CBD College Referral Program Case Study

About
CBD College

CBD College, an Australian registered training organisation, generated over 6,600 referrals and a 56% referral-to-enrolment conversion rate nearly five times the rate of paid search by turning word-of-mouth into a structured referral program. Lupo Digital designed the strategy and automated it inside HubSpot using Referral Factory. In 2026, Referral Factory named it their number-one referral customer in the world.

Industry: Education and Training

Why an RTO needed a Referral Program

CBD College has trained Australians in compliance courses for more than 30 years, First Aid, RSA, RCG, White Card, Barista - the certifications people need before they can legally start work. That means almost every student they train knows someone else who needs the same course.

Referrals were already happening. CBD College simply had no way to track them, reward them, or encourage more of them - while paid acquisition costs kept climbing. The opportunity wasn't to invent a new channel; it was to capture the word-of-mouth that was already working, and turn a large, dormant student database into a predictable source of new enrolments - exactly what Lupo's Referral Program is built to do.

How 5.5% of customers drove the results

What stood out in the analytics wasn't just the volume of referrals — it was how many came from the same people. A small group of active referrers each made dozens of successful referrals, earning hundreds of dollars in reward cards. Working-holiday travellers all need the same courses, travel in social groups, and talk to each other.

The result: referrals are now one of CBD College's best-performing acquisition channels, driven by just 5.5% of the total customer base. Build a referral program for the right audience, and a small group of motivated people will out-perform any ad campaign.