Inspire More upgraded from Friendbuy to SparkLoop.
Here’s their unfiltered opinion...
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SparkLoop is the essential suite of tools for newsletter growth, trusted by thousands of leading media brands and newsletters.
Friendbuy is an ecommerce-specific referral tool designed for mid- to large DTC and consumer brands with physical products.
SparkLoop has a true, 2-click integration (and excellent relationships) with 15+ of the most popular email platforms. Plus the option to extend via our API and Zapier.
As a generic referral tool, Friendbuy has only basic import and export functionality with a few email platforms. For a reliable integration, you'll need to invest weeks of developer resources.
With SparkLoop it's easy to run milestone referral programs, giveaways, or both. You can include a beautiful referral widget (including the subscriber's referral link) inside any email, or on any website.
Friendbuy has milestone referral program functionality but no giveaways. Due to the lack of direct ESP integrations, it isn't possible to reliably include a personalised referral link inside of your emails.
SparkLoop makes fulfilling any kind of referral reward easy and fully automated. Including unique coupon codes, Zapier, digital goods and even merch/swag via our Printful integration.
Friendbuy has some basic options for reward fulfilment, including coupon codes and digital rewards. Fulfilling any kind of physical reward, like branded merch, will be an expensive and manual process.
SparkLoop has industry-leading, fully customisable anti-fraud protection, built specifically for newsletters. It is the only solution proven to work at scale — even with huge giveaways and millions of subscribers.
Friendbuy has in-built anti-fraud functionality. As an ecommerce referral tool, their anti-fraud isn't optimised for how newsletter subscribers cheat — so you'll need to supplement with ongoing manual work.
SparkLoop is the solution of choice for seven of the world's ten biggest newsletter referral programs. Our security, scalability and extensibility are industry-leading. With designated account managers and fully customisable white-labelling.
Friendbuy has proven to be effective for large ecommerce brands — probably the #1 option if you have a Shopify store with 8+ figures in annual revenue.
SparkLoop has tiered support from our team of newsletter growth experts. Including email, chat, and phone support. We also offer a concierge onboarding package for strategy support.
According to their website, Friendbuy offers standard and priority support. This includes phone support from an ecommerce specialist.
As well as the core referral software, SparkLoop includes a suite of other tools to boost your audience growth. Including our one-click subscribe tool, Upscribe widget, Partner Network and more.
As an ecommerce referral platform, Friendbuy has integrations with analytics platforms like Okendo and Portable to track the impact of referrals on your ecommerce sales.
There's a SparkLoop plan suitable for every newsletter operator. Starting at $16/month (paid annually) for up to 5'000 subscribers.
Friendbuy plans start at $249/month. On average, operators who upgrade to SparkLoop find that Friendbuy was costing them 3.7x more per referral.