Getting Started: How to Create a Customer Referral Program

Our Referral Program feature allows you to turn your best customers into advocates by rewarding them for spreading the word about your brand. This guide will walk you through the entire process of setting up a professional, automated referral program.

The system is built on a flexible "Manual Linking" model. This means you will create three separate configurations that work together:

1. The Friend's Signup Form: A public, shareable signup form where new, referred customers (the "friends") sign up to receive their incentive.
2. The Advocate's Reward Email: The email that is automatically sent to your original customer (the "advocate") as a thank you after they make a successful referral.
3. The Referral Program: The central "engine" that links the other two components together and defines the rules of your campaign.

Let's get started!

Step 1: Create the Friend's Incentive (Public Signup Form)

First, we need to create the offer that will be given to new customers referred by your advocates. The best way to do this is with our Public Signup Form.

1. Navigate to Configurations and click Create a New Configuration.
2. Select Code Email as the type.
3. On the next screen, choose Public Signup Form as the trigger.
4. Give this configuration a clear, descriptive name. We recommend prefixing it with (Friend)   for easy identification. For example: (Friend) 15% Off Welcome Offer.
5. Customize the signup form and the automated email that the friend will receive. Ensure you've selected a Code List with the coupons you want to give to new customers.
6. Save and Activate the configuration.

Step 2: Create the Advocate's Reward Email

Next, we need to create the "thank you" email that will be sent to your original customer when they successfully refer someone.

1. Go back to Configurations and click Create a New Configuration.
2. Select Code Email as the type.
3. On the trigger selection screen, choose the special Advocate Reward trigger.
4. Give this configuration a clear name, prefixed with (Reward). For example: (Reward) Free Coffee Thank You.
5. Customize the email content. This is the email your advocate will receive, so write a nice thank-you message!
6. Select a Code List that contains the reward codes you want to give to your advocates.
7. Save and Activate the configuration.

Step 3: Create and Configure the Referral Program

Now that we have our two components, we can link them together in the main Referral Program. This is the central hub where you'll define your rules and get your share links.

1. From the dashboard, click Create a New Configuration and select the Referral Program type.
2. Give your program a descriptive name, like Main Website Referral Program.

3.1. Link Referral Components

In the first section, you will link the two configurations you just created:

• For Friend's Signup Form, select the (Friend) 15% Off Welcome Offer you created in Step 1.
• For Advocate's Reward, select the (Reward) Free Coffee Thank You you created in Step 2.
• Optionally, edit the Public Offer Name and Public Reward Name. These are the marketing-friendly names that will be shown to your advocates (e.g., "15% Off Their First Order").

3.2. Define Referral Rules

This is where you set the logic for your program:

• Reward Trigger: Choose when the advocate receives their reward.
  • Instant Reward (Pro Plan): The advocate is rewarded immediately after their friend signs up.
  • Conversion-Based (Agency Plan): The advocate is only rewarded after their friend makes a purchase or redeems their coupon. This happens when a coupon is marked as used.
• Advocate Reward Limit: Set the maximum number of rewards a single advocate can earn from this program. We strongly recommend setting this to 1 by default to protect your campaign budget.

3.3. Customize the Advocate Share Page

This section controls the appearance of the landing page where your advocates get their personal link to share. Customize the Headline, Give/Get Summary, and button text to match your brand's voice and language.

3.4. Get Your Advocate Share Links

This final section is where you get the link to activate your program.

• Select the service where you intend to paste the link (e.g., Coupon Carrier, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign).
• We'll generate the correctly formatted link for that service.
• If you're using an external service, we highly recommend enabling Link Validation for security.

Step 4: Using Your Share Link

Once your Referral Program is configured and active, all you need to do is paste the Advocate Share Link where you want to activate it.

For example, you can edit one of your standard Coupon Carrier Code Emails or Redeem Link pages and add a link to your email/page content like this:

"P.S. Love our brand? Click here to share with a friend and earn a reward!"

Now, when a customer receives that email, they will have a direct link to become an advocate for your brand.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our support team.