市场营销学系学术讲座（5月7日）

Unpacking the Incentive Conditions of Referral Programs: Evidence from A Large-Scale Field Experiment

主讲人: 庄梦舟，香港大学经管学院 助理教授

主持人: 许梦然，复旦大学管理学院 副教授

时间：2026年5月7日（周四）15:00-16:30

地点：思源教授楼624室

Abstract:Referral programs are a powerful tool for user acquisition, yet the optimal design of reward schemes remains underexplored. This research empirically investigates how referral reward schemes—conditional referral incentive (CRI), where rewards depend on conversion, versus unconditional referral incentive (URI), where rewards are guaranteed for sharing—and reward value (high vs. low) jointly affect the behavior of both existing users (inviters) and the new users they acquire (invitees). Through a large-scale field experiment with a mobile gaming company, we tracked the referral activities and in-game activities of 66,427 inviters and 97,181 invitees over 60 days. Our results reveal a critical trade-off between referral quantity and quality for inviters. In the high-reward condition, inviters under the CRI sent 77.4% fewer referrals than their URI counterparts but achieved a per-referral acceptance rate that was over 11 times higher. Despite their efficiency in conversion, CRI generates negative spillover effects on the subsequent engagement of invitees. Newly acquired users from CRI schemes consistently demonstrated lower engagement; in the high-reward condition, these invitees spent 30.3% less time and 76.6% less expenditure compared to invitees acquired under URI schemes. We find that these contrasting outcomes can be explained by the inviters’ persuasive efforts. Inviters in CRI conditions contact potential invitees 222.9% more frequently, suggesting that the reward-motivated social pressure may increase adoption but undermines the invitees’ post-adoption engagement. Our findings uncover the potential contrast between the two prevailing referral reward schemes: while the CRI scheme is effective for immediate conversions, the URI scheme fosters greater long-term value by cultivating higher-quality invitees. This suggests managers should consider the trade-off between long-term benefits of healthier user acquisition dynamics and short-term conversion metrics.

Bio:庄梦舟，博士毕业于美国伊利诺伊大学香槟分校，现为香港大学经管学院助理教授。他的研究专注于在新的媒体、新情景、新的渠道模式和新的社交环境中，企业的广告、定价以及销售策略的设计与优化。他参与了多个与可口可乐，淘宝，苏宁，网易游戏，百度等国内外知名企业的咨询项目。他在研究中主要采用计量模型、现场实验、非参数估计、机器学习等方法分析企业或消费者层面的数据，从而提出对企业，消费者和政策制定者有价值的建议。现已在工商管理领域的一流期刊发表多篇文章，包括Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Information Systems Research等。