Viral Loop

A viral loop is a growth mechanism where existing users naturally or incentivized bring in new users as part of normal product usage. It matters because self-propagating acquisition can reduce marginal customer acquisition cost when loop quality is strong. Teams evaluate loop performance with invitation rate, conversion rate per invite, and retention of referred users, not just raw invite volume. Effective loops tie sharing to genuine user value and keep onboarding friction low. A common mistake is forcing referral prompts too early, which can increase invites but reduce trust and long-term activation quality.