Paul,
I've been down that road, giving the reward to the referrer and referee each time (I made it much more valuable to them, giving £20 to each). Almost no uptake on it whatsoever.
One customer trying to "play" the system getting her boyfriend's carpets cleaned (where she had moved in to since I did hers) and getting both discounts! Had to honour it as I hadn't written anything in the T&Cs to cover that one!
I think generally customers don't feel the need to be rewarded financially for recommending you. Psychologically, they get a reward anyway by recommending you... their friend uses you and comes back to them and say "oh thanks for that recommendation, he was great" which gives them a buzz. Many people like to have that feeling of being in the know, kind of like being able to do people favours etc to impress them, making themselves look good to their friends.
I have had two goes at referrals systems and I have come to the conclusion that you simply can't force referrals out of people - at least not in any quantity to make it worth bothering with. All I simply do now is give them a free spotter along with a few business cards at the end of the job. They are always really surprised and grateful for the spotter, and as you're handing them over you say "my number's on the bottle, so you can give the cards to anyone you know in case they need me"
It's a a kind of back door way of getting referrals, through the principle of reciprocation... you do your favour to them first and wait for them to return it, rather than the other way around
Spotters are cheaper than £ discounts too
