--- title: "The 6 critical reasons to outsource your referral marketing" id: "16928" type: "post" slug: "6-critical-reasons-to-outsource-your-referral-marketing" published_at: "2023-12-31T09:45:41+00:00" modified_at: "2026-04-19T10:58:54+00:00" url: "https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/6-critical-reasons-to-outsource-your-referral-marketing/" markdown_url: "https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/6-critical-reasons-to-outsource-your-referral-marketing.md" excerpt: "We often hear…”We love your referral platform, but why wouldn’t we just cook up our own in-house?”. And where they have already rustled something up themselves – but want to improve upon it – the question is: “Why wouldn’t we..." taxonomy_category: - "Thought Leadership" taxonomy_post_tag: - "outsource" - "Referral Program" - "replace" - "upgrade" --- [Back to Articles](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) # The 6 critical reasons to outsource your referral marketing Last Modified: 19/04/2026 **6 min read** [https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/author/peter-cunningham/](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/author/peter-cunningham/) **Author:** [Peter Cunningham](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/author/peter-cunningham/) - Marketing Director of Buyapowa We often hear…”We love your referral platform, but why wouldn’t we just cook up our own in-house?”. And where they have already rustled something up themselves – but want to improve upon it – the question is: “Why wouldn’t we just sprinkle these extra features onto our existing referral scheme?”And those are very good questions. But, when famously sophisticated brands like T-Mobile, Vodafone, Vitality, Kaizen, and British Gas decide to outsource their [referral program](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/solutions/referral-programs/) to Buyapowa instead of tackling the development internally, maybe that alone should be enough of an answer. In case you need more convincing though, here are six reasons why you should dial out and outsource your [referral marketing technology](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/solutions/) to a best-in-class provider like Buyapowa instead of trying to wing it yourself. **Hear from Michael Goodbody, Former VP, Head of Marketing & Comms at Robinhood, why he advises CMOs to buy and not build their own referral platform:** Buy, don't build your referral platform | RobinhoodMichael Goodbod... Buy, don't build your referral platform | Robinhood Michael Goodbody: "Build versus Buy" "One thing I don't understand, is that every company I've worked at in the tech space wants to build its own martech." "Our job is not to be martech experts." "You always have that discussion when you're like looking at any new product. It's usually pretty easy to get a referral system set up. It's really hard to get it maintained for all of life and updated for all of these developments of law and stuff." "So it's always useful to work with a partner that has to solve that independently for all of their clients." "I've been at companies with great engineering teams. The initial reaction is always 'build' or 'we can build it better.' And that actually may be true, but what you end up finding is it's a priority for 3 months 6 months and the maintenance of it is the problem. It's not going to not going to get up there with this new credit card product that we want to launch. So you build a stack that's just becoming outdated really quickly." "So my advice to any marketer any CMO is: 'ultimately buy, don't build." "The long-term benefits of building are not there." *[See Full Video](https://youtu.be/9uwDpAN0D2k?si=WZK36hFfpJx8SlCt)*## 1. Use your time and money to do what you do best There’s a good reason so many world-class businesses like Salesforce, Bazaarvoice, and Asana exist, even though, given enough time and money, you could probably build those services in-house. Quite simply, no business can do everything. Unless you have infinite development resources, you probably already have a full product pipeline, so outsourced services allow you to focus your scarce resources on doing what you do best: developing your USP and generating revenue. And don’t forget the ongoing need to update, debug and modernize your software – for example, every time a new social network arrives on the scene or a partner changes their APIs. Our platform is constantly maintained and enhanced, ensuring that all our clients have access to the very best technology as soon as it becomes available – and at no extra cost. ## 2. Outsourced programs scale. In-house ones don’t Imagine you’re launching your referral program in the USA. It’s going to be in US English and the rewards and incentives are most likely going to be articulated in US dollars. > “So my advice to any marketer any CMO is:’ultimately buy, don’t build [your referral platform]. The long-term benefits of building are not there.” > **Michael Goodbody,****Former VP, Head of Marketing & Comms –****Robinhood** All good. But what happens when you want to roll it out across Europe? That’s another 50 countries, with 24 more languages and 11 more currencies. How about South America, Asia, Africa? How about territories with wildly different data and privacy regulations? It’s all doable, but who’s going to do the doing? Your dev team, who’ll have moved on to other projects by then? It’s just not going to happen. Far better to start off with an outsourced platform that’s already solved these problems and is [ready to scale the moment you are](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/saas-plus-managed-service/) . **David Hixon, Executive Director – Head of Product & Lifecycle Marketing at Ally Bank explains, because they have the luxury of a dedicated in-house Tech Labs team that will always be available to update and amend the program, the bank decided to build its own referral program in-house:** When should you build in-house? | Ally BankDavid Hixon: "Marketing... When should you build in-house? | Ally Bank David Hixon: "Marketing a referral program is really easy. It's not hard to put something in market that says, "Hey, go tell your friends about us." The hard part is building the back end that allows for when the new customers come in, how do I tie you to a referral? How do I make sure that you get paid for what you did on both ends, both the referrer and the referee?" Robin Bresnark: "You're also lucky in that position that you have a team of people who are on this? They're going to work this. If you want to change something, it will happen. And I think for that reason, you know, it's safe for you to self build. I work for a company that does this stuff as an outsourced resource for a lot of clients because they can't guarantee that they've got a great team of people that will be reactive and will change things. And what you often find is they'll build it, it'll be fantastic for a bit and then something will break." David Hixon: "I would say with that our referral program, call it 80% self-contained within the marketing team in terms of management and maintenance and all the all the things that it takes to run the program. We do have a partner team on our technology side, that helps us stand up some of the technology that actually runs the personalized URLs that allow us to give everyone their own unique referral code. But while those guys, we call them our tech labs team. They're great to work with. But while they sit outside of the marketing team, we could not be more tied at the hip. Like there isn't a scenario where they go away and I need to fix something and they're not there anymore." See the full interview [here](https://youtu.be/LTvVNd-MPig?si=WOXDJigoCscrlOfb) ## 3. You’re not locked in Deciding to partner with a leading referral marketing provider is not a one-way street. Buyapowa provides access to its software by way of an annual software licence. So you’re not locked into our solution beyond the current license period. And if at any point, you should wish to develop your own solution, you’re entirely free to take all that you’ve learned from working with us and build your own. > Marketing a referral program is really easy. It’s not hard to put something in market that says, “Hey, go tell your friends about us.” The hard part is building the back end that allows for, when the new customers come in, how do I tie you to a referral? How do I make sure that you get paid for what you did on both ends, both the referrer and the referee?” > **David Hixon, Executive Director – Head of Product & Lifecycle Marketing – Ally Bank** Of course, once you have worked with us, we hope you’ll be convinced by the ongoing value that we provide and, like countless other brands, happily renew. > You’re also lucky in that you have a [tech] team who are on this? They’re going to [continue to] work [on] this. If you want to change something, it will happen. And I think for that reason, it’s safe for you to self build. I work for a company that does this as an outsourced resource for a lot of clients because they can’t guarantee that they’ve got a great team of [tech] people that will be reactive and will change things. And what you often find is they’ll build it, it’ll be fantastic for a bit and then something will break.” > **Robin Bresnark, Brand Director – Buyapowa** ## 4. Advanced features cost a lot to build If you want your program to deliver real value, you’ll need advanced reporting and analytics to learn what works best for your business, identify key influencers and develop critical insights. You may also need to incorporate a series of advanced features such as: - Multiple referral drivers, including tiered rewards and leaderboard gamification. Remember: 80% of your referrals will come from just 20% of your customers, but only if you fan the flames and make the most of your biggest advocates. - Flexible reward and incentive delivery via unique URLs, voucher codes, QR codes, loyalty points or physical vouchers. - Omnichannel functionality, allowing you to promote your program and drive sales not just online but also in your stores and even via call centers. - Multiple triggers, allowing you to drive not only sales, but also product sampling, app downloads, subscriptions, and countless further actions. - Parallel programs, specially customized to suit the needs of affiliates, influencers, and even your own employees. Very few in-house or simple off-the-shelf solutions offer these features. Having built and continuously improved our platform to include them all, we know how expensive and time-consuming that can be, and we’d love to share the fruits of our investment with you. **Hear from Buyapowa’s Referral Experts why you shouldn’t build your own referral program:** Referral marketing: Why you should not build a referral program yourselfGideon Lask: "So guys I'm pretty good with computers right, so why on earth should I not simply build my own referral program rather than work with self-proclaimed experts?"Robin Lask: "Yeah Airbnb did that they spent, I... Referral marketing: Why you should not build a referral program yourself Gideon Lask: "So guys I'm pretty good with computers right, so why on earth should I not simply build my own referral program rather than work with self-proclaimed experts?" Robin Lask: "Yeah Airbnb did that they spent, I mean I tried to work it out once, they had like dozens and dozens of developers working for months and months and then they had to redo the whole thing and then those people were put on other projects and their program has not changed for lord knows how long and I might argue it's not even compliant with laws anymore." Gideon Lask: "So as soon as it launches it becomes a legacy thing. Crazy" Peter Cunningham: "I'd just basically say did you buy or build your own email service provider, your own ratings and review service? There's a good reason why top brands go to best in practice providers. They get something right now. It's best in class and it's always updated." Gideon Lask: "And I guess also if you're a software vendor focusing on referral, that's all you do and you become the experts in it. You develop all the features and if I'm a client I'm part of an ecosystem." Robin Bresnark: "Yeah right, so when one client does something really cool all the others can piggyback on it." Gideon Lask: "All right, I'm sold. So despite being brilliant at all things computers, I'm not going to build it myself. Thanks guys." ## 5. Test & learn If you want a referral program that resonates with your customers, you’ll need advanced analytics and testing facilities to discover what works… and what doesn’t. Sadly, most in-house and off-the-shelf solutions fall woefully short in these regards. That means there’s typically little or no scope for improving your referral program, and decisions are often made on a hunch. Buyapowa, on the other hand, has an ongoing test and learn suite and even dynamic optimization, so that your messaging, rewards and incentives, look and feel, sharing tools and much more can be fine-tuned (with zero development required), and any decisions your team make will be based on observed facts. > “Ask yourself did you buy or build your own email service provider, your ratings and review service? There’s a good reason why top brands go to best in practice providers. Because they get something right now, it’s best in class and it’s always updated.” > **Peter Cunningham,****Marketing Director –****Buyapowa** **Hear from Katie Brooks, Product Owner at toob, on why you should listen to the referral experts:** Katie Brooks: "So we really mapped out what our current process was an... Katie Brooks: "So we really mapped out what our current process was and really nailed down what all the pain points were. So not only for us but also for our customers, what feedback they'd given us on the process. And I think you just need to weigh up how much time you're spending on this versus how much time you could be spending on other things, because time is your most valuable resource of all. And we really just took a lot of advice and guidance from the team that helped us to do the integration in the first place. Time is just a really expensive resource. So even if what you've got works right now, it's not perhaps going to work forever. Like our scheme was never going to work forever for us. So get on it sooner rather than later. Because the sooner you go for it with a refer friend scheme, the sooner you can get it embedded, the sooner you can make improvements and make it efficient." Robin Bresnark: "Is there any kind of experience or advice for that transition that you could pass on to anyone?" Katie Brooks: "You guys are very clearly experts in your field. So when we brought to you how we imagined it to work, improving on our existing process, you gave us a lot of guidance on how your system could help with things that maybe we'd not even thought of in the first place. So my advice would be trust in the experts because they really do know what they're doing." See [the full interview here](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/referral-mvps/toob/) . ## 6. You should partner with experts Our platform and best practice insights come from [having run referral programs for over 350 leading businesses](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-marketing-success-requires-so-much-more-than-just-software/) around the world and across a host of verticals, including telecoms, banking and insurance, utilities, fashion, beauty, retail, online gaming and more. So when you partner with us, [you’ll benefit from all those years of expertize we’ve gained](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/shift-away-from-in-house-referral-solutions/) , and we’re still learning! > “You guys are very clearly experts in your field. So when we brought to you how we imagined it to work, improving on our existing process, you gave us a lot of guidance on how your system could help with things that maybe we’d not even thought of in the first place. So my advice would be trust in the experts because they really do know what they’re doing.” > **Katie Brooks, Product Owner – toob** By partnering with us, you benefit from all of our experience today, rather than trying to work everything out yourself. And that’s priceless. After all, anyone can cook… once they have the ingredients, the recipe, the equipment, the expertise, and the time. But do you? Ready to supercharge your new customer acquisition or have any questions you’d like to put to us? [Reach out](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/contact-us/) , we’re more than happy to help. ## Free eBook Referral Codebreakers Fill in the form & Unlock the science behind the world’s most successful & influential referral marketing programs ##### Categories ## Related Articles ### [Credit Union Referral Program Guide (+ 11 Examples)](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/credit-union-referral-programs/) - [Banking & Finance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/banking-finance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/credit-union-referral-programs/) 28/06/2026 29 min read ### [The Complete Online Gaming Blueprint](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/online-gaming-blueprint/) - [Gaming](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/gaming/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/online-gaming-blueprint/) 26/06/2026 9 min read ### [The Complete Banking Blueprint](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/the-complete-banking-blueprint/) - [Banking & Finance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/banking-finance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/the-complete-banking-blueprint/) 25/06/2026 10 min read ### [30 Tips to Generate More Customer Referrals](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/tips-encourage-customer-referrals/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/tips-encourage-customer-referrals/) 25/06/2026 40 min read ### [An Open Letter to Anyone Who Thinks Referral Marketing Hasn’t Changed](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/an-open-letter-to-anyone-who-thinks-referral-marketing-hasnt-changed/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/an-open-letter-to-anyone-who-thinks-referral-marketing-hasnt-changed/) 24/06/2026 4 min read ### [Referral, Loyalty & Switching Dynamics in Canadian ISPs](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-loyalty-canada-isps/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-loyalty-canada-isps/) 14/06/2026 13 min read ### [Referral & Switching Dynamics in US ISPs](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-switching-dynamics-in-us-isps/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-switching-dynamics-in-us-isps/) 14/06/2026 16 min read ### [How Do You Attribute Referrals as Part of the Marketing Mix?](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referrals-attribution/) - [Uncategorised](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/uncategorised/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referrals-attribution/) 14/06/2026 9 min read ### [What Drives Better Performance: An Evergreen Referral Program or Promotional Referral Campaigns?](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/evergreen-referral-program-vs-promotional-campaigns/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/evergreen-referral-program-vs-promotional-campaigns/) 14/06/2026 6 min read ### [The Complete Installer & Engineer Blueprint](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/installer-engineer-blueprint/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/installer-engineer-blueprint/) 14/06/2026 7 min read ### [The Complete Community & Local Partner Blueprint](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/community-local-partner-blueprint/) - [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/community-local-partner-blueprint/) 14/06/2026 7 min read ### [Referral, Loyalty & Switching Risk in the French Energy Market](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-energy/) - [Energy](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/energy/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-energy/) 14/06/2026 13 min read ### [Referral, Loyalty & Switching Risk in French Home Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-home-insurance/) - [Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/insurance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-home-insurance/) 14/06/2026 10 min read ### [Referral, Loyalty & Switching Risk in French Car Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-car-insurance/) - [Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/insurance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-french-car-insurance/) 14/06/2026 3 min read ### [Referral Motivation in Spain’s Pet Insurance Market](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-pet-insurance-spain/) - [Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/insurance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-pet-insurance-spain/) 14/06/2026 17 min read ### [Referral, Loyalty & Switching Risk in Spanish Car Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-switching-spanish-car-insurance/) - [Insurance](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/insurance/) , [Thought Leadership](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/category/thought-leadership/) [Read More](https://buyapowa.positivedesign.dev/blog/referral-switching-spanish-car-insurance/) 14/06/2026 15 min read ## Free eBook Referral Codebreakers Fill in the form & Unlock the science behind the world’s most successful & influential referral marketing programs.