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Referrals

The referral program gives existing monthly lockout members a way to invite new members. Both the referrer and the referred member receive the same credit: $50 each as the standard amount, or a location's boosted amount when both sides are at that location (see Location Boosts). Referral codes are internal to Metrognome; they are not Stripe promotion codes.

How It Works

Every member who signs up for a monthly lockout automatically receives a referral code. The code format is their first name followed by a random suffix (e.g., JANE-A3C2). Each member has at most one active code at a time.

When a new member checks out for a lockout and provides a referral code:

  • The new member gets $50 off their first invoice, applied as a negative line item labelled "Referral credit". If the first invoice is less than $50 (e.g., due to proration), Stripe automatically rolls the excess forward as a customer balance credit applied to future invoices.
  • The referrer gets a $50 credit added as a Stripe invoice item pinned to their own lockout subscription, so it is applied to that lockout's next renewal invoice and never to a credit purchase or another subscription. A referrer who holds more than one lockout is credited on the oldest active one.

Both sides receive the same amount.

Who Bears the Cost

Ruled by Aaron on 2026-09-09. Referral credits are marketing spend borne by the location, not the platform: a referral credit reduces the invoice total, the charge, and therefore the amount transferred to the location whose invoice carries it. Neither credit is transferred separately, unlike customer balance and waitlist deposit credits (see Lockouts, Revenue Split).

  • The new member's $50 comes out of the location they signed up at.
  • The referrer's $50 comes out of the location of the lockout that carries the reward, which may not be the location that gained the member.

There is no cap on referrals. A member who refers several friends in one month can bring their renewal to $0; Stripe pays a $0 invoice with no charge, and any excess rolls forward as customer balance against later renewals. That rolled-forward balance carries no compensable tag, so the location, not the platform, continues to bear it.

Location Boosts

A location can run a boosted version of the program, ruled by Aaron on 2026-09-17 for Cherry City (Salem) at $100 each way. The boost is temporary in intent but has no fixed end date: it runs until staff retire it, and referrals attached after that pay the standard amount.

  • The boost applies only when the new member signs up at the boosted location and the referrer's reward lockout (the oldest active one, the same one that carries every reward) is at that location. Both sides then receive the boosted amount.
  • The amount is fixed for a signup the moment its referrer is first attached, at checkout or by staff. Retiring the boost afterwards, a payment retry, or a later correction of who referred the signup all keep that amount, so both sides of one signup always receive the same number.
  • Any other pairing pays the standard amount on both sides: a Cherry City member whose friend signs up in Portland, a Portland member whose friend signs up at Cherry City, and a referrer with no active lockout.
  • Both sides always receive the same amount, and the boosted location bears both boosted credits. No other location ever carries a boost.
  • Partner referrals are never boosted.
  • A boost that lists several locations treats them as one pool: the new member at any listed location and the referrer's reward lockout at any listed location qualifies. Cherry City's boost lists Cherry City alone.
  • The member dashboard shows a boosted location's referral card to members with an active lockout there in place of the standard card, never both.

Eligibility

Referral codes are for new members only. A referee qualifies only if no monthly lockout subscription has ever been created for them; a lapsed lockout counts as a prior one. Checkout, the checkout preview, the staff lockout update, and a signed-in member's code lookup all refuse an ineligible referral with the message "Referral codes are for new members only".

Referral Code Lifecycle

  • Created when a member's first monthly lockout is fulfilled, only for monthly studio reservations, not hourly or other types
  • Active indefinitely, with no expiration or maximum use limit
  • Deactivated when the member's last lockout subscription is cancelled
  • Restored when the member signs up for a new lockout after cancellation: their previous code is reactivated rather than replaced, so a code they have already shared keeps working

Rules and Constraints

  • Self-referral is blocked; a member cannot use their own referral code
  • A referral code can be used unlimited times by different new members
  • Referral credits and Stripe promotion codes or coupons can be applied to the same checkout; they are separate mechanisms. A promotion code and a coupon cannot both be used at once.
  • Only members with a Stripe customer record and a live lockout subscription can receive referrer credits; otherwise the reward is skipped with a warning and the referral still gives the new member their discount
  • The reward is paid once per referrer and new member pair, whichever path applies the referral

Referral Credits on Lockout Updates

Staff can attach a referrer to an existing lockout (for example, when the new member forgot the code at checkout). This path gives both sides the same credits as checkout: the new member's $50 is added as an invoice item pinned to their subscription, the reservation records who referred them, and the referrer's reward is armed and paid the same way as at signup. Eligibility is enforced when the referral is first attached; correcting who referred an already-referred signup is always allowed, even if the member has since opened another lockout.

A signup earns the new member one $50 credit, however many times staff correct who referred it. Correcting the referrer after the first one was already paid pays the new referrer as well; the earlier payment is not clawed back. A reward that has not been paid yet is set aside when the reservation stops naming that referrer, and paid after all if staff name them again. The new member's own credit does not depend on who referred them: it is paid once for the signup, whatever corrections staff make.

Partner Referrals

Partners use the same code system but with a different payout mechanism. Partner codes have no random suffix and are tracked separately. Instead of receiving a Stripe invoice credit, partner referrals create a payout record that is settled externally. Duplicate payouts are prevented per referrer-referee-code combination.

Design Note

Referral credits use negative Stripe invoice items rather than Stripe promotion codes. This guarantees the full dollar amount regardless of proration; a percentage-based Stripe promotion code on a prorated first invoice could result in a nearly worthless discount.