Google Offers Apps Referral Program - Analyst Blog

Recently Google Inc. GOOG announced the launch of the Google Apps referral program. According to the program, app users in the U.S. and Canada will earn an incentive of $15, every time a new customer signs up for Google Apps based on their recommendation.

Google Apps provides different services like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and many more. At present it has a customer base of nearly 5 million.

To join this program, users have to sign up using their email ids and should have an official taxpayer ID number and a bank account. After registering, they will receive a unique referral URL. They can then recommend their contacts by emailing the referral link and get paid depending on the number of new sign ups through that link.

Each user can refer unlimited number of consumers and will be rewarded for the first 100 signups through them. The payments will be made directly to the bank account of the primary user and will depend on the number of users who have paid for a minimum of 120 days for the Google services.

Google will also offer vouchers with which the referral customers can save $10 per user for the first year of their subscription.
 
Google plans to offer an improved experience for both new and existing users. Also, the program will be cost effective for the search giant as it will have to pay a moderate sum for acquiring new users.

Google is clearly the leader in search, with Yahoo! Inc. YHOO and Microsoft Corporation MSFT lagging far behind. To maintain its dominance, Google is aggressively exploring new markets to diversify its revenues.

Rumor has it that Google will also release a smartwatch, which will be built by LG Electronics to compete against similar products from Apple Inc. AAPL and Intel.

Google currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).