Friend referral

In short

Every member gets a personal invite code to share with friends from your app. A friend who signs up with it is linked to the member who invited them, and campaigns on two triggers let you reward the friend, the inviter, or both. Your account manager switches it on, and whether it is included depends on your plan: ask your provider.

Set it up in four steps

1. Have it switched on. Ask your provider: your account manager turns on Enable friend referral in General settings. See How it is switched on.
2. Check your form. Your registration form needs the pre-defined Joining code field. See The registration form field.
3. Build the rewards. A campaign on Joins with a friend invite code rewards the friend, one on Invites a friend who joins rewards the inviter. Build one or both. See Rewarding with campaigns.
4. Add the block. In the new editor, add the Invite a friend block to the home screen of your app and publish it. Doing this last means members start sharing once everything else is ready. See The app block.

You can also decide whether members may still enter a friend's code after they have signed up: see Entering a code later.

What it is

• A code for every member. Each member gets an invite code, made automatically: 8 characters, for example K7QX2HMA. No two members of your business have the same code. Staff can add an easier one too: see Vanity codes.
• The member shares it from your app. Their friend opens the link, lands on the sign-in screen, and on the sign-up form finds the code already filled in.
• Both members are linked. Each profile in Hub shows who invited whom, and two campaign triggers run: one for the new friend, one for the member who invited them.
• The rewards are your campaigns. Friend referral gives nothing by itself. You choose the rewards (a tag, a gift, credits and so on) in ordinary campaigns on the two triggers.
• One inviter per member. A member is invited by one member at most, and cannot use their own code.

How it is switched on

The switch is Enable friend referral, in Settings → General settings, card Features settings, section Friend referral.

Your account manager, that is your provider, switches it on. If you see the switch greyed out, with the note This add-on is switched on by your account manager., ask your provider. Whether friend referral is included depends on your plan.

The same section holds one setting you can change yourself, Entering a code after registration: see Entering a code later. Both are described on General settings too.

The registration form field

A friend's code goes into the Joining code field of your registration form, so the form must have this pre-defined field.

• To add it: in Settings → Registration form, press + Field, choose Pre-defined and pick Joining code.
• Filled in from the link. A friend who opens an invite link finds the field already filled in with the code. A friend who only has the code types it there.
• Without it, General settings shows a warning, and friends cannot enter a code when they sign up.
• Already on your form? It is the same field that joining codes use, so a form that has it needs nothing more.

The app block

Members find their code in the Invite a friend block on the home screen of your app.

• What it shows: the member's code, a button to copy it, a button to share it, and how many friends have joined.
• Sharing sends a link. On a phone it opens the phone's share menu. On a computer it copies the link.
• To add it: in the new editor, add the Invite a friend block to your home screen, then press Publish.
• Hidden while off. While friend referral is off, the block hides itself.
• New editor only. The classic editor has no such block. Not sure which one you have? See Which editor do I have?

Rewarding with campaigns

Friend referral records who invited whom. The rewards come from your Smart Campaigns, on two triggers in the Invite friends group:

Trigger	Runs for
Joins with a friend invite code	The new friend: the member who joined with a code.
Invites a friend who joins	The inviter: the member whose code was used.

• A campaign on each trigger. Give it the reward you want as its action: a tag, a gift, credits and so on. To reward both members, build one on each trigger.
• Different rewards by route. Split the campaign into cases: a case can have a source condition, Registration, App or Hub. What each source means is under The member card.
• Members who used a code. Used invite code is a campaign condition, and a member action in Filter members.

Both triggers are in the Triggers reference.

The member card and vanity codes

On a member's profile in Hub, the Friend referral card shows:

• Invited by: the member who invited them, with the code and its source, or No inviter. The source says how the code arrived: Registration (at sign-up), App (entered later in the app) or Hub (added by staff).
• Invite codes: the member's own codes, each marked Generated (made automatically) or Vanity (added by staff).
• Friends joined: N shows how many friends have joined through this member.

The activity timeline of both members records each referral: the friend's timeline shows whose code they joined with, and the inviter's shows whom they invited, each with the code and its source.

Vanity codes

A vanity code is an easy code you choose for a member, such as ALI10: easier to remember and to say out loud than the generated one. Add it with Add vanity code on the member's card.

• A code already in use is refused, with the note Code taken.
• Deleting is safe. Delete vanity code removes the code, and the referrals already made with it are kept.

Adding an inviter by hand

If a friend joined without the code, staff can add the inviter afterwards in Hub: on the friend's profile, in the Friend referral card, press Add inviter code and enter the inviter's code.

• One inviter at most. Once a member has an inviter, the button hides.
• Not their own code. A member cannot use their own code.
• Shown as Hub. The card then shows Hub as the source.

Entering a code later

A member who signed up without a code can still enter a friend's code in the app, if you allow it. You decide with Entering a code after registration, in the same Friend referral section of General settings:

• Not allowed: members cannot enter a code after signing up.
• Allowed for a number of days after registration: set how many in Days after registration (30 by default).
• Allowed at any time.

You can change this setting yourself. Press Save, at the bottom right of General settings, to apply it. The other rules still hold: one inviter per member, and never their own code.

When it is off

While friend referral is off for your business:

• the Invite a friend block is hidden in the app;
• invite codes are not accepted, at sign-up or later;
• the Friend referral card is hidden on member profiles in Hub.

Gotchas

5 things to watch for

• No Joining code field, no codes at sign-up. Friends cannot enter a code when they sign up, and General settings shows a warning. Add the field before members start sharing.
• Switching it on rewards nobody. Without a campaign on one of the two triggers, referrals are recorded on the profiles but nobody receives anything.
• The block needs the new editor. The classic editor has no Invite a friend block.
• One inviter per member. Once a member has an inviter, Add inviter code hides, and no member can use their own code.
• A greyed-out switch is not a fault. Your account manager switches friend referral on: ask your provider.