Back in the day when we wanted to save some money, we sat at the kitchen table cutting coupons from newspapers, magazines and wherever else they were published.

It was a tedious task, to say the least, with many long hard afternoons clipping coupons – it was dreadful.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad.

We couldn’t accumulate too many coupons for a single product. It just did not scale like that. It was rare to get more than 5 coupons for one product or service at any given time.

Sometimes we could even combine the coupons, but usually, we could not.

For the consumer, the only time something digital happened with the coupons was at the register when they were scanned.

One by one, each coupon for each product had to be scanned and accounted for in the final bill.

And when you wanted to help your friend or family save some money, you would simply give coupons away, with nothing in exchange.

Fast forward a decade or two and we now have all sorts of digital coupons and promotional programs.

There are referral programs, affiliate programs, pyramid systems, and many more.

Referrals, in particular, have become critical to the growth of many large companies today. These usually work by rewarding all parties involved.

DropBox, for example, used a referral program to boost their customer acquisition rate by 60%. Which equated to millions of new subscribers.

Recently the UberEats app was launched by Uber, Inc. Uber used referrals as a way to boost their growth rate. With this new app, they are continuing the practice.

This referral program works by rewarding the referrer with a $5 credit, and the referred person gets $15 credit towards their first meal.

Uber also benefits by acquiring a customer who may spend over $1000 a year through their platform.

I recently added the UberEats app to my phone. I then heard a story from a colleague about a man who promoted his referral code for the original Uber on a popular website and was able to accumulate over $50,000 in-app credits.

That’s coupons gone viral.

Although he could not use the credits in combination  – say take a ride from here to California regardless of price, it did allow him to probably cover all or most of his individual local rides cost for a very long time.

Each referral bonus he received allowed him to take a ride costing up to $15. In a congested city, that may be all you need to get around.

Well, I tried it. I posted my code online, on one site, and in one group. Within a day, I had almost $300 in credits. Wow! That’s a nice little bonus.

Each coupon I earned is valued $5. This means I referred about 60 individuals, who not only entered my code but made an order that was successfully delivered.

That’s coupon clipping at an incredible scale. And it’s also a great example of marketing-to-growth efficiency for businesses.

I started thinking (again) about all the great ways to get discounts, freebies, and credits from companies that provide products and services I already need.

But a plan to actually promote these at scale is a little more elaborate than just getting lucking with one post. I’m not even sure it’s worth it.

I think the best way to scale referral marketing, that requires very little work, is by using social accounts with thousands of followers or friends.

Even if you don’t want to do it at a higher level, I would still recommend keeping your eyes open for these opportunities. They are very sweet to get from time to time.

If you want a referral code to get free rides by referring friends, simply download their app from the App Store or Google Play Store.

By the way, if you want a free ride yourself, my Uber code is anwarb434-ue