Viral Loops in Hire Rewards

27 Jul 2024

At Talk Hiring, we set out to reinvent the job search experience. We developed an innovative product called Hire Rewards, where job seekers earned cash back as they applied for jobs. It was a unique offering, the only one of its kind on the internet. Similar to how Rakuten and Ibotta provide cash back to attract consumers to brands, we discovered that offering a small cash back incentive (ex. $1 per job submission) was more effective in attracting high-quality candidates than spending that dollar to boost job postings in search results.

To grow our job seeker base, we needed to enhance our activation rate and motivate job seekers to invite others to our platform. One of our biggest challenges was overcoming skepticism; many people thought the concept of earning money to apply for jobs was too good to be true and possibly a scam.

Improving User Activation

We significantly boosted new user activations by offering a $5 signup bonus. The key to this strategy was “locking up” the bonus: users could only cash out their bonus once they had applied for at least three jobs. This requirement encouraged users to engage with the site, and once they did, they quickly realized that Hire Rewards was legitimate and worth their time. Our research indicated that $5 was the minimum amount needed to motivate users to give us a serious try.

Leveraging Referrals for Growth

To further accelerate our growth, we introduced a referral program offering $5 per referred user who signed up and successfully cashed out. Additionally, we provided $10 for approved social media posts about Hire Rewards. Referrals were crucial for us, as they added credibility to our seemingly too-good-to-be-true proposition. When people heard about Hire Rewards from friends, it felt much more trustworthy and real.

Outcomes

These tactics allowed us to scale Hire Rewards, achieve a 5:1 LTV to CAC ratio, and secure over 40% of our signups through referrals.