Polestar announced a new customer referral program, which applies to all new vehicle purchase methods in selected markets: the US, South Korea and some European countries (Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, UK).
According to the company, the Polestar Referral program allows owners to spread the word of electric driving through person-to-person referrals.
The existing owners of new vehicles (pre-owned are not eligible) will be able to generate and share a personal and unique digital referral code (the same link can't be used twice) within their Polestar account.
Once a potential new customer places an order (with the referral code) and receives the car, both will earn rewards.
The company lists several types of rewards:
- charging credits for a local public charging supplier to the value of roughly €100 ($107) (Europe and South Korea)
- a Google bundle including a Google Nest Hub and Nest Mini (United States)
- a unique Polestar Power Houdi
- vouchers for Polestar's additional shop
- an exclusive original design sketch, drawn on paper by Polestar designers
The reward depends on the number of completed referrals, which means that those who are more active, might get more valuable items.
As we understand, because the codes are unique (single use), they can't be simply added to the footer of each social media channel (they would have to be updated after each use).
Overall, Polestar appears to take another page from Tesla's book, but in its own style. The brand is also pursuing an unconventional (in the automotive industry) online-focused direct sales method.
It will be interesting to see how the program will evolve and expand in the future, but one thing is for sure. If automakers intend to remove the middleman, they have to build some new links with customers. Promotions with rewards for referrals might be the right tool.