How Dexxter drives two referral channels without doubling the complexity

Dexxter helps Belgium's self-employed professionals manage their accounting. It's the kind of tool people actually tell each other about. So when Cédric and the team started thinking about referrals, it wasn't really a question of whether users would share. It was a question of how to effectively harness this growth channel.

On top of that, Dexxter needed more than a simple user referral loop. They had a network of professional partners that needed their own structure entirely.

Two programs, two audiences, two sets of incentives. The question was whether they could run both without building two separate systems.

How they built it

The user program: simple reward, visible placement

The user program runs on a two-sided reward structure: €75 for the referrer, €25 off for the person they bring in. Payouts go through PayPal, with users able to save their details directly in the widget. No separate login or platform required when it's time to collect their rewards.

Visibility of the program took some trial and error. The referral launcher started inside a dropdown menu, which technically worked but was easily missed by Dexxter users. Moving it to a first-level menu with the offer visible upfront made a real difference in user participation in the referral program.

They also built a proper referral program marketing page that walks users through how the program works, what you earn, and even recommends examples of who in your network you could refer to Dexxter.

The partner program: different partners, different rules

Dexxter couldn’t just rely on casual referrers. They partner with established Belgian organizations who work with self-employed professionals every day. Each has its own agreement with Dexxter, its own commission structure, its own caps. The partner program had to reflect that. Cello provides each partner with access to their own portal and dashboard, and reward rules that matched their actual contract terms.

Additionally, Dexxter runs a separate influencer campaign for individual creators, accountants, and advisors who promote Dexxter through their own networks on commission. This effort aligned closely with the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing regulations in Belgium at the start of 2026. By tapping into influencers during this regulatory shift, Dexxter was able to capture heightened demand and accelerate growth. This playbook could be relevant for other companies facing similar regulatory changes across the EU.

One underlying system for both programs

Both the user and partner programs run on exactly the same technical foundation. Whether a signup comes in through a user referral or a partner link, it follows the same path: the attribution is captured at signup, a Stripe webhook processes the transaction, and rewards are processed. Everything lands in the same Cello admin dashboard.

In practice, this means no reconciling data across separate tools, no duplicate reporting setup, and no extra maintenance overhead. When something needs adjustment or improving on the attribution side, it applies to both programs at once.

Keeping it going

Launching was the easy part. To actually drive sharing, Dexxter ran social campaigns alongside the referral program, including a post generator that gave users ready-made templates and memes so sharing took less effort. That kind of low-friction nudge tends to move the numbers.

The numbers so far

• 34.1% monthly activation rate
• 13.6% monthly sharing rate
• 64.1% free-to-paid conversion on referred users
• In January 2026, 181 out of 224 new subscriptions were annual. Referrals are pulling in committed customers, not just trial signups.

Both programs run without manual intervention. User referrals tick along continuously; partner referrals scale as agreements grow.

What's next

The focus now is on finding more moments in the user journey where it makes sense to surface the referral program. Milestones where a user has proven they are a promoter of the tool and likely to want to share it. Adding these triggers results in more sharing without more effort.

On the partner side, the network is growing. Because everything runs on the same attribution foundation, bringing on a new partner is mostly just a matter of configuring their reward terms, not rebuilding anything.