Hey we're going through the same thought processes right now. I'm coding our referral program web site even as we speak.
In our case it's been difficult coming up with a good referral percentage because of the nature of our product. It's a one time software purchase and we don't have a recurring plan just yet.
We have a free downloadable demo on the site and so far (since we launched last week) sales have been really good at a demo download-to-purchase ratio of 1:55. We'll have other girls available soon and a lot of our customers have emailed letting me know that they're looking forward to the new ones. The software sells for $19.97 and so far everyone seems to like what they get. We got a great review the other day at one site so that helps out for anyone joining our referral program because the more good reviews we get the more people will know about the software.
We're going to start with a 30-40% commission on all referred sales. It's hard to come up with a good figure because a lot of the larger places are offering insane payouts that we just can't compete with yet. At the same time we can't go too low or no one will want to promote us. The way we basically have to figure is that these are sales we probably wouldn't get otherwise so it's not really as if it's money lost. We want people who promote us to feel like they can make some serious cash.
Anyway I'm very interested to hear what you come up with. I should be done coding our "Kitten Cash" program site today so we'll see how that does. It's comforting to know we're not the only ones wrestling with this subject.
- Jak