Referral Marketing platforms run customer-driven referral programs — refer-a-friend mechanics, viral loops, sharing rewards, and tracking that connects referred customers to existing customer-advocates. The category serves B2C eCommerce and DTC brands primarily and is distinct from Affiliate Marketing (paid publisher partnerships) and Customer Advocacy (B2B reference-management). Core capabilities include referral link/code generation per customer, single-sided and two-sided reward mechanics, email and SMS share-flow integration, viral-loop analytics with K-factor tracking, fraud detection, and integration with eCommerce platforms (Shopify), CRM, and email marketing. The market is led by referral-program-focused platforms (ReferralCandy, Friendbuy, Mention Me, Talkable, Buyapowa, Extole, SaaSquatch, ReferralRock, Rewardful).