Key takeaways
- Referral network software has three jobs in a WhatsApp business group: route each need to a member who offers it, get both sides' agreement, and count the outcome.
- Milvao routes by your skills and cities lists, so referrals are only as sharp as those lists.
- A fairness weight and a cap of 2 offers per member in 7 days spread referrals beyond the few who always reply first.
- Milvao records introductions, not deals. Referral value and closed business are not tracked.
What to ask of referral network software
Business networks have tracked referrals on paper slips, in spreadsheets and in the chat itself. When the network meets on WhatsApp, the group becomes the referral channel by default, and the organiser loses sight of what was asked and what came of it. Before you pick a tool, write down the questions it has to answer.
| Question | Why it matters | Milvao today |
|---|---|---|
| Where does a member send a need? | Public asks favour the loudest replies | Privately, to the community's own WhatsApp number |
| Who decides which member gets it? | Members join for fair access to work | A ranking by service, city, track record and fairness, or an operator if you approve each match |
| Is anyone's number shared without asking? | Members stop listing services if cold calls follow | No. Both people agree first, for that one introduction |
| What happens when nobody fits? | Gaps show which businesses to recruit | The request goes to your team with the reason, such as "No member offers this service" |
| What gets counted? | Leaders need figures for meetings and renewals | Requests, offers, acceptance rate, introduction rate and completed introductions |
| Is business value tracked? | Some networks report the value of work passed | No. Milvao stops at the introduction |
How a referral reaches the right member
Routing starts with your lists. Milvao works with the skills and cities your team defines, and members pick up to 10 skills plus the cities they serve. A member's need becomes a brief that names one skill and, where it matters, one city.
- 1A member writes: "Need someone to fabricate steel racks for a godown in Zirakpur, around 40 racks." (a sample request)
- 2Milvao drafts a brief with the service, city and details, asks at most one question if something is unclear, and the member confirms it.
- 3The member says whether their number may be shared if someone takes the referral.
- 4Milvao filters to members who offer that service and are based in or serve that city, then asks the top-ranked one.
- 5If they decline or don't answer within 48 hours, the next member is asked, up to three in total.
With a broad skill such as Manufacturing, every manufacturer becomes a candidate and referrals feel random. Splitting it into the services members actually buy from each other, such as steel fabrication or offset printing, makes routing sharper. The skills and cities article explains how to manage the lists.
Spreading referrals fairly across members
In a group chat, referrals drift to whoever replies first. Milvao's ranking gives 15% of the score to fairness, so members asked less in the last 7 days move up, and no member gets more than 2 offers in any 7 days, whatever their score. New members are scored as a typical member until they build a history, so people who joined years earlier don't shut them out.
Track record still counts. Accepting offers, replying quickly and completing introductions together make up 35% of the score, so a member who keeps declining slides down the list without being removed. Every offer shows the reasons it was made, which helps when a member asks why a referral went to someone else.
What the referral figures show
The Metrics page counts what happened for any dates you choose. These are the figures a referral lead can take to a chapter meeting, and how each is counted:
| Figure | How Milvao counts it |
|---|---|
| Introduction rate | Requests where a member accepted, divided by requests the member confirmed |
| Acceptance rate | Accepted offers divided by offers that were accepted, declined or unanswered after 48 hours |
| Median time to first offer | From the member confirming to the first offer going out |
| Median time to acceptance | From the member confirming to a member accepting |
| Introductions completed | Accepted offers where both people received the other's number |
| Handed to your team | Why requests needed a person, such as no member fitting |
The hand-off reasons are often the most useful line. Repeated "no member fits" for one service tells you which business to invite next. What the figures can't show is the work that followed, because Milvao isn't told. See pilot metrics.
Chapters, cities and other limits
Matching runs across your whole community today, so a member in one chapter can be offered a referral from another when the service and city fit. Keeping a referral inside one chapter or group, and running several chapters under one account, are planned.
Requests are text only. Milvao replies in English, and members in India can write in Hinglish. The community's number must be one not already used in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app. Milvao doesn't send broadcasts, so weekly reminders and meeting announcements stay in your groups or another tool.
Costs and set-up for a referral network
The 30-day pilot costs ₹4,999 in one payment that doesn't renew. It includes connecting your number, join links for two or three groups, help onboarding up to 100 members, operator training and a day-30 review of the figures above.
Starter is ₹2,999 a month for one community with up to 300 members and two operator seats. Growth is ₹6,999 a month for up to 1,000 members and five seats, and larger networks talk to us. Meta bills WhatsApp message charges to your own WhatsApp Business Account, and members pay nothing. See pricing and Milvao for business networks.
Sources
- Meta for Developers: About the WhatsApp Business Platform (checked 5 November 2026)
Facts about WhatsApp and other services come from the pages listed, on the dates shown, and can change.