
+### A/B Tests to Run
+
+**Incentive tests:** Amount, type, single vs. double-sided, timing
+
+**Messaging tests:** Program description, CTA copy, landing page copy
+
+**Placement tests:** Where and when the referral prompt appears
+
+### Common Problems & Fixes
+
+| Problem            | Fix                               |
+| ------------------ | --------------------------------- |
+| Low awareness      | Add prominent in-app prompts      |
+| Low share rate     | Simplify to one click             |
+| Low conversion     | Optimize referred user experience |
+| Fraud/abuse        | Add verification, limits          |
+| One-time referrers | Add tiered/gamified rewards       |
+
+---
+
+## Measuring Success
+
+### Key Metrics
+
+**Program health:**
+
+- Active referrers (referred someone in last 30 days)
+- Referral conversion rate
+- Rewards earned/paid
+
+**Business impact:**
+
+- % of new customers from referrals
+- CAC via referral vs. other channels
+- LTV of referred customers
+- Referral program ROI
+
+### Typical Findings
+
+- Referred customers have 16-25% higher LTV
+- Referred customers have 18-37% lower churn
+- Referred customers refer others at 2-3x rate
+
+---
+
+## Launch Checklist
+
+### Before Launch
+
+- [ ] Define program goals and success metrics
+- [ ] Design incentive structure
+- [ ] Build or configure referral tool
+- [ ] Create referral landing page
+- [ ] Set up tracking and attribution
+- [ ] Define fraud prevention rules
+- [ ] Create terms and conditions
+- [ ] Test complete referral flow
+
+### Launch
+
+- [ ] Announce to existing customers
+- [ ] Add in-app referral prompts
+- [ ] Update website with program details
+- [ ] Brief support team
+
+### Post-Launch (First 30 Days)
+
+- [ ] Review conversion funnel
+- [ ] Identify top referrers
+- [ ] Gather feedback
+- [ ] Fix friction points
+- [ ] Send reminder emails to non-referrers
+
+---
+
+## Email Sequences
+
+### Referral Program Launch
+
+```
+Subject: You can now earn [reward] for sharing [Product]
+
+We just launched our referral program!
+
+Share [Product] with friends and earn [reward] for each signup.
+They get [their reward] too.
+
+[Unique referral link]
+
+1. Share your link
+2. Friend signs up
+3. You both get [reward]
+```
+
+### Referral Nurture Sequence
+
+- Day 7: Remind about referral program
+- Day 30: "Know anyone who'd benefit?"
+- Day 60: Success story + referral prompt
+- After milestone: "You achieved [X]—know others who'd want this?"
+
+---
+
+## Affiliate Programs
+
+**For detailed affiliate program design, commission structures, recruitment, and tools**: See [references/affiliate-programs.md](references/affiliate-programs.md)
+
+---
+
+## Task-Specific Questions
+
+1. What type of program (referral, affiliate, or both)?
+2. What's your customer LTV and current CAC?
+3. Existing program or starting from scratch?
+4. What tools/platforms are you considering?
+5. What's your budget for rewards/commissions?
+6. Is your product naturally shareable?
+
+---
+
+## Tool Integrations
+
+For implementation, see the [tools registry](../../tools/REGISTRY.md). Key tools for referral programs:
+
+| Tool             | Best For                                                     | Guide                                                       |
+| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
+| **Rewardful**    | Stripe-native affiliate programs                             | [rewardful.md](../../tools/integrations/rewardful.md)       |
+| **Tolt**         | SaaS affiliate programs                                      | [tolt.md](../../tools/integrations/tolt.md)                 |
+| **Mention Me**   | Enterprise referral programs                                 | [mention-me.md](../../tools/integrations/mention-me.md)     |
+| **Dub.co**       | Link tracking and attribution                                | [dub-co.md](../../tools/integrations/dub-co.md)             |
+| **Stripe**       | Payment processing (for commission tracking)                 | [stripe.md](../../tools/integrations/stripe.md)             |
+| **Introw**       | Channel partner programs with tiers, deal registration, QBRs | [introw.md](../../tools/integrations/introw.md)             |
+| **PartnerStack** | Enterprise partner and affiliate programs                    | [partnerstack.md](../../tools/integrations/partnerstack.md) |
+
+---
+
+## Related Skills
+
+- **launch**: For launching referral program effectively
+- **emails**: For referral nurture campaigns
+- **marketing-psychology**: For understanding referral motivation
+- **analytics**: For tracking referral attribution

package/.merlin-core/skills/domain/marketing-ops/references/foundation/customer-research/references/source-guides.md

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+# Customer Research — Source Guides
+
+> **Source:** `coreyhaines31/marketingskills` v2.0.1 (MIT) — `skills/customer-research/references/source-guides.md`
+> **Imported:** 2026-05-20 into Merlin marketing-ops umbrella
+
+Detailed, source-by-source playbooks for gathering customer intelligence from online watering holes.
+
+---
+
+## Reddit Research
+
+### Finding the Right Subreddits
+
+Start by identifying where your ICP spends time, not where your product is discussed.
+
+**Discovery methods:**
+
+- Search `site:reddit.com "[job title] tools"` or `site:reddit.com "[problem category] software"`
+- Use [subreddit search tools](https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/search) with problem-space keywords
+- Look at what subreddits show up in Google results when you search ICP problems
+- Check what subreddits competitors' customers mention in reviews
+
+**Common high-value subreddits by category:**
+
+- B2B SaaS: r/sales, r/marketing, r/entrepreneur, r/startups, r/smallbusiness
+- Dev tools: r/programming, r/devops, r/webdev, r/cscareerquestions
+- Analytics/data: r/analytics, r/dataengineering, r/BusinessIntelligence
+- Marketing: r/PPC, r/SEO, r/emailmarketing, r/content_marketing
+- HR/recruiting: r/recruiting, r/humanresources, r/jobs
+- Finance/ops: r/accounting, r/financialplanning, r/projectmanagement
+
+### Search Operators
+
+```
+site:reddit.com/r/[subreddit] "[keyword]"
+site:reddit.com "[problem]" "recommend" OR "suggestion" OR "alternative"
+site:reddit.com "[competitor name]" "vs" OR "alternative" OR "switched"
+```
+
+### What to Look For
+
+**High-signal post types:**
+
+- "What tools do you use for X?" → reveals alternatives and vocab
+- "Frustrated with [competitor], looking for alternatives" → reveals pain and switching triggers
+- "How do you handle X?" → reveals workflow and workarounds
+- "Is [your category] worth it?" → reveals objections and evaluation criteria
+- Complaint threads about competitors → reveals gaps you might fill
+
+**What to extract:**
+
+- The exact problem described in the post
+- Top-voted solutions (what do practitioners actually recommend?)
+- Complaints about existing solutions in comments
+- The language used — note specific words and phrases
+- Upvote patterns — consensus vs. controversy
+
+### Tools
+
+- Reddit's native search (limited but fast)
+- Google: `site:reddit.com [query]` (better results)
+- Pullpush.io — search archived Reddit posts (good for older threads)
+
+---
+
+## G2 and Review Site Mining
+
+### Your Own Product Reviews
+
+Read in this order for maximum signal:
+
+1. **3-star reviews** — these are the most honest. Customer liked it enough to stay but felt something was missing.
+2. **1-star reviews** — understand the failure modes. Separate product issues from support/onboarding issues.
+3. **5-star reviews** — extract the "what they love" language. These are your proof points.
+4. **4-star reviews** — often contain "the only thing I wish…" buried in praise.
+
+**What to extract:**
+
+- What they say they use it _for_ (the job to be done)
+- What they say is hardest or most frustrating
+- What they compare it to ("coming from [X]", "better than [Y]")
+- Industry and role signals in reviewer profiles
+
+### Competitor Reviews on G2
+
+The 4-star competitor reviews are gold — customers who like the product but still have complaints.
+
+**G2 structure to exploit:**
+
+- "What do you like best?" → their strengths (your battlecard intel)
+- "What do you dislike?" → their weaknesses (your opportunities)
+- "What problems are you solving?" → the job to be done
+
+**Capterra** has similar structure. **Trustpilot** skews B2C. **AppSumo** reviews are useful for SMB/prosumer SaaS.
+
+### Review Mining Template
+
+For each competitor's 4-star reviews, extract:
+
+| Category          | Notes                                                   |
+| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Job to be done    | Why do they use the product?                            |
+| Top praise        | What do they love (and might be hard for you to match)? |
+| Top complaint     | What frustrates them?                                   |
+| Switching context | Did they mention switching from something else?         |
+| Unmet need        | "I wish it could…" or "It would be better if…"          |
+
+---
+
+## Indie Hackers and Product Hunt
+
+### Indie Hackers
+
+Strong signal for founder/builder/SMB ICP.
+
+**Where to look:**
+
+- "Ask IH" posts: questions about problems your product solves
+- Milestone posts: when founders describe their stack, they reveal tool preferences and pain
+- Comment threads on product launches in your category
+
+**Search:** `site:indiehackers.com "[problem]"` or use IH's native search.
+
+### Product Hunt
+
+**Discussion tabs** on competing products are a research goldmine:
+
+- Questions asked = pre-sales concerns = objections
+- Comments = early adopter reactions = leading indicators of reception
+- "Alternatives to X" collections reveal the competitive landscape as users see it
+
+---
+
+## Hacker News
+
+Strong signal for technical/developer ICP. Skews toward builders and skeptics.
+
+**High-value searches:**
+
+- `site:news.ycombinator.com "[competitor or category]"`
+- HN "Ask HN: best tools for X" threads
+- "Show HN" posts for competitors — read the skeptical comments
+
+**What's different about HN:**
+
+- Users are more likely to critique underlying architecture and business model
+- Strong opinions about pricing models (especially anything subscription-based)
+- First principles objections you might not hear elsewhere
+
+---
+
+## LinkedIn Research
+
+### Posts and Comments
+
+Search for posts by practitioners describing their workflows:
+
+- "[Role] at [company size]" + problem keyword
+- "We used to [old way] but now we [new way]" stories
+- Posts asking for tool recommendations get comments from active buyers
+
+### Job Postings
+
+A job posting is a company's admission of a pain point.
+
+**What to look for:**
+
+- What tools are listed as "nice to have" vs. "required"? (reveals stack and adjacent tools)
+- What metrics and outcomes are mentioned in the role description?
+- What does the role spend most of its time doing? (reveals the job to be done)
+
+**Search:** `site:linkedin.com/jobs "[role title]" "[relevant tool or category]"`
+
+---
+
+## YouTube Comments
+
+### Finding High-Signal Videos
+
+- Tutorial videos for problems your product solves
+- "Best tools for X in [year]" roundup videos
+- Competitor product demos and walkthroughs
+
+**What to look for in comments:**
+
+- "Does this work for [specific use case]?" → edge cases and unmet needs
+- "I tried this but…" → failure points
+- "What about [competitor]?" → active evaluation
+- Timestamps with questions → confusion points in the workflow
+
+---
+
+## Twitter / X Research
+
+### Search Operators
+
+```
+"[competitor]" -filter:replies min_faves:10
+"[problem keyword]" "anyone know" OR "recommend" OR "alternative"
+"[category] is broken" OR "frustrated with [category]"
+```
+
+### What to Find
+
+- Real-time complaints about competitors
+- Practitioners discussing their stack
+- Influencers/thought leaders your ICP follows (useful for distribution)
+
+---
+
+## Blog Post and Forum Research
+
+### Comparison Content
+
+Google: `"[competitor 1] vs [competitor 2]"` or `"best [category] software [year]"`
+
+Read the comments on these posts — people who find comparison content are actively evaluating. Their comments are questions your sales process should answer.
+
+### Niche Communities
+
+- **Slack communities**: Many industries have public or semi-public Slack groups. Search "[industry] Slack community".
+- **Discord servers**: Growing for developer and creator communities.
+- **Facebook Groups**: Still strong for SMB, e-commerce, agency, and coach/consultant ICP.
+- **Circle/Mighty Networks communities**: Check if there are paid communities in your ICP's space.
+
+---
+
+## B2C and Consumer App Research
+
+B2C research requires different sources than B2B SaaS. Consumer buyers don't congregate on LinkedIn or G2 — they leave traces in app stores, social media, and communities built around the activity your product serves.
+
+### App Store Reviews (iOS App Store / Google Play)
+
+One of the richest unfiltered sources for mobile/consumer products.
+
+**Read in this order:**
+
+1. **1-2 star reviews** — failure modes, unmet expectations, frustration peaks
+2. **3-star reviews** — honest tradeoffs and "it's good but…" feedback
+3. **5-star reviews** — what they love in their own words (proof points and positioning)
+
+**What to extract:**
+
+- What job they hired the app to do ("I use this to…")
+- The moment it stopped working for them
+- What they compared it to or switched from
+- Emotional language — "I love how…", "I'm so frustrated that…"
+
+**Search tip:** Sort by "Most Recent" to get fresh signal, then "Most Critical" for pain themes.
+
+### Amazon Reviews (for physical products or software with Amazon presence)
+
+Same priority order as app stores: 3-star reviews first.
+
+**G2 analog for consumer SaaS**: Trustpilot, Sitejabber, and product-specific review aggregators.
+
+### Reddit Consumer Communities
+
+B2C Reddit is highly vertical — go to the hobby/lifestyle subreddit, not the general ones.
+
+**Examples by product type:**
+
+- Fitness apps: r/running, r/loseit, r/fitness, r/MyFitnessPal
+- Personal finance: r/personalfinance, r/financialindependence, r/ynab
+- Productivity/notes: r/productivity, r/Notion, r/ObsidianMD
+- Travel: r/travel, r/solotravel, r/digitalnomad
+- Parenting: r/Parenting, r/beyondthebump, r/daddit
+
+**Search pattern:** `site:reddit.com/r/[community] "[app name OR problem]"`
+
+### TikTok and Instagram Comments
+
+High-signal for consumer products with visual/lifestyle appeal.
+
+**How to find signal:**
+
+- Search TikTok for "[product name] review" or "is [product] worth it"
+- Watch the top 5-10 videos; read ALL comments — not just likes
+- On Instagram, check tagged posts from real users (not brand posts)
+
+**What to extract:**
+
+- Questions in comments = unmet needs or unclear positioning
+- "Does this work for…?" = jobs they want to hire it for
+- "I switched from X" comments = switching triggers
+- Complaints about price, missing features, or broken promises
+
+### YouTube Comments (Consumer)
+
+Same approach as B2B but different video types:
+
+- "X app honest review" or "X app after 6 months"
+- "Best [category] apps [year]" comparison videos
+- Unboxing or "setup" videos for hardware/physical products
+
+Comments on review videos are especially valuable — these are people actively in the consideration phase.
+
+### Consumer Community Platforms
+
+- **Facebook Groups**: Still dominant for many consumer verticals (parenting, fitness, local services, hobbies)
+- **Discord servers**: Growing for gaming, creator tools, productivity, crypto, lifestyle communities
+- **Nextdoor**: Useful for local service businesses
+- **Quora**: Long-form questions reveal decision anxiety and evaluation criteria
+
+---
+
+## SparkToro (Audience Intelligence)
+
+SparkToro is a behavioral audience research tool. Instead of mining individual posts and comments, it aggregates clickstream, search, and social data to show what your audience does at scale — what they read, watch, listen to, follow, and search for.
+
+### When to Use SparkToro vs. Manual Research
+
+- **SparkToro first** when you need to understand where your ICP spends time, what content they consume, and which influencers they follow — it answers these questions in seconds with aggregated data
+- **Manual research first** (Reddit, G2, communities) when you need raw language, exact quotes, emotional context, and the "why" behind behavior
+- **Best together**: Use SparkToro to identify which podcasts, subreddits, and websites matter, then go mine those sources manually for voice-of-customer language
+
+### Key Queries to Run
+
+**By competitor:**
+
+- "People who follow @competitor" — reveals shared audience affinities
+- "People who visit competitor.com" — shows what else they consume
+
+**By audience description:**
+
+- "People who frequently talk about [topic]" — finds audience behaviors
+- "People whose bio contains [job title]" — profiles a role-based segment
+
+**By your own audience:**
+
+- "People who visit yourdomain.com" — understand your actual audience
+- Compare against competitor audience profiles to find gaps
+
+### What to Extract
+
+| Data Type                | What It Tells You         | Use It For                                   |
+| ------------------------ | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
+| Top websites visited     | Where your audience reads | Content partnerships, guest posting targets  |
+| Top podcasts             | What they listen to       | Podcast guesting, sponsorship decisions      |
+| Top YouTube channels     | What they watch           | Video content strategy, ad placements        |
+| Top subreddits           | Where they discuss        | Community participation, Reddit ad targeting |
+| Search keywords          | What they Google          | SEO and content topic planning               |
+| AI prompt topics         | What they ask AI tools    | Emerging content opportunities               |
+| Social accounts followed | Who influences them       | Influencer partnerships, co-marketing        |
+| Demographics             | Who they are              | Persona building, ad targeting               |
+
+### Source Weighting
+
+SparkToro data is aggregated and anonymized — it shows patterns, not individual opinions. Treat it as:
+
+- **High confidence** for behavioral data (what they visit, follow, search for)
+- **Medium confidence** for demographic data (self-reported, may be incomplete)
+- **Not a substitute** for qualitative research (doesn't capture language, emotions, or the "why")
+
+### Limitations
+
+- Free tier: 5 reports/month, shallow results (top 5–10)
+- No public API — all research done through web interface
+- Skews English-language, US-centric
+- Shows what audiences do, not why — pair with qualitative sources
+
+---
+
+## Organizing Your Research
+
+Use a simple tagging system across all sources:
+
+| Tag            | Meaning                                 |
+| -------------- | --------------------------------------- |
+| `#pain`        | A problem or frustration                |
+| `#trigger`     | An event that prompted the search       |
+| `#outcome`     | What success looks like                 |
+| `#language`    | Exact phrases worth using in copy       |
+| `#alternative` | Another solution they considered or use |
+| `#objection`   | Reason to hesitate or not buy           |
+| `#competitor`  | Anything about a competing product      |
+
+Keep a running doc with columns: Source | Date | Quote | Tags | Notes
+
+After 20-30 entries, patterns will emerge. Look for quotes that appear in multiple unrelated sources — those are your highest-confidence insights.
+
+---
+
+## Source Reliability and Confidence Scoring
+
+Not all sources carry equal weight. Use this guide when assigning confidence labels.
+
+### Source Weighting
+
+| Source                           | Signal Strength | Bias to Note                                                |
+| -------------------------------- | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Customer interviews (unprompted) | Very high       | Small sample; selection bias toward engaged customers       |
+| Win/loss interviews              | High            | Recent memory only; rationalization common                  |
+| App store / G2 reviews           | High            | Skews toward strong opinions (love or hate)                 |
+| Reddit / community posts         | Medium-high     | Skews technical, skeptical, vocal minorities                |
+| Support tickets                  | Medium          | Skews toward problems; silent majority not represented      |
+| Survey (open-ended)              | Medium          | Primed by question framing                                  |
+| Survey (multiple choice)         | Low-medium      | Artifacts of the options you provided                       |
+| NPS verbatims                    | Medium          | Correlates with score; prompted by the survey moment        |
+| YouTube/TikTok comments          | Medium          | Skews toward engaged viewers; social performance            |
+| SparkToro audience data          | Medium-high     | Aggregated behavioral data; strong for "what" but not "why" |
+| Job postings                     | Low-medium      | Aspirational, not necessarily reflective of current pain    |
+
+### Confidence Labels in Practice
+
+When presenting insights, lead with confidence:
+
+```
+[HIGH CONFIDENCE] Customers feel overwhelmed by manual reporting — appears in 12 of 20 interviews,
+4 Reddit threads, and is the #1 complaint in 3-star G2 reviews. Consistent across SMB and mid-market.
+
+[MEDIUM CONFIDENCE] Customers compare us to spreadsheets more than to direct competitors —
+mentioned in 6 interviews and 3 Reddit threads, but not yet seen in review data.
+
+[LOW CONFIDENCE] Enterprise buyers may have procurement concerns — mentioned by 2 interviewees
+from companies 500+. Needs more signal before acting on it.
+```
+
+### Recency Window
+
+- **Use as primary source**: Data from the last 12 months
+- **Use with caution**: 12-24 months (product and market may have shifted)
+- **Use only for baseline context**: 2+ years old
+
+When a theme appears consistently across old and new data, that's a durable signal worth acting on.