## How Hera launched a fully automated referral program in just two days

### Overview

- **HQ:** Berlin, Germany  
- **Funding:** Pre-Seed (YC S25)  
- **Employees:** 2–10  
- **Category:** AI Motion Design  
- **Pricing:** Freemium  
- **Customers:** B2B & B2C creators  
- **Customer with Cello:** Since 2025

[Hera](https://hera.video/), an AI-powered motion design tool that transforms 5-hour video projects into 5-minute workflows, wanted to create a new growth engine that could scale without the complexity of traditional partnerships.

Before Cello, Hera had briefly tested a basic referral setup using internal credits, but with no automation or tracking, it was impossible to manage at scale. They needed a program that was native to their product, required no external registration, and rewarded users transparently.

When Hera discovered Cello, they saw the opportunity to integrate referrals directly into their product experience and automate the entire loop — from engaging users to rewarding them.

In-app announcement nudging users to refer friends (Source: Hera)

### How did they succeed?

#### Fast implementation

Hera’s development team, led by engineer and co-founder Chia-Lun, implemented Cello within just two working days. Using the Cello API for signups and a Stripe webhook for transactions, they connected all attribution and payout logic seamlessly.

#### Fully embedded, frictionless experience

Cello allowed Hera to place referral launchers in multiple contextual touchpoints where users are naturally primed to share. The program is accessible from Hera’s main prompting window, sidebar navigation, and head menu of the editor area — and even surfaces during key creative moments, such as while waiting for AI motion designs to generate or after a successful export.

Referral launcher embedded in Hera’s sidebar navigation (Source: Hera)  
Hera’s main editor area: The referral widget appears in the top-right corner, always visible yet unobtrusive.

While creating a design: The widget reappears in the _waiting zone_, prompting users to share while their animation renders.

At the moment of export: A “Refer friends to earn $250” message appears beneath the export button.

Together, these placements keep referrals front of mind without interrupting the user’s workflow, driving continuous organic engagement.

#### Engage with power referrers

Cello’s referral platform allowed Hera to _super-serve_ its most active referrers. Users who consistently shared and drove signups were upgraded to partners, gaining access to Cello’s Partner Portal.

Through this portal, they receive enhanced analytics, pre-configured sharing content, and higher-tier rewards for their referrals. These partners now generate hundreds — and soon thousands — of new referrals, helping Hera extend its growth loop far beyond the initial program launch.

#### Simple, transparent rewards

Hera designed an easy-to-understand two-sided reward:

- **Referrer reward:** 30% commission (capped at $100)  
- **Referee reward:** 15% discount for one month

To ensure fairness and prevent fraud, Hera opted for a 48-hour reward delay before processing payouts.

Referral widget (Source: Hera)

#### Smoothest onboarding experience

From kickoff to production testing, Hera’s onboarding was seamless. The team used Cello’s sandbox mode for quick validation and went live directly on their production site after verifying all Stripe events.

> “I had no issues,” noted Chia-Lun in the post-implementation survey. “It just worked.”

## The result?

Within weeks of launch, Hera’s referral program became a key part of their growth motion.

- **29.3% activation rate** — a strong result for a referral program in its first weeks.
- **38.9% referral signup conversion rate**, showing strong engagement and trust between users.
- Referrals now contribute **15.8% of total ARR growth**, with fully automated payouts via Stripe.

Best of all, the entire system runs natively within Hera’s own product, no external dashboards, no manual intervention.

Referral-driven ARR growth trend since program launch

## Looking ahead

Hera plans to expand beyond user referrals and build out a partner referral channel using Cello’s Partner Management feature, now enabled in their account. The next step: embedding moments of delight — referral prompts triggered after creative milestones, like finishing a project or exporting a video.

Hera also plans to introduce Incentivized Casual Contact Loops (ICCL) — turning every AI motion design into a shareable referral link, so users promote the product organically as part of their creative workflow.

With referrals already driving a meaningful share of ARR growth, Hera’s goal is to make referrals feel like a native part of their creative workflow, not an external marketing channel.