Will the badge annoy my free users?

**Not if you frame it as a fair exchange.** Free users are getting real value for free; a small, tasteful credit is a reasonable trade. The badge annoys people only when it is oversized, intrusive, or blocks their content. Keep it small, keep it in a consistent corner, and most users will not think twice.

Should the badge be removable, and at what price?

**Yes, on a paid plan.** Removing the badge is one of the most common upgrade triggers for creators once their output starts getting real distribution (a client, an employer, a large audience). Price it as part of your lowest paid tier, not as a standalone add-on; bundling it with other paid features increases perceived value.

What if recipients don't know what the badge means?

**That's fine in year one, it compounds.** The first few thousand impressions build recognition slowly. Once enough people have seen the badge on other people's work, the click-through rate rises because the brand starts to feel familiar and credible, the same way Vercel's deploy URLs or Notion's public pages became recognisable over time.

Is this a dark pattern?

**Only if you make it one.** A visible, honest, removable badge that does not block content or trick anyone into clicking is a legitimate and widely used growth loop. It becomes a dark pattern the moment you make it oversized, undismissable, deceptive, or harder to remove than your pricing page promised. Keep the badge honest and it stays a fair growth mechanic, not manipulation.

How long before the badge loop produces meaningful signups?

**Usually 3-6 months**, and it depends entirely on how much free-tier usage you already have. The loop has no effect if nobody is using your free tier yet; it is a multiplier on existing usage, not a standalone acquisition channel. Ship it early so the compounding clock starts, but do not expect it to replace other channels while you are still pre-traction.

Can I badge outputs on someone else's website (embeds, widgets)?

**Yes, and it often performs best there.** An embed on a client's website (a chart, a booking widget, a form) gets seen by that client's own visitors, who are a colder but much larger audience than your free user's personal network. Just make sure your terms of service clearly state that free-tier embeds carry the badge, so there is no surprise later.

🔁 Viral Loops

Made-With Badge Loop

Every design, document, video, deployment, or form your free users create carries a small "Made with [Product]" badge or a public shareable link back to your product. Recipients see it, click it, and become new users, and creators get a status flex for using a good tool. Badge impressions scale automatically with usage, at zero marketing spend.

13 min read

Last updated: Jul 24, 2026

💬

"We didn't run a single ad in our first year. Every free document had a small 'Made with [Product]' link at the bottom. That one line brought in more signups than our entire content calendar."

Product-Led Growth Lead, B2B SaaS

📅 Your First Launch

Setup Warm-up Outreach

Week 1

Design the badge and pick placement

⏱ ~3 hours

Week 1-2

Ship badge on all free-tier outputs

⏱ ~1 day dev time

Week 3

Add UTM tracking and a landing page for badge clicks

⏱ ~2 hours

Week 4

A/B test wording and placement

⏱ ~2 hours

Ongoing

Monitor badge-driven signups, remove-badge revenue

⏱ ~30 min/week

Week 1

Design the badge and pick placement

⏱ ~3 hours

Week 1-2

Ship badge on all free-tier outputs

⏱ ~1 day dev time

Week 3

Add UTM tracking and a landing page for badge clicks

⏱ ~2 hours

Week 4

A/B test wording and placement

⏱ ~2 hours

Ongoing

Monitor badge-driven signups, remove-badge revenue

⏱ ~30 min/week

Is this for you?

Great fit if...

✓Your product has a free tier or free trial that produces a shareable output (design, doc, video, deploy, form, page)
✓The output is naturally seen by people other than the creator (clients, teammates, website visitors, social feeds)
✓You're comfortable letting the badge be removable on a paid plan
✓You want a growth loop that scales with usage instead of ad spend
✓You can ship a small UI change without a lot of engineering back-and-forth

Try something else if...

Your product is used entirely in private (internal tools, personal finance, health data)
Your outputs are never seen by anyone besides the creator
You're in a regulated or white-label-only market where any branding is a dealbreaker for clients
You only have a paid tier, so there's no free-tier surface to badge
You need results this week; this loop takes months to compound

Try a customer referral programme for faster, direct results →

Not the right fit?

If Made-With Badge Loop doesn't match your situation, consider these alternative tactics that achieve similar goals:

Affiliate Programs

Create a commission-based program where partners earn for driving customers.

intermediate•medium•medium term

What to expect

2-8%

Of badge viewers who click through

3-6 months

To see meaningful signup volume

Zero

Marginal cost per impression

Quick math: The badge loop is a slow compounder, not a launch spike. Impressions grow only as fast as your free-tier usage grows, so it pairs best with a product that already has some traction. Track it as a channel in your signup attribution, not as a one-off campaign.

Every product has an output. A form tool produces forms. A design tool produces designs. A deploy tool produces a live URL. Find the output your free-tier users create and share with other people, that is your badge surface.

Find your shareable output

Ask this question about your product: what does a free user hand to someone else?