Overview
Refer-a-friend is an optional feature that incentivizes existing members with a reward to invite their friends and family to join your loyalty program. The existing member earns a reward when those friends join and/or perform a specific activity within the program.
Before You Start
The configuration of this feature requires Paytronix support and carries a standard fee. The requirements document and email creative outlined in this support article will need to be completed by your team and submitted with the request.
Terminology
Referrer: Person who is already signed up for the program and sends an invitation to a friend (referred)
Referred: Person who has been invited to join the program
Referral Reward: Reward the referrer receives after the referred becomes part of the program. Can be points, a free entrée, etc.
Example Referral Program
Derek(Referrer) loves the Pizza Rewards program from Pizzaland! He learns that he can get a $5 off a Pizza (Referral Reward) by inviting his friends to join the program, and thinks that his friend Jennifer(Referred) would like being a part of the program too!
Derek invites Jennifer to join the Pizzaland program by entering her email on the Pizzaland loyalty website or mobile app. Pizzaland sends a refer-a-friend email to Jennifer on behalf of Derek.
Jennifer (Referred) receives the email and follows the unique link in the email to sign up for a new account. The unique link is what assigns Jennifer her new Pizza Rewards card number and links her new account as the referred by Derek’s account (Referrer).
After Jennifer (Referred) visits a Pizzaland store and uses her Pizza Rewards card to earn points for the first time, Derek's account (Referrer) will be credited with a $5 off Pizza reward (Referral Reward).
Referral Requirements
Your team will need to create two emails that will be utilized in the Paytronix support referral configuration:
Referral Invitation - This email is sent when the Referrer invites the Referred by email. The recommended approach is to add a button or image content block to the email, with an action of open webpage to and link the following substitution parameter:
<template:link type="referral_invitation_url"></template:link>
Confirmation Message - This email is sent to Referrer after Referred registers or meets the RAF requirements. It generally outlines the reward that this member receives as a result of a successful referral.
You can reference the Email Builder Guide for help configuring these emails: Email Builder Guide.
You will also need to submit the answers to the following questions to specify how the referral configuration should work:
Question | Example |
What action does the referred member need to take to trigger the benefit for the referrer? |
|
* Referred to complete registration |
What is the benefit for the referrer? |
|
* 20 Bonus Points |
|
|
* 7 days |
How many times can the referrer earn the reward in a year? Over a lifetime as a member? |
|
* 2/year, 10/lifetime |
How would you like the referral invitation URL inserted in your Referral Invitation email (if not already completed? |
|
* As text in the main body |
What is the name of the reviewed email for the Referral Invitation? |
|
What is the name of the reviewed email for the Confirmation Message? |
|
Client Steps To Implement
Submit a case to start the Refer-A-Friend configuration request
Receive and sign a Statement of Work(SOW) outlining the request, action items for each party, cost, and timing for the project
Complete the requirements document and necessary emails, and submit them to the case
Receive testing instructions, run a complete end-to-end test, and approve configured functionality against provided requirements and emails
Receive notification of production go-live, the project is completed
Customer Service Functions
If a customer has a question about the status of the referral invites they’ve sent, you can look up their account and navigate to `Account Services > Referrals` to see the Referral Status:
Invitation sent means the system has sent an email referring the provided email address to the program. The other possible Status is Referral Completed, which means that email address has completed the sign-up
Reporting
The Guest Analysis report has a referrer username condition, it can be used to:
Specify that a referrer username is provided to pull all referred accounts:
You can add a `Referred By` field to the output of the report to get the referrer card number information for each referred account:
2. Specify a specific referrer username, or list of usernames to pull only those accounts referred by those users:
FAQ
Q: A referrer has called to share that their referred friend has completed the requested activity to complete the referral today, but they haven’t yet received their reward. Why is this?
A: Check to see how many referrals the member has sent and whether that exceeds the specified max. If it does not, the referral eligibility schedule that loads the reward runs once a day, ask the member to check their balances/emails tomorrow for their reward.
Q: We have a custom mobile app and a custom website that members use to login, instead of the Paytronix-hosted options. Is it possible to allow existing members to refer others into the program from these digital channels?
A: Yes, this is possible. You will need to specify this in the request. This will require development from your mobile app and/or website owner, and a certification through Paytronix which will carry additional cost.
Q: Is it possible to navigate referred members to a custom website for sign-up?
A: Yes, this is possible. You will need to specify this in the request. This will require development from your mobile app and/or website owner, and a certification through Paytronix which will carry additional cost.
Q: How long does it take to implement Refer-a-Friend?
A: From the delivery of all necessary components (signed SOW, emails, requirements), it generally takes 2-4 weeks to implement standard Refer-a-Friend. If integration is necessary for the options described in 1 & 2, the timeline will likely extend and depend on the development schedule.
Q: Can the referred account be given a reward as a part of this configuration?
A: No, not directly through the Refer-A-Friend setup. The only option is to give all newly registered members the reward, both those that were referred and those that joined the program without a referral.
Q: Is Refer-A-Friend possible to configure with a pay-to-join program?
A: This is not possible to configure through the standard configuration, it would require a custom development on a 3rd party website.