Impartner — Referrals

Referrals program set-up and administration.

Roles

  • UX Design
  • Page Copy

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Impartner Referrals feature

My role UX designer responsible for defining and delivering the experience for a net-new referrals capability, including workflow design, interface patterns, and collaboration with Product and Engineering to ship the feature
Scope Product + engineering | Feature delivery cycle | Partner submission flow, referral lifecycle states, partner and admin views, reward visibility
Challenges and constraints Designing a program that balanced partner motivation with administrative oversight, supporting multiple referral states and reward models, and ensuring partners could easily generate referrals without introducing operational complexity
Impact Introduced a clear referral lifecycle model, improved partner engagement through streamlined submission and sharing workflows, and delivered visibility into referral progress and reward tracking
Skills demonstrated Workflow and state modeling, program design (motivation and oversight), interface pattern design, lifecycle clarity, partner-facing usability, collaboration with Product and Engineering

I designed and wrote the Referrals experience for Impartner, covering program setup and day-to-day administration. The goal was to help partners drive new leads while keeping rules, rewards, and status transparent for everyone involved.

Key decisions
Summary: lifecycle states, rules and rewards visible, partner and admin separation
Define the referral lifecycle as a state model
DecisionBuilt a lifecycle covering submission, review, status updates, and rewards
TradeoffAdded state complexity to create predictability and follow-through
WhyPartners disengaged without visibility into what happens next
ResultBetter follow-through because next steps were visible at each state
Make rules and rewards transparent at submission
DecisionSurfaced eligibility, rules, and rewards in the flow rather than burying them in documentation
TradeoffMore in-context explanation in exchange for fewer surprises
WhyMotivation fails when partners do not trust the payoff or understand how it works
ResultClearer partner behavior and fewer ambiguous submissions
Separate partner actions from admin oversight
DecisionDesigned dual-audience workflows so partners could submit and track while admins reviewed and reported
TradeoffMore workflow modeling up front to prevent operational complexity later
WhyThe risk was adding capability without increasing program manager burden
ResultFeature delivered without introducing operational complexity for administrators

“Referrals are a critical aspect of building my brand.”

— Impartner User

Outcomes
Summary: new lifecycle, better follow-through, no added admin burden
New
Lifecycle
More
Follow-through
No added
Admin burden
  • Referral submission rate
    Baseline: No structured referral path in the portal, so partners had no supported way to submit leads
    Change: Submission flow with visible rules, rewards, and status
    Evidence: Workflow validated with Product and Engineering against real partner use cases
  • Partner follow-through
    Baseline: Partners disengaged after submission because they could not see what happened next
    Change: State tracking and reward visibility surfaced directly in the portal
    Evidence: Journey mapping confirmed the gap and the workflow addressed next steps per state transition
  • Administrative overhead
    Baseline: Concern that partner-facing tools would increase oversight complexity
    Change: Dual-audience workflows separating partner submission from admin review
    Evidence: Stakeholder review and cross-functional alignment during delivery
What changed in the product
  • Referral lifecycle introduced: submission, review, reward, and status visibility
  • Rules and rewards surfaced at submission, not buried in program documentation
  • State transitions shown for both partners and administrators
How we measured

Journey mapping identified friction in the manual process and workflow and state modeling were validated with Product and Engineering before implementation

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