Launch an MDU Referral Program

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Overview

An MDU (multi-dwelling unit) referral program rewards property managers and leasing agents for referring residents to your service. This guide assumes advocates earn value through Reward Bank and redeem it for configured reward options.

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1. Define Roles and Program Structure

• Advocate: Property staff who refer residents and earn rewards.
• Friend: The resident who signs up and completes the qualifying action.
• Internal property owner: Your account manager or sales representative responsible for the property—not the building’s legal owner.

Decide whether internal owners will recruit staff, answer questions, earn rewards, or need reporting.

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2. Set Eligibility and Reward Rules

Agree on:

• Eligible properties, staff, residents, products, and service areas.
• Whether staff need approval to participate.
• The qualifying action, waiting period, and cancellation rules.
• Reward recipients, amounts, limits, timing, funding, and redemption choices.
• Treatment of delayed installations, staff departures, and eligibility changes.
• Program terms and matching offer copy.

Start with a simple base offer. Add property-specific incentives or limited-time promotions only when eligibility and timing can be clearly explained and tracked. Keep reward stages distinct:

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3. Prepare Property Data and Ongoing Updates

Identify the source system, matching keys, and required fields for properties, internal owners, and advocate associations. Use stable property IDs where supported, and define how email changes preserve existing participants and assignments. Choose an update method with Extole: Confirm supported operations, processing steps, validation, update frequency, and failure handling. These approaches may require custom configuration or development. Define how additions, removals, and owner changes affect existing advocates, future referrals, pending rewards, reporting, and access. Do not assume omitted records should be deleted or reassignment should move reward balances.

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4. Build Experiences and Promotion

For property staff: Explain eligibility and rewards, support enrollment and property selection, and provide easy access to sharing links, referral status, and Reward Bank. Staff should complete their own enrollment and acceptance steps. For residents: Explain the offer and required action. Preserve referral attribution through online or offline ordering and installation. For internal owners: Provide recruitment instructions, support contacts, and the appropriate reporting or participant experience. Prepare enrollment emails, approved referral copy, QR codes, FAQs, and move-in materials. Plan separate communications for recruiting staff, encouraging their first referral, reaching residents, and reminding advocates to redeem rewards. Confirm which messages are automated.

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5. Configure the Dashboard and Service Integration

The advocate dashboard should answer:

1. Was my referral tracked?
2. What must happen before I earn a reward?
3. What have I earned, and how do I redeem it?

Select supported milestones—such as referral received, order submitted, service activated, pending qualification, disqualified, and reward earned—and map them to clear labels. Agree on:

• Which events appear and contribute to totals.
• Whether totals count people, referrals, orders, or rewards.
• Dates, expected update delays, and permitted resident details.
• How review outcomes and corrections appear.
• Separate displays for pending value, lifetime earnings, and available balance.

Event quality, reward eligibility, and reward status are distinct concepts. Tie “earned” to the actual Reward Bank credit. For the service integration, define identifiers, event delivery, and handling of cancellations, duplicates, delays, and corrections—including corrections after fulfillment. Assign responsibility for failed updates and keep test activity separate from production rewards and communications.

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6. Train Participants and Prepare Support

Use the configured program to demonstrate enrollment, sharing, referral tracking, and redemption.

• Property staff: Make referrals, understand statuses, redeem rewards, and find help.
• Internal owners: Recruit staff, identify inactive properties, and escalate issues.
• Administrators and support: Maintain data, investigate referrals, reconcile rewards, and manage ownership changes.

Ask your Extole team for the Standard MDU FAQ Template and customize it for your program. Define the first support contact, escalation responsibilities, and information needed to investigate a case.

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7. Test and Launch

Before launch, verify:

• Property selection, enrollment, approval, and deactivation.
• Referral attribution through qualification.
• Dashboard statuses, dates, totals, and visibility.
• Correct, one-time Reward Bank credits, redemption, and fulfillment.
• Cancellation, duplicate, delayed, and corrected activity.
• Property updates and owner reassignment.
• Failed-update alerts and recovery.
• Reporting accuracy, mobile usability, and consistent offer copy.
• Support’s ability to trace a missing referral or reward.

Consider a small pilot. Follow the first referrals through redemption, verify the first property update, and resolve recurring questions before expanding.

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8. Keep the Program Active

Review performance by property and owner. Low enrollment may require recruitment; enrollment without referrals may require training; referrals without qualification may indicate service, offer, or tracking issues. Use these findings to guide improvements.