What are some of the best examples of a "referral program" being built in to the user sign up process?

The best approach for building referrals into your sign-up process is going to depend heavily on what it is your users are signing up for.

Is it something performance-based, like a fitness or language learning app, where the user can challenge a friend to compete with them for a higher score? Is it a service the user is signing up for, that he would recommend to a friend if he has a positive experience?

Start by identifying the motivation a user would have for referring a friend. (They're likely not going to share it on social media just because you ask them to, without giving them any incentive.) Then figure out where within the sign-up process it makes the most sense to ask them to refer a friend. You may also find that the best time to ask might be outside of the sign-up process, further along in the user's experience. Whatever you choose, make sure you craft your message carefully to align the user's incentives (to get through the sign-up process quickly but not miss anything that might add value for them) with your ask for their referral.

One concern with what you said, "integrating my 'referral program' is when a user is within my website sign up process". <--- People are less prone to share right when they signup because they have no experience with your product or service... they just signed up.

I would recommend finding the most "sticky" areas for which there is customer delight. Here is some ideas:

- Maybe you have awesome tech. support that can fix things quickly and people love your company for that. What about on a ticket or chat close - depending on NPS score you ask them to share?

-Taking publishing a website for an example: What about right after they publish since they have had the experience with your company to properly evaluate whether they like your service enough to share with their audience/influence?

I have more ideas - I am in game for a call, if you are:)

* EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL REFERRAL PROGRAMMES *

# 1: Linode
You can earn credit towards future purchases if your referrals open and keep an account for 90 days.

# 2: Dropbox
Free additional storage for every referral.

- Either programme might have expired by the time I publish this.

** COMPLIMENTARY AUDIO POST **

In an effort to be extra useful, I made you an audio post on affiliate marketing and included some tips, along with a slideshow on regulations. You don't want to spend your profits in lawyers.

http://j.mp/1f1hub5

*** OUTSTANDING EXECUTION OF YOUR REFERRAL PROGRAMME ***

Kindly book your Clarity call from our website, right next to your personal audio post and increase your company's customer worth.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve your business.